Enhanced Messaging Service
Encyclopedia
Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS), is a cross-industry collaboration between Samsung
, Ericsson
, Motorola
, Siemens
and Alcatel
, among others. It is an application-level extension to Short Message Service
(SMS) for cellular phones available on GSM, TDMA
and CDMA networks.
EMS is an intermediate technology, between SMS and MMS
, providing some of the features of MMS. EMS is a technology that is designed to work with existing networks, but may ultimately be made obsolete by MMS.
An EMS enabled mobile phone can send and receive messages that have special text formatting (such as bold or italic), animations, pictures, icons, sound effects and special ring tones.
EMS messages that are sent to devices that do not support it will be displayed as SMS messages, though they may be unreadable due to the presence of additional data that cannot be rendered by the device.
In some countries, EMS messages cannot generally be sent between subscribers of different mobile phone carriers, as they will frequently be dropped by the inter-carrier network or by the receiving carrier. However, in other countries, such as the UK, inter-carrier interoperability is generally achieved.
EMS never really picked up due to interoperability limitations and in fact very few operators ever introduced it.
EMS is defined in 3GPP
Technical Specification 23.040, "Technical realization of Short Message Service (SMS)".
On June 9th 2008, the CTIA organization officially released http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/1759 an RFI for Enhanced Messaging implementation with focus on Group Messaging. The EM term in this context loosely refers to an improved Mobile Messaging product that combines the simplicity of Text Messaging with the successful rich features of the Internet's Instant Messaging
. Other references to this new service have been made as "SMS 2" or "Instant SMS"
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
and Alcatel
Alcatel
Alcatel Mobile Phones is a brand of mobile handsets. It was established in 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent of France and TCL Communication of China....
, among others. It is an application-level extension to Short Message Service
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
(SMS) for cellular phones available on GSM, TDMA
Time division multiple access
Time division multiple access is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using its own time slot. This...
and CDMA networks.
EMS is an intermediate technology, between SMS and MMS
Multimedia Messaging Service
Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...
, providing some of the features of MMS. EMS is a technology that is designed to work with existing networks, but may ultimately be made obsolete by MMS.
An EMS enabled mobile phone can send and receive messages that have special text formatting (such as bold or italic), animations, pictures, icons, sound effects and special ring tones.
EMS messages that are sent to devices that do not support it will be displayed as SMS messages, though they may be unreadable due to the presence of additional data that cannot be rendered by the device.
In some countries, EMS messages cannot generally be sent between subscribers of different mobile phone carriers, as they will frequently be dropped by the inter-carrier network or by the receiving carrier. However, in other countries, such as the UK, inter-carrier interoperability is generally achieved.
EMS never really picked up due to interoperability limitations and in fact very few operators ever introduced it.
EMS is defined in 3GPP
3GPP
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, known as the Organizational Partners...
Technical Specification 23.040, "Technical realization of Short Message Service (SMS)".
On June 9th 2008, the CTIA organization officially released http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/1759 an RFI for Enhanced Messaging implementation with focus on Group Messaging. The EM term in this context loosely refers to an improved Mobile Messaging product that combines the simplicity of Text Messaging with the successful rich features of the Internet's Instant Messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
. Other references to this new service have been made as "SMS 2" or "Instant SMS"