iPhone MMS

Update: on June 17th 2009, Apple released version 3.0 of the iPhone OS in a software update, and it includes MMS; however AT&T has said that their network will not be ready for MMS on the iPhone until later in summer 2009.

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Update: September 25th 2009: AT&T has now enabled MMS for iPhone users on their network.  Technically it’s no longer summer, but better late than never I guess.

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One feature that the iPhone doesn’t have is MMS.  You can send SMS messages, which are just plain text; but there is no native support for MMS, which is basically SMS plus pictures.  However, since the iPhone does have full email support, you can still use MMS by sending email (including photos) to the recipient’s cell phone number @ their provider.  Here are the addresses for AT&T, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon:

number@txt.att.net

number@messaging.nextel.com

number@messaging.sprintpcs.com

number@tmomail.net

number@vzwpix.com

More are listed on the Wikipedia page for SMS gateways.

I can’t think of a good reason for Apple/AT&T to not include MMS support in the iPhone, so my guess is that it just wasn’t finished in time for the launch, and Apple will add it via a software update in the coming weeks or months.  Some of the missing features make sense -- for example AT&T wouldn’t want there to be a chat client because it would eat into their SMS revenue -- but I don’t see a similar logical reason for leaving out MMS.

Posted by Anthony on 79 replies

Comments:

01. Aug 2, 2007 at 11:10am by Tom:

As a former AT&T/Cingular rep, I can give you one good reason for them to leave it out.  It’s a royal pain in the butt to support, and with email there is no real reason to have it.  Now not having an IM client is a mistake, but you’re right about the revenue stream.

02. Aug 8, 2007 at 06:22pm by daniel:

use jivetalk from beejive.com ive used it on my blackberrys and now on my iphone.. its simple, pretty and works flawlessly and is free for NOW but even if they charge itll be cheap

03. Nov 14, 2007 at 06:45pm by Ross McKillop:

If you’re on O2 in the UK you might want to have a look at  MMS Inbox for iPhone (shameless self-promotion, but a number of people have found it useful!)

04. Nov 18, 2007 at 09:44pm by Dean:

TOM:
That’s a ridiculous reason to not include MMS.

People send each other picture messages just assuming that the person they are sending to will be able to receive it whether they have a free* phone from Verizon or a $400 iPhone from AT&T.

*where "free" means $1000-$2000, which is what you must pay for the contract in order to get the phone. Ed.
05. Nov 19, 2007 at 04:24pm by Matt:

Tom... you’re reasoning for not having MMS has to be one of the most ridiculous excuses I’ve ever heard... I think they trained you too well at ATT... I’m an IT Support analyst and some of my clients send me screen shots from their phones when I’m on the road.. Yes I have all of my e-mail going to my phone but when I have to go to viewmymessage.com and try to remember the assinine username and password to just view a picture I’m not exactly thrilled. As far as this phone goes... it is amazing... but they didn’t put any of the normal features that every ordinary phone has... it’s like ms vista.. not backwards compatible... completely unacceptable in my eyes. Way to go apple for messing up a potentially amazing device... verizon is releasing the voyager wed which will probably have all the features we want.

06. Nov 20, 2007 at 03:12am by Anthony:

Quoting Matt:

they didn’t put any of the normal features that every ordinary phone has

What features, besides MMS, does "every ordinary phone" have that the iPhone does not?

Quoting Matt:

Way to go apple for messing up a potentially amazing device

Right.  They sure messed it up.  I’m sure they’re just kicking themselves over the 1.5 million iPhones sold and corresponding three-quarters of a billion dollars in revenue, in only the first few months on the market.

07. Nov 20, 2007 at 05:07pm by Jason:

All I can say is that there is only ONE reason I’m not switching from my Sony Walkman phone to an iPhone... and that’s the lack of MMS support.  They really blew that one.

08. Nov 23, 2007 at 04:05pm by Steve:

Quoting Matt:

Way to go apple for messing up a potentially amazing device

You make it sound as if there is no hope for the iPhone. I’m sure if the lack of MMS annoys enough people (just like it pissed me off today when I had to "viewmymessage.com" with a confusing user id and password) then Apple can do a simple software update so even the people who didn’t notice it was missing can have it.

And Jason, if there was ONE reason not to buy the iPhone, it certainly wouldn’t be because it doesn’t have MMS.

09. Nov 24, 2007 at 01:18pm by Alien:

This may explain why presently there is no MMS on iPhone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Messaging_Service

10. Nov 24, 2007 at 01:31pm by Anthony:

How so?

11. Nov 29, 2007 at 05:30pm by Barry McCockinner:

Quoting Matt:

    they didn’t put any of the normal features that every ordinary phone has



I agree.

The iPhone is great but lacks all the other features that other phones have.

also...

- Runs on EDGE not 3G
- Cant assign music tones
- No MMS
- No video record
- No AIM/iChat
- [oops]ty camera

i mean, come one.  My BJ is better than that

12. Dec 1, 2007 at 07:00am by Peter:

I use an iphone on uk orange, cam anyone help with sending and receiving picture message or re-directing them to my pc.

13. Dec 23, 2007 at 05:53pm by tom also:

what gets me is that friends all have unlimited message plans but not unlimited data.  Cannot send unlimited to me by email.

14. Dec 24, 2007 at 01:01pm by Robert:

With common missing features on the iPhone
like mms, voice tags for voice dialing,flash, java, voice recorder, gps, ect.
The iPhone should have been sold from the start as a beta version at a much lower price till the bugs were worked out. I don’t really feel I got my monies worth for it, and I hope they put out a firmware update to
increase its functions.

15. Dec 30, 2007 at 01:09am by Anthony:

Quoting Robert:

With common missing features on the iPhone
like mms, voice tags for voice dialing,flash, java, voice recorder, gps, ect.
The iPhone should have been sold from the start as a beta version at a much lower price till the bugs were worked out

Just because Random Joe wants the iPhone to have a certain feature, that doesn’t make it a bug if said feature is not implemented.

Quoting Robert:

I don’t really feel I got my monies worth for it

The iPhone received more media coverage than almost any other tech product in history, for 6 months before its launch and still going strong now 6 months after launch.  The features that it would and wouldn’t have were discussed ad nauseam in the news and on the net.  Did you somehow miss all of that insane media coverage and neglect to research the product yourself, before deciding to pay $400-$600 on it?

Quoting Robert:

I hope they put out a firmware update to increase its functions

They already have: firmware updates have added an iTunes store on the iPhone, support for TV-out, an adjustable double-click action for the home button, and bunch of other stuff.  And the coming 1.1.3 update will add a bunch of Google Maps updates, including a GPS-like "Locate Me" feature which uses cell-tower triangulation/multilateration, and the ability to customize the home screen including links to websites and web applications.  And of course, the official SDK is only about 2 months from being released, at which point you’ll be able to expand the iPhone’s capabilities even further via 3rd-party applications.

16. Jan 2, 2008 at 05:11pm by Bruce:

A $400 phone should do it all.  The salesperson in the Apple store should have explained the numerous limitations when I asked what were the downsides of the iphone.  He told me he could not think of any.  Imagine sending my first photo to a friend and he didn’t get it.  Why even include a camera if you can’t send photos instantly?  Ringtones are a pain, no voice features, can’t even use my Bose earphones.  I guess I have to blame myself for believing the salesman, but the ethics with Apple is questionable.

