MMS for iPhone makes an early debut
Some iPhone users were treated to an early look at AT&T’s MMS capabilities, although it appears to be a truly hit and miss affair, depending upon where you are and what what your OS version is.
A few fortunate iPhone users have been treated to what may be a permanent preview of AT&T’s multimedia messaging service (MMS) during the last few days, even though the wireless carrier has said that the service will not be available until Sept. 25. Anecdotal evidence began to accumulate over the weekend that the feature was available on some phones in some places after iPhone users upgraded to operating system version 3.1 with carrier file 5. Apparently both jailbroken and non-jailbroken phones are among those which have suddenly had their MMS functionality activated, according to a PCWorld story.
Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a telecommunications standard for sending messages that include multimedia objects (images, audio, video, rich text). MMS is an extension of the SMS standard, allowing longer message lengths and using WAP to display the content. Its most popular use is sending photographs from camera-equipped handsets, although it is also popular as a method of delivering ringtones.
AT&T has been the recipient of a great deal of negative press and user comments for not being ready with MMS and tethering when iPhone OS 3.0 was introduced in June at the Apple developer conference in San Francisco. Under some pressure, AT&T first said that MMS services would be available before the end of summer, but were unable to make their own self-imposed deadline, instead announcing that MMS would finally be available September 25. Most cell phones with cameras, including many of the most basic models, have MMS service available, as do all of the iPhone’s smartphone competition.
It now seems that AT&T is not capable of a clean MMS rollout even at this late date. Glitches like this one have become the norm at AT&T, and iPhone users are building up resentment behind unavailable though common features like MMS and service problems like dropped calls, uneven cell coverage, and large geographic areas with no coverage at all. One is amazed that analysts in some quarters believe that AT&T will continue to be the exclusive iPhone vendor when their current contract expires.
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