Mobile Messaging 2.0 » What Is a Mobile Message: Answers From the Floor of NokiaWorld: a hosted discussion on mobile messaging, devices, and user practices and trends

What Is a Mobile Message: Answers From the Floor of NokiaWorld

by Darla Mack

December 9, 2007 at 10:17 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, WIMM

This past week I had the pleasure of attending NokiaWorld in Amsterdam. I figured, what better way to pose the question to many people who use technology on a daily basis.

My findings from that simple question was that the majority of the users that I asked all had the same answers prior to a discussion. SMS. One can argue that SMS or text messaging might be among the popular uses of mobile messaging, but it isn’t the final answer.

I asked one of my close buddies from Nokia and his response was complete.

A mobile message is any form of communication that is passed from your mobile device to pc or vice versa via the mobile or cellular network.

This answer seems quite simple and definite, depending on what it is that you are sending. Music, videos and images can be sent via MMS from ones handset, BUT doesn’t have to be done over a mobile network if using WiFi. So would this constitute as a mobile message? Yes, because it was sent from a mobile device.

Now one can also argue that using a built-in mobile IM client is a mobile message, but it isn’t. The IM client uses the network to CONNECT, not necessarily to send the message. You can be connected for hours and not send nor receive am IM.

After asking about 20 people I came to the conclusion that a mobile message is whatever is the popular use. In this case SMS being the most popular.

I can honestly say that this question will be open up an ongoing discussion and one will find that there is no agreed definition to what a mobile message is.

What say you?

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4 Comments »

-a-da-man- wrote @ December 9th, 2007 at 10:38 am

well what about smoke sign? is that a mobile message? if you are carrying a smoke sign machine with and you send a smoke sign, is that a mobile message? Well of course the receiver might not get the message but still it could work though hahaha

Darla Mack wrote @ December 9th, 2007 at 11:26 am

Um, well I don’t think that would quite constitute as a mobile message. I mean although it IS mobile by the means that a person is somewhat “on the move”, but interestingly enough smoke signals were considered the first form of messaging way back when.

BTW… what the heck is a smoke sign machine!!!???

Art Rosenberg wrote @ December 9th, 2007 at 5:23 pm

Inasmuch as any form of message can be sent or recived by a mobile device, depending primarily upon the device interface and the software capabilities for creating and retrieving the message, I think the legacy emphasis on what kind of network provides the connection access is really becoming irrelevant with IP connectivity. This is being reinforced by such recent announcements as that by Verizon Wireless that it will support any application and any type of device that conforms to minimum standards.

So, mobility will go beyond the interface and beyond the connections at both the senderand recipient’s end. If you throw in things to a message like a URL link, then, clearly, content mobility is limited only by the I/O that the mobile device has access to. So, what’s a “message?”

Even there, things will be converging, e.g., using speech recognition to convert a voice message into text for more efficient message retrieval and management.

Of course messaging may be defined as being information for delivery to people, but not necessarily being originated by people (person-to-person). With the current move to unified communications and Communications Enabled Business Processes (CEBP), automated business applications will be able to initiate any mode of real-time contact, especially text messaging, with people.

Art Rosenberg
The Unified-View

Mobile Messaging 2.0 » Ask The Webmasters What A Mobile Message Is…: a hosted discussion on mobile messaging, devices, and user practices and trends wrote @ December 9th, 2007 at 8:16 pm

[...] conference, both Darla Mack and I decided to ask a number of people just what a mobile message was? Darla’s posted up her responses, but I shall now do mine in the form of a podcast and the spoken word. Over to our guests to find [...]

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