17. Jan 2, 2008 at 07:56pm by Anthony:

Quoting Bruce:

A $400 phone should do it all.

Really?  Should it walk your dog and make cappuccino and change your car’s tires?  Or is it the case that, in fact, a product needs to have a spec and a not-unlimited feature-set, even though limitations naturally mean that the product cannot please 100% of the people 100% of the time?

Quoting Bruce:

The salesperson in the Apple store should have explained the numerous limitations when I asked what were the downsides of the iphone.

So you think the job of a salesman is not to make sales, but to provide unbiased product advice?

Quoting Bruce:

Imagine sending my first photo to a friend and he didn’t get it.  Why even include a camera if you can’t send photos instantly?

Um, the iPhone can send photos instantly.  When viewing a photo, just hit the little arrow in the lower-lefthand corner, then choose "Email Photo."

Quoting Bruce:

can’t even use my Bose earphones.

Yes, you can.  You just need a $10 adapter like this or this.

Quoting Bruce:

the ethics with Apple is questionable.

That’s absurd.  Apple exists to make money, like every other business.  And like every other business, they and their salesmen present their products in the best possible light.  Every product has limitations, and no business sells their products by highlighting their limitations.  If they claimed the product had a feature that it really didn’t have, that would be unethical; but emphasizing the actual features is not unethical.

18. Jan 5, 2008 at 05:34pm by Brad:

There is a ton of functionality that other smart phones have that is missing from the iphone.  I love my iphone mainly for the web browsing experience (the screen is surpassed by none) and the ipod features.  There is, however, functionality that was present with (or could be added on to) my TREO 650 that is simply missing from the base iphone configuration.  To top it off the treo 650 is several year old technology. 

In order of my preference the missing applications are:


Voice Dialing (We need good hands free solutions especially in california where it will be illegal to use a non hands free cell phone while driving), MMS (Despite the silly argument that it is really not needed, MMS is the only simple way to get a photo from other phones to the iphone quickly.), gps (this will be less important with google maps triangulation and if a blue-tooth enabled gps unit becomes available for the iphone.  I had a blue tooth gps unit I used with my treo.  In fact leaving off the gps unit might have been a good idea for power reasons), e-book reader, business applications such as Word and excel editing (I bought the phone as a entertainment device, so this did not factor into my choice.  However, as it stands now the iphone makes a poor business device.  Can’t compete with black berry and the like.), flash support, video capture (why this is missing I do not know), voice recording.

Given other smart phones have these things I am at a loss why apple does not.

19. Jan 5, 2008 at 10:27pm by Anthony:

Quoting Brad:

Given other smart phones have these things I am at a loss why apple does not.

As Apple has stated and already demonstrated, they intend the iPhone to be a device that gets significant updates via software as time goes on.  So for many features, the answer is "it’s coming."  Some of them like 3G will require a hardware rev, but many will come via software update to existing iPhones, either directly from Apple or from 3rd party developers.

There’s also the fact that Apple clearly just knows what they’re doing when it comes to this stuff.  For every product Apple releases, there are vocal minorities of users insisting that Apple needs to add whatever features they demand; yet Apple has had an amazingly, almost unbelievably successful decade doing things the Apple way.  So for some features, the answer will be "sorry, we’re not going to add that feature, and if you don’t like it, too bad, and this product is going to be enormously successful with or without you."

Quoting Brad:

Despite the silly argument that it is really not needed, MMS is the only simple way to get a photo from other phones to the iphone quickly.

But as more phones get email capabilities, this becomes less of an issue, until eventually it’s a complete non-issue.  It’s arguably a non-issue already, considering how extremely well the iPhone is selling without MMS.  And since email is free while MMS is not, email is clearly the ideal solution in the long run.

Fake Steve Jobs just ran a poll entitled "What features do you most want to see added to iPhone?"  Here are the results:

posted image

MMS comes in dead last, so I’d say the argument that MMS is unnecessary isn’t silly at all.

20. Jan 7, 2008 at 08:50pm by Bruce:

Anthony,  I guess I should have said my $400  phone should have the basic features of a "free" phone you can get from many of the vendors.

Expecting a salesmen to tell the truth is not an unusual expectation.  I sell insurance and it is only ethical to point out the differences between the products, particularly if asked.  I asked the salesmen a specific question and he lied pure and simple.  I do not blame him, but myself, for expecting an honest answer because that is the way I do business. 

Many of my friends do not have email features and only have MMS support.  Many got their phones for free.  So my friends can’t get my photos "instantly."

Having to pay extra to use competitors ear phones is not very customer friendly.  Again, a free phone with MP3 lets you use any device and they seem to be able to make a profit. 

I do not think it is unreasonable to expect one of the most, if not the most, expensive phone on the market to have all the basic features the other smart phones and many of the free phones have.  (How silly of me!) This is what I expected from Apple and was disappointed.  Sorry if I hurt your feelings and sorry for expressing an opinion.  The way to get companies to improve their products is to use forums such as this to express dissatisfaction. I called Apple and your check is in the mail.

21. Jan 8, 2008 at 01:49am by Anthony:

Quoting Bruce:

my $400  phone should have the basic features of a "free" phone

Like a crappy screen and horrible software?  Apple is going for something a little different with the iPhone, and clearly they decided that email is better than MMS for the product they wanted to deliver.  And for many people, like me, Apple made the right decision there: MMS is neither a "basic" feature (4 of the 5 cell phones I owned in the 10 years before the iPhone didn’t have MMS) nor a desirable one.

Quoting Bruce:

Expecting a salesmen to tell the truth is not an unusual expectation.

That’s debatable, but whether or not it’s an unusual expectation, it’s certainly a foolish one.  "Buyer beware" is pretty much the #1 rule of being a consumer.  In theory salesmen should be honest, but theory is not reality.  When you buy a product, you do so in the real world, not the world of theory, so you should act accordingly.

But that’s all irrelevant here, since the salesman didn’t lie to you.  As you said, he didn’t say "the iPhone has no limitations," he said "I can’t think of any."  Presumably he doesn’t view a lack of MMS as a limitation, just as I don’t.

Quoting Bruce:

Many of my friends do not have email features and only have MMS support.  So my friends can’t get my photos "instantly."

OK, but that’s not what you said.  What you said was "Why even include a camera if you can’t send photos instantly?"  It’s false that you can’t send photos instantly, and it’s therefore senseless to suggest they shouldn’t have included a camera based on the (nonexistent) inability to send photos instantly.

Quoting Bruce:

Having to pay extra to use competitors ear phones is not very customer friendly.

Then don’t buy the device.  But again, you didn’t say "it’s not very customer friendly;" you said "I can’t use my earphones," which is false.

Quoting Bruce:

I do not think it is unreasonable to expect one of the most, if not the most, expensive phone on the market

Uh, no, it’s not the most expensive phone on the market.  When you include the cost of the required service contract, the iPhone costs less than many supposedly-cheaper phones, like the $99 Motorola Q.  The iPhone is only expensive if you actually believe that a slightly cheaper phone somehow outweighs the $2000 service contract it requires.

Quoting Bruce:

Sorry if I hurt your feelings and sorry for expressing an opinion.

I doubt you’re really sorry.  Instead, I think you’re trying to say-without-saying that it’s your feelings that are hurt, because someone challenged your opinion.

Quoting Bruce:

The way to get companies to improve their products is to use forums such as this to express dissatisfaction.

And it’s equally valid to use such forums the way I’m using this one: to defend products that you like, and to correct false statements made about those products by other people.

Quoting Bruce:

I called Apple and your check is in the mail.

Awesome, thanks.  I called Microsoft and your check is in the mail, too.

Ironically, Apple did send me and other early adopters a $100 check, after some whiney crybabies complained when Apple lowered the price (horror of horrors!) on the iPhone.  I didn’t ask for a rebate -- because as a responsible consumer, I research products before buying them, and only buy products that I actually want, and only if I think the price is reasonable -- but I was happy to put the money towards the purchase of a second iPhone, for my wife.

22. Jan 10, 2008 at 01:47am by Diggle Wiggle:

The [oops] Thing Should Have MMS...There Are No Excuses. The LGVX5200 Has That Capability. Why Shouldn’t The Iphone.

23. Jan 10, 2008 at 03:00am by Jeremiah:

I have to agree with Anthony. Apple created a product that other companies could only dream about at the time. They came into a game they had never been a part of before and revolutionized the industry.

I too was initially confused at the lack of MMS capability. But if you look at the evolution of most technology, certain features become obsolete. Try to go buy a new vehicle and get a cassette player standard. Soon, like cassette tapes, compact discs will become obsolete.

With nearly every (decent) phone that rolls out now having email capability, it would seem somewhat ridiculous to have 2 functions that accomplish the same feat. I am looking forward to the newest update, but I doubt that Apple will waste time and energy on adding a feature that one of my 10 year old phones, collecting dust, had the capability of executing.

It is a new age in cellular communications. Out with the old and in with the new.

24. Jan 14, 2008 at 01:36am by gabe:

Anthony, no one is atacking the iphone here, its just that the iphone is more of an entertaiment piece than a business tool. to me MMS is the one thing I hate I cant do.  also blutetooth transfers.  MMS is not a MUST HAVE but it is a feature that everyother phone has now.  I just thing that apple should have waited alittle more time to relase the phone.

25. Jan 15, 2008 at 09:15am by Anthony:

Gabe, no one said that anyone was attacking the iPhone here.

26. Jan 23, 2008 at 06:48pm by oo:

Here’s a simple, straightforward service to get pictures from your iPhone to other people. Yes, it involves e-mail, but you don’t have to remember each carrier’s e-mail domain (and let’s not even touch the fact of figuring out what carrier your friend is using if he/she’s changed carriers but kept their phone number...)

pktpix.com

27. Feb 29, 2008 at 02:02am by Rick:

This message is for Anthony, who seems to enjoy belittling others criticisms of the iPhone.  I’ll start out by saying that I love my iPhone and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  I can’t wait for a G3 version and will pay what I need to when I decide to get it.  However, the lack of MMS support for the iPhone is annoying and there is no mention of Apple supplying an update for the iPhone to support this function offered by most other phones.  My previous phone was a Motorola Razor with Cingular as my provider and it supported MMS.  I don’t care that I have the capability of sending my pics to an e-mail address or that I can retrieve pics sent to me by logging on to a web site with some esoteric user id and password.  What really ticks me off is that I have to write down the user id and password, exit SMS, open Safari, logon on to viewmymessage.com, and then view the picture sent to me.  If I want to send a pic, I have to ask the recipient if they have an e-mail address I can send the pic to and can they actually logon to their e-mail provider in order to look at it.
Do me a favor and don’t misquote me in any reply to this critique.  Like I said, I love my iPhone.  I just wish for this one little issue to be resolved by Apple or have Apple give me a good reason (besides the wonderful virtues of e-mail) why the iPhone can’t support simple MMS.

28. Feb 29, 2008 at 02:36am by Anthony:

Quoting Rick:

This message is for Anthony, who seems to enjoy belittling others criticisms of the iPhone.

I’m not belittling any criticisms.  I’m only pointing out that to me, and apparently to many others including Apple itself, the lack of MMS is not a limitation.  Most of the rest of this thread is people making false statements about the iPhone ("the lack of MMS is a bug", "I can’t use my earphones with it", "it can’t send photos instantly") and me correcting them, while amazingly resisting the urge to correct their bad spelling and grammar.

Quoting Rick:

Do me a favor and don’t misquote me in any reply to this critique.

Do me a favor and quit your whining.  I haven’t misquoted anyone.

Quoting Rick:

What really ticks me off is that I have to write down the user id and password, exit SMS, open Safari, logon on to viewmymessage.com, and then view the picture sent to me.

I’m sure that would annoy the heck out of me if I had to do it with any frequency, but I don’t.  Fortunately, I fit nicely into Apple’s vision for the iPhone, which is to eschew the lame per-megabyte and per-message charges of the telcos and instead offer unlimited data and free messaging via email.

As with all Apple products, the iPhone is Apple’s way or the highway, so if you don’t like something about it, there’s a good chance you’ll just have to get used to it.  Maybe they’ll add MMS support, but historically Apple has had no problem ignoring certain popular user requests for years on end (FTFF, etc).

29. Mar 3, 2008 at 01:07am by Robyn:

I have had this phone for 2 days. I am returning it tomorrow. I really don’t care at this point what it CAN do, I am really upset about what it CAN’T do. Obviously Anthony works for Apple in some capacity (maybe he can mention to Steve Jobs that the iphone sucks). The iphone has bad reception, no MMS, the battery life is horrendous, I have to pay again for songs I already have in my library to use as ringtones and like Bruce the sales person out and out lied to me when I asked very blatent questions (the AT&T sales rep, not an Apple rep). So to Anthony I hope you and your iphone have a wonderful life, but I am looking forward to using my 19.99 Sony Ericsson again. This was the worst consumer mistake I have ever made (and yes Anthony I did research it)

30. Mar 3, 2008 at 10:59am by Anthony:

Quoting Robyn:

Obviously Anthony works for Apple in some capacity

It’s as though my website is under seige by a troupe of professional B-list comedians, or professional 7th-graders.

Yes, obviously, I do work for Apple, because you can’t like a product without working for the company that makes it, and you can’t defend a product against false statements unless you work for the company that makes it.

Quoting Robyn:

The iphone has bad reception, no MMS, the battery life is horrendous, I have to pay again for songs I already have in my library to use as ringtones

The iPhone’s reception is fine and its battery life is quite good.  It has no MMS but I don’t care.  You do have to pay to use a song as a ringtone, but 1) I don’t care because ringtones are gay, and 2) it’s the exact same situation with ringtones from every other mobile provider.

31. Mar 4, 2008 at 07:45pm by Pablo:

After reading about half of the posts, I got tired of the back and forth... the Iphone is a great product, it’s amazing technology, and it’s a fun phone to have; but the lack of MMS is a real pain in the [oops], speically when everyone expects you to be able to recieve them... I’m actually considering switching to another phone until which time Iphone supports MMS. I konw the joke is on me, cause I already spent the 400 bucks, but MMS really is a missed feauture...

PNP

32. Mar 4, 2008 at 07:50pm by Anthony:

Quoting Pablo:

After reading about half of the posts, I got tired of the back and forth

Amen.

33. Mar 6, 2008 at 10:57pm by mike:

some people are just plain ignorant. people are talking about going to a website to email pics when you can simply email them to a number@the carrier. verizon is vzwpix.com. It’s not rocket science. and people saying they need to pay money to make songs into ringtones.do more research on that and you’ll see that there is a free way to make ringtones using itunes which is easier than any other method i’ve used to make ringtones for previous phones. so everyone who has said they’ve done their research clearly hasn’t done enough.

34. Mar 25, 2008 at 07:50pm by marco:

just use swirly mms ! it works

35. Mar 31, 2008 at 01:17pm by Jonzy:

I love the iPhone, I’d love it more if the SDK were available, and that I didn’t have to "jail break" it to get the 3rd Party apps that others are telling me are "so great".  I’ve always loved Apple’s concepts, and designs.  I do miss MMS, and not only that I miss the ability to send a picture to a fried, but the ability to save a picture I got in an Email like I did in MMS...that I think is the part that confuses me  more than the missing MMS.  There are a ton of "services" that are starting up due to iPhone (and other devices) lack of MMS....good for them.

I like it, love is a bit strong, but it has served it’s purpose quite well, I have used numerous devices, from PDA to regular phones, and this iPhone does simplify a great number of things for me, but I didn’t intend it to replace the BlackBerry or the Treo..it’s not built for "Business", at least not yet :)

36. Apr 2, 2008 at 11:07pm by LittleTechGirl:

I just wanted to point out that a couple of people commented here that you can send a pic to a phone by emailing it to number@.... I am with ATT and in my case that would be xxxxx..@txt.att.net. Well, that does NOT work for picture messages. The txt makes it in the awkward format of

FRM: Name
MSG: ...

and there is NO attachment. I just got my iPhone two days ago. I did not pay for it, my job did. If I was paying for it, I would wait for the 3G version. I am preparing to beta test version 2.0 for MS Exchange purposes. I am hoping that MMS is in there, although I am sure that we would have have heard about that by now. I am very shocked that MMS is not included since I use it all the time. I am certain they will add it at some point. I am just waiting. Luckily, I also have an ATT Tilt which is an AWESOME device that I love as it does everything.

i am getting used to the iPhone. it has it’s drawbacks, my main issue right now being that the screen does not respond to fingernails. And no, I will not cut them. Typing is a challenge, but i am practicing.

Take care all. Oh yeah, and after I install 2.0 sometime next week, if MMS is still missing you better bet I will be installing the hack for it. :)

37. Apr 3, 2008 at 12:53pm by Anthony:

Quoting LittleTechGirl:

I am with ATT and in my case that would be xxxxx..@txt.att.net. Well, that does NOT work for picture messages. The txt makes it in the awkward format of

FRM: Name
MSG: ...

and there is NO attachment.

Are you receiving the message on an iPhone, or on another device?  The image attachment won’t show up on the iPhone because it doesn’t support MMS, but I’d expect it to show up on a non-iPhone device.

Let us know what’s cool in 2.0!

38. Apr 4, 2008 at 02:29pm by Littletechgirl:

Actually I sent it from my Gmail account to my ATT Tilt, which receives MMS just fine. But when sent as an email to that phone the attachment does not come through.

39. Apr 11, 2008 at 08:46am by Ben:

I’m pro MMS. On my BJ I used the feature quite a bit. I still use it on my iPhone but it’s not as convenient (Apple is known for making the easy easier).

For anyone here that says it doesn’t matter if iPhone has MMS i think it’s funny that you are arguing with the people that say it does.

Look across the web and you’ll find many people saying give me MMS please. And video while you are at it.

Thank you for listening Steve.

40. Apr 11, 2008 at 04:17pm by Anthony:

Quoting Ben:

For anyone here that says it doesn’t matter if iPhone has MMS i think it’s funny that you are arguing with the people that say it does.

I see this is your first post.  Welcome to the internet!

On the internet, people have different opinions and they love to debate them.

There are many people to whom it doesn’t matter whether the iPhone has MMS.

41. Apr 11, 2008 at 07:24pm by themom:

I’m truly interested in owning one of these toys one day, as you know Anthony, even though I most likely will never use all the features that you and your bloggers/bloggettes blog about (especially since I have no idea what half of the references mean).

However, this thread brought to mind a suggestion that I’ve often thought about and didn’t take the time to point out until today when I saw you had 40 posts to this thread. It is that you might consider reversing the position of the posts; newest post to the beginning of the thread and displaying them in the order of most recent down to the very first one.

Is it just me or have others thought of this also?

lvu, Mom

42. Apr 11, 2008 at 07:43pm by Anthony:

Quoting themom:

you might consider reversing the position of the posts; newest post to the beginning of the thread and displaying them in the order of most recent down to the very first one

It depends on the context.  One of the main features of a "blog" is that the first thing on the main page is the newest post.  And as you scroll down, you’re viewing older and older posts.

But when you click on an individual post, it’s the opposite: the original post itself is first, then the comments follow.  And in that context, many people including me think that it makes sense to have the newest stuff appended onto the (bottom) end.

Otherwise, to read the whole thread in chronological order, you’d have to start at the top, read the first (parent) post, then scroll to the bottom and start going back up one comment at a time.  That non-linear approach seems counter-intuitive and confusing.

For people who follow a thread regularly it’d be convenient to have the newest stuff at the top, so they don’t have to scroll all the way to the bottom (or hit their "End" key, ahem...); but I’m not sure that that convenience outweighs the linear inconsistency it would entail.

43. Apr 12, 2008 at 10:08pm by Rob:

After reading all of this back and forth it seems that the point the pro mms crowd is making is that a feature as seemingly simple as this should have been included from the beginning.  Whether your opinion is that mms is necessary or not isn’t really the point.  The point is that mms is an industry standard.  So much so that the viewmymessage.com thing is being used as a weak alternative.  The iphone was touted as the ultimate handheld device.  It amazes me that this one simple aspect was neglected.

44. Apr 14, 2008 at 08:00am by Gary:

No matter how you spin it, there is no getting around the fact that the lack of MMS is a bad thing.  The lack of voice dailing is a bad thing too!  We use those things regularly.  Sending a photo is not as much of a problem, but tell me how to save a photo recieved via email or that lame viewmymessage.com!
Why have a bluetooth headset while driving when the most dangerous part of using your cell phone is the dialing, you know, when you have to take your eyes off the road!?
Other than those two issues, I love the device.
Oh yeah, the headphone adapter thing is also LAME. Can’t leave it in the phone because you can’t hear the call.  Have to switch the adapter from headphone to speakers.  Say hello to needing to buy replacements to lost adapters...Thanks Apple.  I’ve been using Apple products for over 14 years and I love the company, but come on, fix the issues NOW!

45. Apr 25, 2008 at 06:33pm by teo:

please leave feedback for Apple on this! if they get enough feedback, they will add the feature.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

46. May 24, 2008 at 02:35pm by RonM:

MMS is one thing, but when i figured out that they cheaped out even on the Bluetooth technology I was really supprised. The ipod won’t work with Bluetooth headphones. Who would be stupid enough to put Bluetooth into an MP3 player and have it only work with the phone? Oh yeah, Apple. Stupid or cheap? You tell me. MMS, video, Bluetooth, voice dial, 3g, etc, etc, etc! The list goes on and on. Oh, and by the way Anthony, ATT makes you buy a two year service contract in order to hook up the phone’s service. So your B.S. pitch about an imaginary savings over a free phone doesn’t hold water any better than the iPhone’s speaker phone works.

