Introduction
Multimedia-enriched services are expected
to drive usage, operator revenue and band-
width consumption in mobile networks. At
the center of these multimedia services are
end-users with their wireless mobile de-
vices. End-users are likely to have great ex-
pectations, since in the end, they are the ones
who must pay for service. Therefore, the ser-
vices must be compelling. Unlike the de-
livery of media on the fixed Internet, where
service is free but is not backed by any guar-
antees, quality of service (QoS) is important
in the wireless Internet.
On the Internet, news sites are being en-
riched with short audio and video clips,
comic strips are being turned into animat-
ed graphics, and simple text pages are being
enhanced with images and scrolling text.
The technology with which to deliver on-
demand media is currently in the process of
being standardized and implemented in
mobile devices. While the basic technology
of the wireless Internet is similar to that of
the fixed Internet, the fundamental chal-
lenges are not, and the associated services
will probably also differ.
Mobile multimedia begins with messag-
ing services. Enhancements to short message
service (SMS) are already well on the way in
the form of media-rich EMS and MMS.
11
In
the case of WAP and access to Web content,
two important enhancements brought by
GPRS and WCDMA services are media
download and media streaming.
Thanks to the increase in data-
transmission rates in GPRS and WCDMA
mobile networks—from 40 to 384 kbit/s for
typical wide-area coverage—operators and
content providers who are able to deliver at-
tractive, high-quality media services have
major business opportunities.
Mobile services and the
merits of on-demand
mobile media
Delivery of mobile media service
Over time, all existing services will proba-
bly be enhanced with rich media in order to
meet growing user expectations. Rich media
content also forms the basis of many new
services. Figure 1 provides a selection of pos-
sible, near-term, on-demand services that
are well suited to mobile use, including
news and sports services, live cameras
providing traffic information, and surveil-
lance. Likewise, many entertainment ser-
vices will be attractive and grow in popu-
168
Ericsson Review No. 4, 2001
On-demand mobile media—A rich service
experience for mobile users
Erik Ekudden, Uwe Horn, Mats Melander and Jan Olin
Images, voice, audio and video content—indeed, all kinds of rich media—
will soon reach mobile terminals as part of mobile multimedia services.
The introduction of standardized mobile messaging services, such as
EMS and MMS, will enrich person-to-person messaging and pave the way
for content-push services. On-demand mobile media services will be
delivered to users via media streaming and download techniques that
enrich mobile browsing and general content access.
The authors describe the business opportunities, technology, and
product strategies for the delivery of on-demand mobile media.
3GPP Third-generation Partnership Project
API Application program interface
CDR Call detail record
DRM Digital rights management
EMS Enhanced messaging service
GPRS General packet radio service
HTML Hypertext markup language
HTTP Hypertext transport protocol
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IP Internet protocol
MIPS Millions of instructions per second
MMS Multimedia messaging service
O&M Operation and maintenance
OEM Original equipment manufacturer
PDA Personal digital assistant
QCIF Quarter-CIF (common interchange
format)
QoS Quality of service
RAM Random access memory
ROM Read-only memory
RTCP Real-time transport control protocol
RTP Real-time transport protocol
RTSP Real-time session protocol
TCP Transmission control protocol
SDP Session description protocol
SMIL Synchronized media integration
language
SMS Short message service
UDP User datagram protocol
UMTS Universal mobile telecommunica-
tions system
W3C World Wide Web (WWW) Consor-
tium
WAP Wireless application protocol
WCDMA Wideband code-division multiple
access
WML Wireless markup language
XHTML Extensible HTML
BOX A, TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS