A method is disclosed for operating a wireless mobile station of a type that is capable of bidirectional communication with a BMI having a SMS center. The method includes the steps of: (a) receiving a SMS message from the BMI; (b) determining if the SMS message has a first transfer format or a second transfer format; (c) if the SMS message is determined to have the first transfer format, processing the SMS message in a conventional manner; (d) if the SMS message is determined to have the second transfer format, parsing the SMS message to locate an Application Identifier entry; (e) determining from the Application Identifier entry if the mobile station supports the identified application; (f) if not, displaying a data entry of the SMS message with a first display format; else, (g) if the mobile station does support the identified application, starting the application and displaying the data entry with a second display format specified by the application. In a presently preferred embodiment of this invention the second format is a Data Exchange, Storage, and Command (DESC) format, and an application specified by the DESC formatted SMS message can be a Personal Messaging Calendar (PMC) application. Access to the PMC application can be via SMS messages from the mobile station, or through a network-connected data processor, such as a PC connected to the internet.