47. May 25, 2008 at 05:56am by Anthony:

Quoting RonM:

Oh yeah, Apple. Stupid or cheap? You tell me. MMS, video, Bluetooth, voice dial, 3g, etc, etc, etc!

OK, I’ll tell you.  Given those two choices, "stupid" is the one I’d choose to describe your analysis.

When creating a technology product, it’s impossible to add every single feature that every single user wants, otherwise you’ll never actually ship the product, because new features are always arising.  You have to draw lines and make decisions on what to include and what to leave out.

Most features aren’t "free" from an engineering perspective; they require design tradeoffs.  For example, in ~2006 when the design of the original iPhone was finalized, the available 3G chips were more power-hungry than the available 2.5G chips, and using one of them would have put a bigger drain on the battery than Apple was willing to accept.

Considering that many parts of the US don’t even have 3G service available, and that it was only last week that AT&T announced it was nearing completion of its 3G rollout in major markets, it’s clear that Apple’s decision save 3G for iPhone v2 was not stupid.

Which brings us to another obvious point that you’ve failed to grasp: the demand for the iPhone was huge, and Apple has made a ton of money selling it, despite leaving out some features that some users wanted.  And now, a year later, they’ll have a second giant product launch for iPhone v2 based on some of those features.

Quoting RonM:

Oh, and by the way Anthony, ATT makes you buy a two year service contract in order to hook up the phone’s service. So your B.S. pitch about an imaginary savings over a free phone doesn’t hold water

I didn’t say that the iPhone is cheaper than a free phone; I said it’s comparable.  I’ll try to speak slowly, so that you can understand this.  You know that "free" phone that you get when you sign a 2-year contract with a cell phone company?  IT’S NOT REALLY FREE BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR 2 YEARS OF SERVICE TO GET IT.

Cell phone service companies have tricked the public (including you obviously) into thinking that cell phone hardware is cheap or free; they’ve done that because the service company doesn’t make money on the hardware, they make money on the service.  They know that by saying "hey! free phone here!" they can get people to come into the store and sign a contract, whereby they’ll make $1000-$2000 from that person over the length of the contract.

Therefore, it’s dishonest to say that the iPhone costs $400 while other cell phones are free.  The truth is that you have to pay for the service to get the phone, and the service is far more expensive than the phone itself, typically $1500 or more for a 2-year plan including data.  So you can get a free phone for $1500, or you can get an iPhone for $1900.

(And actually, with the iPhone, you don’t have to pay for the service to get the phone.  If you buy your iPhone from Apple, then you don’t sign a contract; instead you activate it yourself through iTunes when you get home.  And the estimates are that 25% of iPhones sold are never activated with AT&T, because the buyer unlocks the phone and uses it on another network.)

48. Jun 10, 2008 at 05:10pm by trevc:

And now with 2.0? MMS or no MMS!

I can’t tell you how much I’d like to have it.  I installed BiteMMS on my iPhone and rebooted and then it wouldn’t connect with my carrier until I removed it.

I’d love to send an MMS to my girlfriend ... "Should I buy this?" or "Is this the thing you’re looking for" type of scenario.

Doesn’t SEEM to be in 2.0????

Come on Apple.

49. Jun 10, 2008 at 05:17pm by trevc:

Appears cell carriers are even making their own ’workarounds’ to MMS!?!

http://www.apple.com/webapps/utilities/o2mmsreader.html

50. Jun 13, 2008 at 02:13pm by Josh:

to Anthony:

Why are you arguing so fervently every single thing someone says negative about the iphone.  I have one, i love it, and i also agree with what most people are complaining about.  I am also a salesman and am always honest with customers.  Your augment for "free" phones not being truely free is correct.  However, most people still had to sign a contract to get it AND paid $400 plus for the phone so there is obvious cost difference to the end user.  For you to be arguing if an iphone should have basic features that crap phones have shows that you are merely such a fanboy you can’t see straight enough to have an objective conversation on the subject.  The email workaround for MMS is simply not viable for everyone and is a real pain in the [oops].  Apple said that MMS was coming in a future update when the first iphone was released.  Well, it’s been a year and I don’t imagine we will see it anytime soon.  If that’s true, then they flat out lied and that’s just wrong.  I’m sorry but I DO expect more from apple than from other companies.  They used to live up to their image.  lately they seem closer and closer to Microsucks.  I may have to start calling them crApple

51. Jun 13, 2008 at 03:04pm by Anthony:

Quoting Josh:

Why are you arguing so fervently every single thing someone says negative about the iphone.

I’m not arguing against "every single thing" here; you just have to scroll up to see that there are plenty of comments I haven’t responded to.

I’m also not arguing against negative things said about the iPhone; I’m correcting people who make false statements about it.  I don’t care if you like it or not, but if you lie about it, I’m going to call you on it.

Quoting Josh:

Your augment for "free" phones not being truely free is correct.  However, most people still had to sign a contract to get it AND paid $400 plus for the phone so there is obvious cost difference to the end user.

And as I’ve said many times now, it’s not that there’s no cost difference, it’s that the cost difference isn’t really as big as people are pretending.  The true comparison is not "free" vs. $400; it’s $1500 vs $1900.  However, since iPhone version 2 is only going to cost $199, it’s clear that I’m not the only one tired of people whining about this; obviously Apple is tired of it, too.

Quoting Josh:

For you to be arguing if an iphone should have basic features that crap phones have

I didn’t say the iPhone shouldn’t have basic features.  I said that I personally don’t care whether it has MMS.

Quoting Josh:

shows that you are merely such a fanboy you can’t see straight enough to have an objective conversation on the subject. [...] lately they seem closer and closer to Microsucks.

First of all, grow up.  Second, you obviously haven’t bothered to read half of this thread, because if you had, you would have seen that I’m not blindly advocating the iPhone, as a fanboy would, and I’m not going around referring to Microsoft as "Microsucks", as a fanboy would.  Here it is for the nth time, for those whose reading skills prevented them from reading and/or comprehending it the first (n-1) times: the iPhone doesn’t currently have MMS, I don’t care that it doesn’t have MMS, and I won’t care if Apple DOES add MMS in the future.  Additionally, if you come around here making tangentially-related but false statements about the iPhone, expect to have them corrected by me.

Quoting Josh:

Apple said that MMS was coming in a future update

When and where did they say that?  What’s the exact quote?

52. Jun 26, 2008 at 12:23pm by bowen152:

The argument that people should use email instead of MMS only works for those with email capable smart phones (currently only 17% of the total cell phone market). So for the 83% of the market that do not have email on their phone, they’re unable to send pictures to iPhone users or receive pictures from iPhone users. In reading through these posts, someone compared MMS technology to cassette tapes... MMS isn’t a dying technology, it’s current and widely used. I have an iPhone and for the most part I like it, but I find it very annoying and confusing why Apple would choose to leave this out.

Anthony, do you think Apple can do no wrong? Why are you so adamantly opposed to the idea that MMS is popular, useful and that Apple’s choice to not include that functionality was a mistake? You say you don’t need it, and that not everyone uses it, that’s fine. I’m not saying it’s universal, but the number of people who do use it is HUGE. It’s a standard function on all other phones and it’s absence in the iPhone limits how useful it is as a communications device with the 83% of the market that don’t have smart phones.

