Abbreviated as EMS, an application-level extension to Short Message Service (SMS) for cellular phones available on GSM, TDMA and CDMA networks. An EMS enabled mobile phone can send and receive messages that have special text formatting (such as bold or italic), animations, pictures, icons, sound effects and special ring tones. EMS messages that are sent to devices that do not support it will be displayed as SMS transmissions. EMS, also referred to as Enhanced Messaging Service, is a cross-industry collaboration between Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens and Alcatel, among others. EMS is an intermediate technology, between SMS and MMS, providing some of the features of MMS. EMS is a technology that is designed to work with existing networks, but may ultimately be made obsolete by MMS. EMS is defined in 3GPP Technical Specification 23.040, "Technical realization of Short Message Service (SMS)".
