The Groupe Speciale Mobile Association is a collection of mobile operators that supports the development and standardization of the GSM mobile telephone system. The group markets its rich communication suite system under the brand name joyn, and its latest level of RCS-based standards goes by the title joyn Blackbird.
Samsung (News - Alert) announced this week that it has become the first smartphone provider to achieve accreditation with joyn Blackbird. The standards are designed to help the company improve its multimedia communications services, and the company's official announcement of its achievement says Samsung Galaxy users will begin to see updated services regarding their use of video, chat, and file sharing capabilities.
In the official company announcement, J.K Shin, CEO and head of IT & mobile communication at Samsung Electronics, commented on the development of RCS and what it means to both Samsung and the mobile industry as a whole.
"RCS is a progressive and important technology that is transforming the future of mobile communication," Shin said. "As a market leader in technology, Samsung continues to differentiate itself by providing our customers with the most advanced mobile communications software and solutions available."
Galaxy users will be able to see the effects of joyn Blackbird as improvements with their traditional voice and SMS services in a more "efficient and personalized way," the announcement says. First, this will include video and image sharing capabilities that will allow users to switch to video calls or share pictures during live voice calls.
Fully Integrated Messaging features will bring joyn features into users' current SMS and MMS apps. As a result, two or more joyn users conversing with each other will be able to take advantage of advanced messaging capabilities, and joyn will be able to convert proprietary message features into normal SMS/MMS for non-joyn chat participants.
Furthermore, joyn will support file transfers during one-to-one chatting and group chatting. As with traditional messaging, joyn can make files available to non-joyn users by way of a normal SMS or file download link.
Samsung says it will begin offering joyn Blackbird services on its flagship Galaxy models, including the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5, in Germany and Spain by the end of this year. Following that, customers in Frank, the U.K., and Italy will receive updated services.
Edited by Alisen Downey