AT&T Finally Activates MMS Service for iPhone

AT&T launched its long-awaited MMS service for the iPhone on Friday. That puts the iPhone on a messaging par with other smartphones and, AT&T hopes, puts an end to complaints about the lack of this feature.

MMS is short for Multimedia Messaging Service. AT&T is making MMS, which lets users send text, photos, audios and videos across the network, available on the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS.

To activate the new service, users need to connect the iPhone to a computer and click “Check for Update” in iTunes. Once the update is completed, AT&T said, users need to restart the iPhone by turning it off and then on again. The iPhone OS 3.1 software is required, so consumers who haven’t upgraded the operating system need to do this first.

The Social-Media Connection

“From the standpoint of the AT&T portfolio, every other phone could do MMS, but the iPhone could not,” said William Ho, a senior analyst in the wireless services division of Current Analysis. “I think the original thought was that people who used the iPhone could just take a photo and e-mail it, and that would serve the same function. But the problem is you can’t always e-mail it to another handset.”

Ho said MMS lets users bypass the e-mail functions and send multimedia files directly to another handset. With the rise in social networking, this has become an important capability because many smartphone users rely on MMS to update Facebook accounts with new photos and videos generated on the device instead of uploading through a smartphone app.

Time spent on social networks and blogs has nearly tripled in the past year, accounting for 17 percent of the overall time spent online in August, according to the latest numbers from Nielsen. And more than 18.3 million unique U.S. smartphone users turned to their devices…

Related News:

• Michael Jackson Was ‘Never Satisfied’ With His Music, Akon Says
• Michelle Trachtenberg Says ‘Gossip Girl’ Threesome Is ‘Worth Waiting For’
• Judge Delays Google Book Settlement for Revisions
• Intel Unveils New CE4100 Media Chip for TV Interaction
• Poland okays forcible castration for pedophiles
• Man sues BofA for "1,784 billion, trillion dollars"
• U.S. Weighs Cell-Phone Ban for Bus, Truck Drivers
• Japanese arts honour for Stoppard
• Abba nominated for Hall of Fame
• Police searching for "person of interest " in Tuesday night shooting