Existing Solutions and Limitations
Multimedia Messaging Service
One possible solution is the use of MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) to send pictures and videos. MMS is a standard developed by the Open Mobile Alliance, an industry consortium. MMS can be an effective way to send pictures from one person to another, but as the mobile experience moves from photo to videos and more importantly from point to point communication to social networks, MMS may begin to encounter substantial scalability issues. MMS approaches sending of rich media with a lowest common denominator to provide a video experience that will be common across handsets rather than providing the best possible experience a handset can provide. More specifically, MMS does not work consistently for video.
Other limitations of MMS include:
a.File size limitation. MMS videos are generally limited in duration by file size. Limits include 10, 15, or 30 second duration for video, and file size is often limited to 100, 200, or 300 Kbytes. These limits can be imposed both by carriers and by handset makers.
b.MMS video is not stored in “The Cloud.” An MMS file is generally not accessed easily from a PC. If the mobile phone user switches to another handset, that user must often first manually transfer the MMS picture or video to PC and then transfer it back to the new handset, a cumbersome process.
c.Conversation limitations. MMS does not allow a fluid interface for back and forth “video conversations.” You cannot easily comment on someone’s MMS video.
d.Difficulty interfacing with social networks. While it is possible to post an MMS picture or video to a Facebook or Twitter account, it does lend itself to a feature rich mobile experience.
e.Standard setting delays. As new technologies to enhance MMS are developed, their adoption will be governed by the MMS standards setting process. This is likely to result in significant delays in enhancement, implementation, and evolution of the technology.
f.Video on Mobile Phones. Most major manufacturers of mobile phones already have, or plan to, deliver handsets with video capabilities into the market, often with multiple tiers of devices with unique profiles. Dozens of companies have developed and continue to maintain databases that capture the differences between handsets, at significant expense.
Smartphones. Smartphones have emerged as a fast growing sector of the market, blending multi-media, data and internet access and mobile communications. The smartphone market, most of which by definition is media enabled, will be a growth market that will allow carriers to add a variety of revenue streams attached to data and multi-media messaging. The market, demand for video sharing services will grow dramatically. Mobile phone equipment manufacturers continue to offer new phones with additional capabilities while the mobile phone carriers will need to enhance their 3G and soon 4G networks to allow users to take advantage of these capabilities.
Video and Picture Sharing Approaches. The current market is highly fragmented, with many companies and organizations offering service for the mobile phone video and picture market.
