Mobile Media Glossary

Whilst we have tried not to over complicate our website with technical jargon, unfortunately it sometimes cannot be avoided, to help you gain a better understanding of what the terms and phrases mean, we have listed some of the main ones with a brief description for each:

SMS
Short Message Service (SMS) and Text Messaging
Allowing you to send a message approximately 160 characters long between mobile phones, handheld devices, landlines and even computers.

Mobile Marketing
Marketing that generally uses SMS, or WAP Push to deliver its promotional content to mobile phones or mobile devices to allow users to interact directly.

Opt In / Opt Out
The ability for end users to control the receiving of promotional content messages from a supplier via their mobile phone.

SMS Marketing
Mobile Marketing that uses SMS to deliver its promotion via the use of text messages only.

MMS Marketing
Mobile marketing that uses MMS (Multimedia Message Service) to send out images, video or sound to mobile phones or handheld devices.

WAP Push
Mobile marketing that uses WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) to send out a specific WAP URL to a mobile phone as a direct message. This has the benefit of allowing the user to have a far more content rich experience, often being able to deploy far more information and allow direct interaction with the client.

Mobile Website
A much more concise version of a website specially formed for mobile devices, delivering only the content and interaction that an end user finds useful.

Reverse Billing
A method of accepting payment via the mobile phone, the bills are sent out on demand as a user completes their purchase. These Reverse Bills usually takes the form of an SMS message or WAP Push.
There are two forms of billing, Mobile Terminated (MT) where the user is charged when the Reverse Bills arrive at the handset, and Mobile Originated (MO) where the user is charged when they send their text message.

Mobile Alerts
A far more active and direct method of alerting users to either a special offer or just updating them with new information.

Location-Based Services
An SMS or WAP-based service providing information specific to the location of the user - for example, receiving information on nearby restaurants.