MMS-enabled handsets are the most eye-catching products at the ongoing PT/COMM China 2002, China's biggest exhibition showcasing telecommunication products and technologies, which kicked off in Beijing yesterday.

International handset companies, such as Sony-Ericsson Mobile Communications Co. Ltd., Nokia (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Siemens Mobile Communications Ltd. and Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd., are all promoting new MMS-equipped phones at the exhibition.

Sony-Ericsson and Nokia were the first to begin selling MMS phones in China, with products hitting the market even before China Mobile launched its MMS service, but their competitors are ready to start selling their own new models in the very near future.

"Cell phones should provide a variety of multimedia services like MMS rather than pure voice service, to offer users more entertainment from their mobile phones," said Gunilla Nordstrom, head of the China operation for Sony Ericsson, which plans to debut its second MMS-equipped phone in China by the end of this year.

Simon Bennett, manager for mobile phone business for Nokia (China) Investment Co. Ltd., predicted that non-voice mobile phone services like MMS and games will soon make up about 35 percent of all telecom revenues, up from 7 percent currently.

Many industry insiders say the market will really begin to take off in about six months when more players, including both manufacturers and Websites providing colorful pictures, introduce new products.

"Our first model with MMS functions -- the T68ie -- has sold well on China's mainland since its launch in August. Its sales in Hong Kong ranks the third among all handsets available on the market," said Nordstrom.

Although the company declined to disclose total sales of the T68ie, Zhou Yi, a public relations manager with Sony Ericsson, said the model is already sold out on the mainland.

While the phones and the service are both expensive, the market is already enjoying strong growth.

"Since the service was launched early this month, China Mobile has already seen 5,000 users sending their pictures through cell phones and about 10,000 such messages are sent every day," said a marketing official with China Mobile.

MMS-equipped mobile phones available on the market or to be launched are priced about 5,000 yuan (US$604) with built-in cameras. Handsets without built-in cameras cost about 3,000 yuan (US$362) with plug-in cameras costing about 1,700 yuan (US$205). Sending an MMS message costs 0.6 yuan, compared with current text mobile phone messages that cost 0.1 yuan each to send.

(eastday.com October 30, 2002)