KT ICOM in Korea chose Comverse to launch Korea`s MMS service at the World Cup. Comverse is a pioneer in MMS and messaging applications.
Handsets and special demo stands will enable World Cup spectators to taste for the first time, the experience of composing, sending and receiving multimedia messages on their cellphones. Spectators will witness that mobile telephony is acquiring some of the impact and immediacy of television - sport content providers will provide compelling MMS coverage of World Cup background and breaking events.
As many as three billion people all over the globe will tune to the 2002 World Cup games. Two hundred nations belong to FIFA, the International Federation of Football Associations. MMS is also generating worldwide excitement. Messaging applications already command a multibillion-dollar market, and MMS is on its way to becoming a premier messaging service, extending messaging from text or voice to rich, expressive multimedia.
MMS opens a window to the world
Comverse MMS enables users to take fuller advantage of the capabilities of the new handsets with colour display screens and built-in cameras.
* Fans with such handsets can photograph themselves near the World Cup stadium with other fans and then immediately send an MMS "postcard" to an entire mailing list combining the image, text, and audio ("Hey, guess who is at the World Cup?!").
* Spectators can receive photographs, such as their favourite team`s exciting game-clinching goal, and send the MMS clip to their envious friends.
* And even those fortunate enough to be present at the games can`t directly witness all the events. So in addition to person-to-person messaging, spectators can receive vivid multimedia messages from content providers, including World Cup highlights as they occur and exclusive interviews with favourite star players.
"MMS at the World Cup will include many of the new MMS features, heralding a new era and conclusively demonstrating that the days are gone when a mobile telephone was 'just for talking`. MMS opens a 'magic window` to the world - incorporating every area of broad human interest such as sports and entertainment," explained Comverse (SA) MD Stuart Eveleigh.
"MMS users actively participate in both the fun and down-to-business aspects of interactive multimedia communications. Comverse has partnership agreements with leading content providers and application developers to provide a richer MMS user experience," he added.
Korean Telecom, the leading telecommunications service provider in Korea, is an official telecommunications partner of FIFA for the 2002 World Cup. KT ICOM, the newly established 3G mobile arm of Korean Telecom, participates as the high-speed multimedia service partner.
"Comverse`s MMSC will for the first time in Korea enable wireless users to enjoy multimedia messaging during World Cup 2002, "said Dr Cho Young-Chu, President and CEO of KT ICOM. "We chose the Comverse MMSC after conducting exhaustive technical benchmark tests with several platforms.
"Comverse delivers a high-quality MMS service. We are confident that our mobile users will appreciate the many advantages of multimedia messaging and the ability to express themselves more freely and creatively. The World Cup is an excellent opportunity to kick-start MMS with exciting services such as real-time pictures."
"This is a major breakthrough in opening up the thriving Asian market which I believe will create the impetus in building up the MMS market worldwide," said Simon Buckingham, leading industry analyst and CEO of Mobile Streams. "By deploying MMS during the World Cup, Comverse and KT ICOM will demonstrate the importance that compelling content plays in increasing usage and revenue."
The bright future of MMS
Estimations vary, but forecasts all predict robust MMS usage. Ovum, for example, sees global revenues from MMS topping $70 billion by the end of 2007. According to Lehman Brothers: "The potential is enormous."
While MMS provides a rewarding person-to-person (personal and business) messaging environment, many analysts believe that it is in content applications that MMS will bring about a true revolution. For example, advertiser interest in SMS`s black-and-white text has been limited, but MMS`s television-like quality creates vast advertising possibilities.
In that context, the World Cup games are an appropriate venue for Korea`s MMS launch, providing a first insightful glimpse at the bright future on the horizon.
The World Cup games take place once every four years. MMS was but a distant dream when France dramatically beat Brazil in the previous World Cup. Yet one needs little imagination to envision the following scenario at the next World Cup games in 2006:
The stadium is packed. The crowd goes wild as the winning goal is scored with only seconds left in the game. Immediately afterwards, many of the spectators watch the close-up of the goal sent to their MMS-enabled handsets, which are as common in the stadium as emblazoned t-shirts and pennants. Countless fans around the world in buses, trains and offices are also following every spectacular goal on their handsets.
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