No rush for the next big thing

SINGAPORE – First it was plain text. Then logos and ringtones came. So what’s the next big thing for Filipino cellphone users?

For Smart Communications, the largest cellular operator in the country, there is no doubt that the next big thing would be multimedia messaging service or MMS. It is not the 3G or third generation of cellular phone service yet, but it certainly is more advanced than the short messaging service or SMS which most Filipinos are accustomed with.

Napoleon Nazareno, Smart president and CEO, told delegates of CommunicAsia 2002 here this week that his company has laid down the foundation for MMS. However, he believes there is no need to rush for this next big thing.

"SMS will continue to be the dominant messaging platform for at least several more years," he said in his presentation entitled "From SMS to MMS: An Evolutionary Transition." "Some analysts say this will be the case for the next five years. In markets like the Philippines, SMS will remain popular even as 2.5G and 3G networks are rolled out."

Nazareno said that unlike the birth of SMS in 1992 which went virtually unnoticed – only a few remember the first text message that was sent out over the Vodafone network in the United Kingdom – the birth of MMS is being eagerly awaited by everyone. Great hopes, he said, are being pinned on this technology and one industry analyst has stated that MMS will be the main money-making service for 3G networks.

The promise of MMS includes the ability to combine text with color images and polyphonic sound. Nazareno sees this opening up a wider and more enticing range of value-added services that will complement communication among Filipinos.

"MMS will make it possible to send still images such as mobile postcards, photographs, screensavers, greeting cards and maps. It will also support moving images, cartoons and interactive video," he said.

This early, Smart is looking at a successful business model in Japan. It is studying the growth of Sha-Mail service in Japan’s J-Phone. The service runs on a 2G network but Sha-Mail handsets come equipped with digital cameras that can take color pictures and send them over the air to other Sha-Mail phones or Internet-enabled PCs.

Priced inexpensively, Sha-Mail, according to Nazareno, has been well-received by Japanese phone users. "From about 800,000 in May 2001, the number of Sha-Mail users has leapt to over four million in mid-March this year. One-third of all J-Phones are now on Sha-Mail," he said.

However successful Sha-Mail may have become, still some analysts are doubtful that such picture-messaging service will prosper outside of Japan.

Nazareno himself remains "cautiously optimistic." He has read studies after studies which showed that over half of those using mobile phones were interested in visual enhancements, such as the ability to send a photograph, video or music clip to enhance their text messages.

"The ability to send pictures taken on the spot from my phone can be quite compelling. But as Japan’s experience shows, so much depends on the handsets. Will camera-equipped phones be available at affordable prices, in commercial quantities and will the services offered on these phones be competitively priced?" he said.

Nazareno’s concerns are now being addressed by handset manufacturers from all over the world. At the CommunicAsia 2002 exhibition at the sprawling Singapore Expo, manufacturers such as Siemens Mobile of Germany showed soon-to-be launched handsets that not only can display photographs in dazzling color but also snap color pictures and send them through MMS to their friends.

Siemens Mobile president Peter Zapf said they will be launching new phones every two months in different markets to cater to different needs.

"There is no single phone that will fit all needs. Each person has a different set of needs and wants and we want to cater to each of them," he said.

Siemens Mobile launched four new phones – from the entry-level A50, the glow-in-the-dark C55, the clamshell CL50 to the GPRS/Java-ready M50 – at a parallel event in one of the hotels here. At the launch, it also displayed the watch phone – a phone to be worn as a watch – with a built-in camera and a host of gadgets for different applications. The company is also launching a mid-priced phone with built-in camera soon. Its main come-on? The camera has a built-in flash.