Abstract: A Multimedia Messaging Services system enables multimedia communication using handheld devices. For example, a handheld device comprising a barcode scanner can be configured to provide various multimedia communication capabilities such as two-way real-time audio, email, text messaging, image and video messaging, and so forth, which can be provided over a non-cellular data network. A development platform can enable the development of software applications for multimedia communications across various handheld device types using a device agnostic programming interface.