HAMPSHIRE, United Kingdom-The global market for multimedia messaging services will more than double next year, reaching $42.5 billion, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
Messaging between mobile-phone users will drive the revenue growth, as will services like sports updates that are supplied by third parties, said Juniper.
Although promising, MMS has failed to deliver on its promise, according to the report. Problems have included compatibility and interoperability issues, said Juniper.
“MMS offers a new source of revenue for telecom operators, and a range of other suppliers in the value chain,” said report author Terry Ernest-Jones. “There’s no doubt it has the potential to offer a leap in mobile-phone usage-and appeal-but up to now MMS has also been a frustration for large numbers of users, even for basic functions such as exchanging photos between mobiles.”
The report said MMS could approach the level of today’s short message service if the obstacles it faces are ironed out during the next two years to allow a freer flow of multimedia messages.
The report also found that the consumer MMS market is expected to remain stronger than the business market.