I like my iPhone, it’s undeniably cool, but honestly my BlackJack was more functional and useful.

53. Jun 26, 2008 at 04:13pm by Anthony:

Quoting bowen152:

do you think Apple can do no wrong?

No.  Do you think MMS can do no wrong?

Quoting bowen152:

Why are you so adamantly opposed to the idea that MMS is popular

That doesn’t make any sense.  A thing is either popular or it isn’t; to be "opposed" to its popularity would be senseless.

Quoting bowen152:

Why are you so adamantly opposed to the idea that MMS is ... useful and that Apple’s choice to not include that functionality was a mistake?

I’m not opposed to the idea that it’s useful to some people.  That still doesn’t make it a mistake for Apple to have excluded it from the iPhone.  You can believe that it was a mistake, but that also doesn’t make it so.  There are lots of things that some people find useful yet still are not included in the iPhone.

Quoting bowen152:

the number of people who do use [MMS] is HUGE. It’s a standard function on all other phones

The number of people who use email is also huge, and the number of people who use email on their phones is growing very quickly.

I’m not against MMS and I won’t mind if Apple adds it to the iPhone.  But there’s no question that email is superior to MMS, because it’s free and it’s multiplatform, not tied to phones as SMS/MMS is.  SMS/MMS is just another way for the telcos to gouge customers; it’s ~$700 per megabyte of data, a price which is obviously absurdly high and not based in reality.  The only reason they can get away with it is because until recently, it’s been difficult or impossible to send email on a phone.

54. Jun 27, 2008 at 12:58am by Larry:

Anthony, I don’t know who you think you are [...] But in reality, you know well MMS is used widely [...] The FACT that free phones have MMS is sad, compared to the FACT that such an advanced phone such as the I phone has no MMS [...] I’m being non bias in my opinion, and in reading your stupid entries, you need to find another way to use your time cause it’s annoying really; cause you aren’t convincing us of anything more than your just really annoying. I phone is a cool phone that’s not the argument, and to date there is no phone the matches the wonderful interface, that’s not the discussion here, but would you buy a Mercedes without a CD player? I don’t think you would; I think you get my point. MMS is a basic function. THERE IS NO EXCUSE AS TO WHY APPLE AS NOT ADDED THIS, PERIOD. [...] Send some more inputs so we can have something to be entertained with.

55. Jun 27, 2008 at 02:30am by Anthony:

Quoting Larry:

Anthony, I don’t know who you think you are ... (lots of whining and personal attacks)

Translation: "get ready for a long rant laced with poor grammar."

Quoting Larry:

But in reality, you know well MMS is used widely.

Yeah, so?  I didn’t say it wasn’t widely used.

Quoting Larry:

The FACT that free phones have MMS is sad, compared to the FACT that such an advanced phone such as the I phone has no MMS [...] I’m being non bias in my opinion

I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be funny or ironic.

Quoting Larry:

in reading your stupid entries, you need to find another way to use your time cause it’s annoying really; cause you aren’t convincing us of anything more than your just really annoying [...] Send some more inputs so we can have something to be entertained with.

Again, funny, or ironic?  In your defense, though, your post was tediously long (before I removed most of the childish nonsense from it), so you can be forgiven for forgetting what you’d said in the middle by the time you got to the end and contradicted yourself.

Quoting Larry:

I phone is a cool phone that’s not the argument, and to date there is no phone the matches the wonderful interface, that’s not the discussion here, but would you buy a Mercedes without a CD player? I don’t think you would; I think you get my point.

I seriously just laughed out loud.  I’ve had a severely crappy day and I needed that, so thanks.

Yes, I think your reference to a CD player in a Mercedes says it all, really.

Quoting Larry:

MMS is a basic function. THERE IS NO EXCUSE AS TO WHY APPLE AS NOT ADDED THIS, PERIOD.

There you go being all "non bias" again.

Let me break this to you gently: first, Apple doesn’t generally make excuses to anyone for anything.  And second, you don’t need to make excuses when you’ve created a product that is probably the most talked-about, desired gadget of all time, which has made you boatloads of money, and of which you’re about to release version 2, which by all indications is going to be even more successful than the first version.

But of course, you’re entitled to your biases as I am to mine.  A year ago when I created this post, I couldn’t see a good reason for Apple to exclude MMS from the iPhone, other than "it’s not quite ready yet;" but as I’ve thought about it more, I think Apple may quite possibly be intentionally excluding MMS because they want people to use email instead, which is a feature controlled by Apple without any AT&T tax on it.

56. Jun 28, 2008 at 11:45pm by Larry:

Anthony.  I see that you love to quote people, and I expected you to do so with my entry.  The funniest thing that I myself would laugh about you the most is how your approaching everything as an argument almost 100% of the time.  I think you should e-mail Apple your résumé, that’s unless you have already performed this task.  I think your a very well informed and well educated guy on this phone; but I think every now and then you miss the point by a hair.  Besides the last entry I will have you know the Apple 3G I phone will probably be in my pocket on or after 11 July 08.  I have work that day but my roommate has the day off and he will be buying 2 for both of us.  So, the last dispute was not about anything other than the lack of MMS on the I phone.  Plain and simple Anthony.  And you would be right if you said bias can be a wretched thing, but it depends on what subject you are bias about.  You seem to show a ardent passion for the I phone  as if it’s the one thing on Earth you hold dear.  I say if that is a fact; that is sad waste of time.  The only proof of your passion and obsession with these very opinions is the fact that you reply to almost every single one.  Wow, is the word of the day oh smart one.  The one thing I admire about you is you have passion, wherever that infatuated craze is coming from.  Keep the replies coming, just as long as they inform us and not annoy us.  I get the picture you paint that you seem to have no serious gripes about MMS, and that you feel it’s  just not something that is readily needed on the I phone over e-mail.  I will only say that I seriously disagree.  Your not right about everything, and I’m not either.  You said it yourself : 

“I think Apple may quite possibly be intentionally excluding MMS because they want people to use email instead, which is a feature controlled by Apple without any AT&T tax on it.”

Well in my opinion that only translates to a company who doesn’t want to comply with user desires like say (every single cell phone company in existence), which of course includes MMS as a standard feature within it’s feature set.  If anyone asked me as a Verizon user, “ why do you use MMS instead of e-mail”.  The answer would include a smirk, and a simple answer, “ it’s just easier to use.”  I agree that Apple may have a fault with MMS, but it’s not far beyond there capabilities.  I mean AT&T’s is the network it uses, and AT&T’s other borage of phones use MMS.  The question is why does Apple not want to add it, just because it will be a small task to add; when it’s already in the network with AT&T.  That’s the only reservation I have and will ever have with Apple and the I phone.

57. Jun 29, 2008 at 02:23am by Anthony:

Quoting Larry:

The funniest thing that I myself would laugh about you the most is how your approaching everything as an argument almost 100% of the time.

If by "argument" you mean "an issue worth discussing opposing viewpoints on" then I agree.  But if by "argument" you mean "something to get upset about" then I disagree.  I’m certainly not upset by any of this; why would I bother creating a post, allowing comments on it, and then responding to those comments if I didn’t enjoy it?

