Strong Growth in MMS Subscribers with Camera Phones - Report

The evolutions represented by SMS and instant messaging (IM) will be enhanced by wireless multimedia messaging services (MMS) that promise pictures, animated characters, user-created content, voice recordings, and even video clips. IDC forecasts a 178% compound annual growth rate through 2007 in the number of wireless MMS subscribers, reaching 67 million MMS subscribers with cameraphones and 29 million MMS subscribers without cameraphones.

IDC has segmented the MMS market into two sub-markets: MMS subscribers with camera phones and MMS subscribers without cameras. Consumers with MMS- capable devices with cameras will become the majority of the MMS consumer market as soon as late next year.

"The key challenge in this market will be to translate the consumers' awareness of these services into their adoption of these services," said Scott Ellison, director of IDC's Wireless and Mobile Communications. "How quickly this will happen depends on handset availability and pricing, ease of use of MMS interfaces, interoperability, and perceptions of MMS against existing usage behavior in related areas, such as digital cameras."

Entertainment is a driving factor behind key wireless markets such as ring tones, screensavers, and SMS, and will also be a key market driver of MMS. Marketing that incorporates the entertainment value of MMS as an even higher entertainment value function than SMS and IM should be a key component of wireless industry positioning and marketing of MMS."

Posted to the site on 3rd June 2003