There is provided a method of processing a rich-media message by a mobile device having a display, a mobile device operating system and a software application. The method includes receiving the rich-media message over a network by the mobile device, depacketizing the rich-media message by the mobile device operating system to retrieve an encoded rich-media message and address data in the rich-media message, and activating the software application on the mobile device by the mobile device operating system based on the address data in the rich-media message. The method also includes decoding the encoded rich-media message by the software application to generate rich-media content information, determining, using the rich-media content information, whether a rich-media element identified by the rich-media content information is resident on the mobile device, and if the determining determines that the rich-media element is resident on the mobile device, displaying the rich-media element on the display.