Telecoms equipment leaders Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia said they would work together to define and promote a universal standard for the exchange of messages and other information between mobile devices.
'Instant messaging and presence services are proving to be among the most exciting areas in today's wireless and wired world and initial signs are that this market is set to expand massively over the next few months and years,' Janiece Webb, a Motorola senior vice president, said in a joint statement.
Instant messaging is rapidly evolving to include multimedia content, such as audio and video clips and images with traditional text messaging, the three companies said.
Presence services provide a system for sharing personal information about the user's status and location.
The new specifications will apply to existing second generation, GPRS and third generation wireless network technologies.
The companies said the Wireless Village Mobile Instant Messaging and Presence (IMPS) initiative would deliver architectural and protocol specifications, test specifications and tools for mobile IMPS. It would also define procedures and tools for testing conformance and interoperability of IMPS.
The companies said user participation in mobile instant messaging services is limited by the lack of a common format and interoperability.