Quoting Larry:

You seem to show a ardent passion for the I phone  as if it’s the one thing on Earth you hold dear.  I say if that is a fact; that is sad waste of time.

No, the iPhone is not "the one thing on Earth I hold dear"; that would obviously be pathetic, and equally obvious is the fact that a person can be passionate about many different things.

Quoting Larry:

The only proof of your passion and obsession with these very opinions is the fact that you reply to almost every single one.

This thread currently has 56 comments, 17 of which are my own, and 20 of which I haven’t responded to.  That means I’ve actually responded to about half of them, not "almost every single one."

And again, I’m doing this because I want to, because it’s fun for me.  I enjoy having a blog, posting articles on it, and then interacting with people in the comments.

Now, on to the meat of the matter:

Quoting Larry:

but I think every now and then you miss the point by a hair

I’m sure I miss the point at times, but I don’t think I’m missing your point.  You think the iPhone should have MMS and you think Apple is making a mistake by excluding it.  I get that, and I disagree.

Quoting Larry:

The question is why does Apple not want to add it, just because it will be a small task to add; when it’s already in the network with AT&T.

I don’t think anyone believes that Apple is excluding MMS because it would be difficult to add it.  Probably 95% of cell phones are absolute garbage, made by companies who seem to have no concept of how to design usable products that work well, so if all of them can implement MMS, certainly Apple could.  Again, as I said before, if Apple is indeed intentionally excluding MMS, then I think it’s because they want people to use email for messaging instead of using MMS.  It’s similar to how Apple has excluded Flash from the iPhone, partly because Flash is slow, prone to crashing, and because most of the existing Flash websites aren’t a good fit for the iPhone interface; but also because Apple doesn’t want people using Flash, it wants them using Apple technologies.

Quoting Larry:

Well in my opinion that only translates to a company who doesn’t want to comply with user desires

In some cases, yes, where Apple wants to adjust user desires because Apple believes that their way is better, and is trying to convince users of that.  That’s true of virtually every company and product, though, because you can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time.  And from the smashing success of the iPhone (and iPod and, in the past few years, the Mac itself) it’s clear that Apple is fulfilling the desires of many, many users in a big way.

58. Jun 29, 2008 at 02:38am by Anthony:

And just to clear the air here, since it’s been stated and implied that I’m some kind of Apple fanboy: I’m not.  Linux is my primary OS and has been for years, from Red Hat, to Mandrake, to Slackware, to Gentoo, and finally (for now) to Ubuntu.

Before the iPhone, the only Apple product that I had ever purchased was a Mac Mini, which I bought in 2006 solely for the purpose of having a system running the Safari browser to test my web applications in.

So I now own 2 Apple products: the Mini and the iPhone.

I do recommend Apple computers now, to just about everyone unless they’re geeky enough to run Linux, mainly because Windows has become such a trainwreck with virtually every Windows PC either infected with viruses/malware/adware, or just bogged down with so much crapware that it’s painful to use.

So I use Apple products for practical purposes (the iPhone is extremely useful; the Mini is necessary for work) and I recommend Apple products because they would make most PC users’ lives much easier.  None of that is due to any kind of blind fanboyism for the company.

59. Jul 7, 2008 at 11:48am by shasha:

Your graph posted in January about MMS interest is a little outdated.  Below is the number of inquiries into iphone in April of 2008.  MMS ranks rather high.  The highest among "specific" searches. I doubt they are searching just to make sure the phone still does not have it and are happy about it.  Just because you do not care does not mean the rest of the consumers don’t. Hopefully some of the 3rd party applications will solve the issue.

The top ten iPhone related search terms during April 2008 were:

iPhone (1,488,000)
iPhone Update (151,000)
iPhone Web Apps (118,000)
iPhone MMS (101,000)
iPhone 2.0 (75,000)
iPhone 3G (60,000)
iPhone 2 (59,000)
iPhone G3 (43,000)
iPhones (38,000)
iPhone Speakers (35,000)

Eagerly awaiting your insults.

60. Jul 7, 2008 at 12:37pm by Anthony:

iPhone (1,488,000)
iPhone MMS (101,000)
iPhone 3G (60,000)

So what does this tell us?

1. The number of people searching for "iPhone MMS" is only about 5% of the number searching for "iPhone."

2. Nearly twice as many people searched for MMS as searched for 3G, yet Apple is including 3G and (from what we know so far) excluding MMS in iPhone 2.0.

61. Jul 8, 2008 at 09:31am by shasha:

My only point is you seem to think that the MMS feature is useless, which if fine, but others do not share your opinion, that’s all.  MMS is the second most "searched" when asking about "specific" features, not a generic "iphone" search.  I am also confident that many who searched "updates" and "web apps" were also looking for information for possible MMS capabilities.  When I heard 2.0 was coming out I searched "iphone updates" to see if MMS was going to be added.  I was just pointing out your graph posted in January does not seem to agree what people are asking about.  That’s all.

62. Jul 8, 2008 at 01:39pm by Anthony:

Quoting shasha:

I was just pointing out your graph posted in January does not seem to agree what people are asking about.

It depends on who the people are.  That earlier graph came from the Fake Steve Jobs site, which has a more technical audience than Google does, since Google is used by everybody.  It’s probably the case that among more technical users, 3G and GPS are more important than MMS, while the opposite is true among less technical users.

63. Jul 10, 2008 at 11:52am by jacob:

As to apple I could care less why they didn’t add it, I just wish they would explain why instead of just not talking about it or maybe make it more know that it cant send them at the store.

64. Jul 17, 2008 at 11:56pm by sofia:

haha dam anthony ur lik the best debater ever its funny how som1 calls u on sumthin and u just make fun of w/e stupid thing they say and shut em up lol. i accepted it didnt have the mms thing the day i got it in nov, and i was thrilled when i discovered after sum1 sent me a pic from ther phon to my email that i could email a pic to that same address like a mms or smm or wtf it is. but ya who cares if it should have it or not. It doesnt, so accept it or go throw a boycot-apple-and-their-evil-no-mms-phones party. ha ya thatll show them

65. Jul 21, 2008 at 09:39pm by whereismms:

OK so over a year now and no MMS.  What the hell?  Apple has an applet available on the apple web site for UK users.  What about their home market?  Apple has to know by now that viewmymessage sucks

66. Aug 7, 2008 at 09:14pm by Larry:

I’m swaying from the MMS and just a quick subject of the 3G.  When the 3G I phone came out, at first I was excited, but then something told me to not attempt to buy it for a few reasons, one being bugs with the 2.0 software. Guess what; that reality is worse than I thought. That phone has more problems than geezer living on meds.  Mind you it’s a beautiful phone, since I had the chance to feel it out for myself through a couple friends, and then at the apple store, but it has the 3G antennae reception issue and the 2.0 issue it’s just not worth even thinking about buying at this time.  I’ll wait for a firmware update before even thinking about considering to buy this.  I’m fine with my Verizon LG Venus, and thinking about the LG Dare for now, until AT&T gets a better network, and Apple gets it’s firmware together.  I don’t know about you, but one of the things which made Apple such a sought after company with it’s quality products quickly becoming a little obtuse with me since they seem to be suffering from mass market syndrome just like any big company cranking out a lot of products, some of the products seem to be having more and more glitches as they sell more and more. I hope they don’t become too big too fast, to where there products start to become laden with too many issues like Microsoft.

