Content remains key if we consider that an estimated $3bn or more will be spent on content for mobile phones by 2006. The potential for content providers, mobile network providers, application providers and a multitude of other players to enter this market and generate new and innovative revenue streams is enormous. The biggest advantage of SMS is the ability which it offers to reach all mobile subscribers, anywhere and any time, through an interface that has already been accepted by the target market.

SMS today offers, in addition to the original person-to-person data messaging service, a wealth of value-add services, such as notification of, for example, changes in share prices, information on weather, news headlines or traffic, and value-added content services such as access to the latest logos, picture messages and ringtones via SMS as well as SMS gaming options. New services just entering the market, and providing further opportunities, include Multimedia Message Service (MMS) and Enhanced Message Service (EMS).

Propeller of growth
The massive variety and ingenuity of services that can be offered is a huge propeller of growth. As standard messaging is transformed into instant messaging, the more collaborative and user-friendly mechanisms create further scope for services that bring value, flexibility and variety to consumers. According to Ovum, about 20bn SMS messages are sent monthly around the world generating $3,6bn in revenue for European carriers last year. Ovum expects carriers worldwide to achieve $210bn from SMS messages in 2004.

What then is preventing more players from entering the, as yet largely untapped market, and exploiting SMS' most attractive feature: instant information on the move, at an affordable rate for consumers? While content providers have realised the potential for mobile revenue via SMS, currently only a few have the means to provide these services. The most obvious reasons for this are the costs involved and the complexity associated with integrating a content and application provider into the mobile network.

How it currently works is that any content or application provider that wants to service mobile subscribers must first integrate their application into the mobile network, through either using the existing billing relationship between the network provider or subscriber or, alternatively, setting up a new billing relationship between the content provider and the customer. Both options present barriers to the provision and acceptance of SMS content services.

In the first case, the technical complexity is large - only the larger content providers would be able to undertake the massive integration required. From the network operator's perspective, the management task is far from simple - integration requires also that four multiple links to the mobile network are made, therefore network operators are required to maintain these separate links with the content provider, with each link frequently being the responsibility of a different department.

Impulse buying of content in this situation becomes impossible, and service take-up is dependent on the content provider's ability to persuade subscribers that they are trustworthy.

In addition, allowing the content/application provider to establish a billing relationship with the subscriber dilutes the relationship between the operator and the subscriber and could impact on the customers' loyalty. These problems all point to concerning trends in the GSM provision market space. The entry levels and costs are high as too is complexity of integration and maintenance, which has resulted in the SMS value-add market being dominated by a few large players.

Key to unlocking the market potential of SMS and providing continued value add for customers, will be the ability of operators to provide for extensive segmentation of the content provision market and a higher level of customised content, to satisfy the needs of all mobile subscribers.

To do this, mobile operators and content or application providers need easy and controllable access to the mobile subscriber market. Operators must also be able to accommodate and support a growing number of content or application providers connecting into their networks and the cost barrier for entry into the market by any content or application provider must be kept low.

In addressing these issues, and replicating successful models such as that of NTT DoCoMo's iMode service, the solution should be sought in middleware applications that can provide the necessary interface for content provision to the mobile subscriber market.

Furthermore, enabling application need to have sufficient flexibility to support the business models of operators and content providers. The iMode example has taught operators that billing flexibility is almost as important as content if rapid service adoption is to be realised.

Siemens Mobile and Internet Technologies (MIT), a unit within Siemens Information and Communication Group, focuses on the development of solutions for the mobile and Internet markets. Its latest solution, MessageGate, provides a simple, single interface between content or application providers and operators. It ensures the billing relationship remains focuses around the operator and that the content providers have a simple set of common Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to access all and any Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), which allows the operator to load balance and provide for fail over.

Billing also becomes dependent on content type and SMS messages can be prioritised accordingly. The load on operators is eased as they have a single management interface and all billing reconciliation is handled by MessageGate.
To view Siemens mobile data products and applications, go to www.mobilebusiness.co.za or link on to the site through the Siemens Web site at www.siemens.co.za