无线短信的新模式

苏公雨

Sure, SMS is still the kingpin, but other modes of messaging are emerging.

SMScontinues to be an extremely popular data feature, with 104.9 millionmobile phone users (47.9%) sending a text message in January 2008.That’s up from 78.3 million in January 2007, according to M:Metrics,which surveys mobile media consumers on a monthly basis.
“Theyear 2007 was a banner year for SMS, with 1.9 trillion text messagessent,” adds Damian Sazama, vice president of marketing and productdevelopment for Fort Myers, Fla.-based Interop Technologies, whichprovides wireless messaging, device management and personalizedsolutions. “And analysts are predicting a 20% increase in 2008. SMS isevolving from a ‘nice to have’ service to more of a necessity.”
Interoprecently introduced its SMSC 4.0 solution that “provides carriers withan extremely robust infrastructure to support text messaging.” Thisscalable solution enables carriers to replace legacy platforms withouthaving to rip out their existing infrastructure, Sazama says.
ARBITRARY SILOS
MultimediaMessaging Service (MMS), on the other hand, has not taken off asquickly. In fact, by contrast, only 48 million users (or 21.9%) sent amessage with a photo or video in January 2008, up from 29.4 million inJanuary 2007, according to M: Metrics.

Sims: A message                         is a message.

Oneof the key reasons MMS has not experienced the same kind of growth asSMS is because operators and vendors marketed different messagingtechnologies, such as SMS, MMS and Mobile Instant Messaging, said JohnSims, CEO of Santa Barbara, Calif.-based 724 Solutions. 724 deliversintelligent any-to-any service message and traffic handling solutions.
“Usersdon’t think that way – to them, a message is a message,” Sims says.“What distinguishes a message is time frame and content. Instead, we asan industry extended those silos to the user, and those terms inthemselves tend to be inhibitors to adapters of anything new.”
WhenMMS first was introduced in Europe, for example, users had to sign upfor a different service and the pricing was quite different – causingit to get off to a very slow start. Now the pricing is more reasonableand more of the devices are available, Sims says.
Sims says hebelieves that MMS will continue to grow along with an increase inapplication content versus person-to-person (P2P) messaging. Onecurrent example is “Footie on the Phone,” offered by Vodafone in theU.K., which launched the service through 724’s messaging platforms forApplication to Person (A2P) bulk MMS.
“Footie” uses MMS messagingto send alerts to U.K. soccer fans about team news or happenings inspecific games. Users can receive photos and text or, for an extra fee,view video of an entire game or a goal being scored.
In anotherexample, 724 is working with China Mobile to offer newspaper content tomobile phone users, with the goal of implementing it before the 2008Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Mobile phone users also want to sendinstant messages from their mobile phones to people on their desktops.Rather than having to download an application to their phones in orderto do so, 724’s Seamless Messaging enables users to send a text messagethat is translated into an instant message and sent to someone’sdesktop. That person can then reply, and his or her IM is translatedinto a text message for the mobile phone user.
“It’s using two discrete technologies, but it doesn’t require anyone to get a new technology,” Sims says.
MESSAGING GROWTH
Themessaging business will grow by increasing the number of interoperabledomains, which will lead to more activity, Sims notes, adding that “thekey is to make it as simple as possible for the users.”
Onecompany that is attempting to simplify the user experience isCambridge, Mass.-based vLingo, which formed in 2006 and is making itsfirst product announcement at CTIA. The company has created avoice-powered interface for mobile phones. Users can “speak” anythingthey want, and it is translated into a text message. They also can“tell” the phone to perform various functions.
“It’s anetwork-based solution that solves the last barriers to mobileapplication solutions,” says vLingo President and CEO Dave Grannan.“That includes discoverability – it can be used on any phone, andusability – users are not constrained by the interface or a tinykeyboard.”
vLingo’s voice-recognition technology also is notgrammar-limited. Users can say anything, and it will be translated intotext. The device works with all messaging applications. For example,someone can say, “take a photo and label it” or “send a message to Mike.
“Manyusers don’t know how to find these applications – with our product, youjust say what you want your phone to do,” Grannan says, adding that italso solves the major safety issue of people trying to text whiledriving.
Another company that is trying to simplify the userexperience and offer new applications is Toronto-based Mpathix, aprovider of voice and data messaging solutions. Mpathix offers aVoicemail-to-MMS product that displays all of a user’s voicemailmessages, showing the date and time of each call and letting the userselect which message he or she wants to hear. Mpathix also issupporting a Voicemail-to-Text message service for one of its majorcustomers that has yet to be launched.
“That product tends to bemore of a premium service – for the BlackBerry crowd,” says ClaytonBodnarek, vice president of sales for Mpathix.
In addition, onMarch 1, Alaska DigiTel rolled out Mpathix’s Voicemail-to-Emailservice. It enables wireless customers to view, manage and listen totheir voicemail messages from any personal or business e-mail account.
“Ourcustomer companies are going after the market on more than one front,”Bodnarek says. “The way e-mail is used, people want it on theircomputers, but they also want it on their phones while they’retraveling. The industry is fragmented because people’s usage patternsdon’t fit into a completely unified model.”
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Mpathixalso is taking advantage of the growing social networking trend byworking to integrate telecom and social networks. The company soon willbe launching with one of its clients a new product called “mBlogger.”It is a voice-powered application that allows mobile phone users topost audio clips to their Facebook profile. Users can share voicemailmessages, concert clips, audio blogs and more.
“Companies maychoose not to charge for that service, but they are continually tryingto differentiate themselves and show that they have sexy applicationsfor a particular demographic,” Bodnarek says.
Mike Edgett,director of product marketing for Movius Interactive, agrees. Hebelieves changes in media usage and social networking will drive newcustomer demands.
“People want to use messaging versus real-timevoice,” Edgett said, “We’ll see a growth in demand for instantmessaging between people and a greater interest in advertising andcommerce.”
Duluth, Georgia-based Movius is the new corporate brand of the former IP Unity Glenayre.
“Thoseare the reasons we re-branded the company’s name as Movius,” Edgettsays. “It represents mobile, video, community and sharing – and willfeature a stylized “i” to reinforce the idea of individuality andinteractivity. We’ve changed our market focus from one of messaging andcollaboration to the interactive mobile media space.”
One of Movius’ main focuses is Mobile Instant Messaging, which is essentially SMS with presence, Edgett says.
“Itcan do everything that MMS was supposed to be able to do – people willstill want to share photos and videos. I think MMS will slowlydisappear, and the two will eventually become one and the same,” hesays. “Mobile IM allows users to build communities and to chat withpeople with similar interests. It also helps to build loyalty within acustomer base.”
Movius recently partnered with Action EngineCorporation, The On-Device Portal Company, to launch new, feature-richmobile media services.
Industry spokespeople agree that themessaging segment will need to consider a variety of issues to improvecustomer service. Some of those issues, according to anInterop-authored white paper include:

       

• ensuring that messaging functions as seamlessly as voice does for subscribers.       
  
• creating        industry forums to address issues such as best practices in making        messaging consumer and text-friendly. According to Interop’s Sazama,        industry representatives will be meeting to discuss these topics at        CTIA’s Wireless 2008.