iPhone MMS

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.

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!)

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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:

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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)

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

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.

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 :)

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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.)

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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