OXFORD, United Kingdom-Despite the hype surrounding the success of multimedia messaging service (MMS), the Swedish cell-phone operator Comviq has joined Vodafone and Telia by extending its free trial of the service until June. The company had planned to halt its free trial service at the end of May, and then charge 0.42 euro (US$0.45) for each MMS sent after this period.
The Swedish operators launched MMS service late last year, but interconnect agreements remain unsigned among the three firms.
This news came as the Swedish Association of Mobile Industry Suppliers and Distributors reported that sales of cell phones in the country stagnated during 2002, at 2.3 million units, and forecast that 2003 would see little change to this picture. However, the organization claimed there are growing signs that cell-phone users in Sweden are moving toward maintaining two subscriptions that might boost MMS handset sales later this year.
Despite this gloomy picture, a new study by Strategy Analytics claimed Vodafone’s J-Phone subsidiary is leading the Japanese market for picture messaging cell phones, having captured more than 30 percent of the 13 million MMS-capable handsets sold in the country. The firm claimed Japanese vendors, like Sharp and Toshiba, are leveraging their experience to gain meaningful market shares of the burgeoning picture messaging phone markets in Europe and North America.
