MMS 'not all that' say analysts

By James Pearce

The hype surrounding multimedia messaging services (MMS) has been attacked by an analyst group, which claims the worldwide market will be only 20 per cent of current predictions.

The damning report, by World Wireless Forum, condemns industry analysis predicting 10 billion multimedia messages per month worldwide within two years, saying the correct figure will be closer to 200 million per month by 2004.

The report claims 88 per cent of the current SMS market consists of youths under 22 years old. It goes on to say the current MMS-enabled handsets are well outside the price-range these consumers can afford.

One MMS player, Australian telco Optus, however, defended its decision to enter the multimedia messaging market despite the most recent predictions.

A spokeswoman for Optus said: "We don't launch services without looking at our business model. We're prudent, careful and we've done our research. We have provided a public forecast that 25 per cent of Optus revenue will come from data-related services by 2005, and we're on track for that. It's currently at nine per cent.

"Optus knows that this will be a relatively slow take-up. It's not a step that consumers will take immediately. As you see more handsets become available at a range of prices uptake will increase."

What do you think? Is MMS a gadget too far, would you pay over the odds for SMS with knobs on? Register a reader comment below.

James Pearce writes for ZDNet Australia