Microsoft plays with wireless messaging
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft is among the first makers of an instant messaging program to wrestle with MMS, which stands for either the next big thing in wireless messaging or just a lot of hype. MMS is short for Multimedia Message Service, electronic messages that contain attachments like sound recordings or photographs. Personal computers have been exchanging MMS notes for years, for instance every time a photograph attached to an e-mail lands in an in-box.
With nearly 40 percent of all U.S. residents owning cell phones and other wireless devices, software makers, wireless carriers and phone makers are trying to add wireless to MMS messaging strings as a source of new revenue. This week Microsoft joined the fray by demonstrating for the first time how its PocketPC Phone Edition and Windows Powered Smartphone 2002 software could exchange mixed-media messages during an MSN Messenger session.