67. Aug 12, 2008 at 03:17pm by Anthony:

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that Apple is "suffering from mass market syndrome just like any big company cranking out a lot of products" based on one buggy launch.

I’ve been running the 2.0 firmware since it was released and it’s not significantly buggier than the old firmware in my daily usage of the iPhone.  In fact there’s only one new bug that affects me: audio playback occasionally skips, perhaps once or twice in the course of a whole album.  That’s pretty irritating, but they’ve already released firmware v2.0.1 which fixes some bugs, and I’m sure they’re working on the next one.

Apple sold a million iPhones in the first weekend of the 3G launch, and has apparently sold about 3 million 3Gs to date, so I think you’re probably in the minority being so dissatisfied with it.

68. Oct 18, 2008 at 06:43am by Chris:

My friend has a first gen iphone and I just got a 3g.  He told me he could get mms on his from viewmymessage site.  But I never got that option when someone sent me a pic through mms, I never got anything.  So I called At&t, on hold for 15mins, then talked to lady for 30mins trying to diagnose the problem.  After concluding it was an Apple related problem, I was then transferred to Apple Customer Support.

Takes a drink.

Placed on hold for another 20mins, I reach an unhappy Apple Customer Support who talks down to me the whole time.  She then concludes after 15mins of discussion that it is At&t’s problem because viewmymessage is an At&t sponsored/owned company.  I then tell her what At&t told  me and she NO, it is their problem, not Apple’s. 

I am not sure what is going on, but it’s very suspicious.  MMS is so simple, I’ve had multiple phones over the past 5years and have been able to get pictures in my texts or MMS.  I don’t think you should have to hack your phone just to get MMS.  At&t [oops] you, Stever Jobbs [oops] you.  Do something

69. Nov 20, 2008 at 07:48am by nini:

i think the iphone is pretty cool, but i too get a little pi#sed off when my friends (that don’t have email capability) send me a photo. a bit of an embarrassment on apple’s behalf i think.. also, videoing? WTF, come on that’s piss poor. the most advanced smart phone? i think not... Anyway here (downunder), on top of the $60/month (24 month) plus the $179 for the phone (this cost changes with the cost of the plan) i have to purchase a data pack $5/5MB, $10/150MB $29/300MB it starts to get a bit expensive just to receive emails, that none of my friends can send anyway, or to even go to these view ya message sites for a few pictures.  Not to mention web browsing, itunes, apps store and GOOGLE MAPS $F$U$C$K$. Which raises another issue, i’m sure the iphane has more memory than any navigator on the market, i could spare a GIG or 2 to store the few maps i would use, using google maps is just making my ripoff telco provider richer.

70. Nov 20, 2008 at 11:58pm by Anthony:

Quoting nini:

i too get a little pi#sed off when my friends (that don’t have email capability) send me a photo.

It looks like MMS may be coming to the iPhone soon.

Quoting nini:

also, videoing? WTF, come on that’s piss poor.

Video streaming is apparently coming soon too (more).

Quoting nini:

Anyway here (downunder), on top of the $60/month (24 month) plus the $179 for the phone (this cost changes with the cost of the plan) i have to purchase a data pack $5/5MB, $10/150MB $29/300MB it starts to get a bit expensive

Dang, that sucks.  Thank your local monopolist telco for that.

Quoting nini:

i’m sure the iphane has more memory than any navigator on the market, i could spare a GIG or 2 to store the few maps i would use

Yeah, having map imagery actually installed on the phone itself, so it would work offline (and be quicker), would be nice.

71. Dec 24, 2008 at 08:17am by Ross:

We are proud to announce that the native version of MMS for iPhone, which has been undergoing extensive testing by our dedicated beta-test team, will be released on the App Store to all UK iPhone users allowing them to send and receive MMS photo messages on the iPhone.

Filling this void, which many iPhone users worldwide have commented on, the MMS application will allow iPhone users to retrieve MMS messages from O2 without the need to use the O2 legacy MMS messaging website, and will allow MMS messages to be sent directly from their iPhone.

Additionally; we invite any carriers interested in providing a "proper" solution to MMS on the iPhone, to work together with us to provide a better MMS experience for their users. This application is initially launching compatible only with iPhones on the O2 UK network - although we look forward to being able to provide support for other operators in the future.

More Information: http://iphonemms.net/native-application.html

72. Jan 6, 2009 at 03:37am by Ginger:

I am surprised that there is so much discussion over the merits of MMS. It is a standard feature on most phones, phones at a fraction of the cost of the iPhone, and continues to have a stronghold for the vast majority of users. Email and MMS are two slightly different functions that can not be fairly compared when it comes to the overall purpose. What I believe Apple has overlooked is the demand for MMS, as well as its universal compatibility across carriers. For a phone that boasts ease of use and advanced functionality, it is hard to swallow the restriction of using email to send multimedia (not including sound or video) and receiving multimedia via a third party site requiring laborious access codes. And without the ability to forward what you get, it seems as though Apple does not understand its market. And for that matter,  iPhone users pay plenty for the use of their phones. The suggestion of more fees for this long awaited functionality would make the greed of this corporation much more obvious. MMS should be added to the original iPhones, as well as any future phones that Apple intends to market, if the company really wants to be a viable mainstay in this arena. Period.

73. Jan 7, 2009 at 05:03am by Anthony:

Quoting Ginger:

What I believe Apple has overlooked is the demand for MMS

it seems as though Apple does not understand its market

MMS should be added [..] if the company really wants to be a viable mainstay in this arena

I am sure that Apple will eventually start doing some market research, and begin to take note of the demand for MMS, in the hopes that they can create a viable product.  Unfortunately, right now they’re a little busy with totally dominating the market selling iPhones by the truckload.

74. Jan 19, 2009 at 09:34pm by KingRich:

So is apple going to add mms or not ?

Sure would be nice if they would . People would stop bothering att. Doing the wap push stuff.lol

75. Feb 19, 2009 at 08:23pm by dRUM:

I have a new? phone and is suppose it has MMS on it.  It has a moving arrow on the bottom of the internal screen that states that MMS is working. What is it doing?

76. Feb 26, 2009 at 12:10am by ZaneLover:

Wow...I can’t believe I actually sat here and read all of this. Quite simply I did wait a while to purchase the Iphone and I have to say I can not wait to return it. I am simply turned off by the lack of the simplest features you expect from a cellular device. I have owned many cell phones and I have never purchased a phone and within 24 hours wanting to return it. I can not forward messages, no MMS, no turn by turn navigation (sound) I am trying to find a reason not to return it. Sure its a great gadget but I guess I bought into the hype. The sales person keeps telling me Apple is going to add this and going to add that but truth be told Apple is not truly interested in the consumers of its products specifically the IPhone...Don’t believe the hype, cute gadget but not very functional!

77. Mar 17, 2009 at 03:04pm by Anthony:

Dry your cryin’ eyes; MMS is coming to the iPhone this summer.

78. Aug 3, 2009 at 06:26pm by Alex:

Still not here. MMS is the promise that shall never arive.

79. Sep 25, 2009 at 04:10pm by Armen:

iPhone MMS came out today!!!! update your phones!!!! Works really great with my phone!

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