MMS and tethering are considered "innovative" nowadays?
Personally, I think MMS and texting are pretty outdated. MMS should be handled by E-mail and texting should be handled by IMing. The only reason to keep SMS and MMS are for the older phones that can't support data connections. I hope we'll soon see a day where every cellular plan includes both voice and data.
Steve
Mic W.
· 4 months ago
The AT&T; MMS failure is holding back AT&T; and the iPhone from becoming the true dominator in communications. RIM has taken the Blackberry to the point that one more stumble by AT&T;, and RIM will walk all over them. But I , like many others, wait for AT&T; to do the right thing and quit holding back my iPhone.
haroldiv
· 4 months ago
not to mention all the whining they do about bandwidth intensive apps..... seriously?
sign the twitter petition to get Qik on the iphone. they have an app that allows you to stream live video and audio instantly to the net. One of the most useful things ever for a cell phone. Not just social, think of the political and judicial ramifications!
hey,mobile carriers do you realize we are in a recession! we are at war and we still shell out big bucks.give us better rates with data and cellular plan. play that card and you will be the greatest.
macfriendly
· 4 months ago
its about time someone did somthing about this. great article! Apple needs to start there own cellular network and forget all this b/s.
bill
· 4 months ago
How about doing away with the 10Meg limit? And how about multi-tasking? Thanks for protecting me from myself but I have an add-on battery and a cigarette lighter cord.
tjleeland
· 4 months ago
I would assume that AT&T; thinks it knows what will make it the greatest mobile phone company in the nation. Telling them what they NEED to do to be successful is going to fall on deaf ears.
I agree that AT&T; should be ashamed to be the only (I think) provider not offering these two features, but I'm sure they have their reasons -- budget or technical.
Unfortunately, I think they are going to wake up one day to an announcement that Apple is extending it's partnership to other SIM-based providers. But until then, we will be stuck in the dark ages of telco companies while sitting on the bleeding-edge of smart phones.
I don't get AT&T;'s business plan, unless they feel that their partership with Apple is so strong they just don't have to worry about losing the iPhone -- but I suspect Motorola felt that way just before the company moved to Intel.
We really need to be appealing to Apple to move to a real network. Even if they did offer tethering tomorrow, I find getting good 3G connections is so hard that I'm not sure it would be worth any price, no matter how low.
pornstarrunner
· 4 months ago
AT&T; offers 47 phones that can send MMS messages to any provider. They currently offer 14 phones that are capable of tethering. Guess who told AT&T; not to release the MMS and tethering code? APPLE! Can anyone guess why? Neither can I. My wife works for AT&T...now; before you say "hey, that's why you aren't PRO Apple" I have to say that I LOVE my iPhone...because my wife opened my phone and I can send and receive MMS and tether if I chose to pay the extra 30 bucks for 5G limit...which I'm not. :) So before you write an open letter to any company, do some research. Do you REALLY think that AT&T; wanted to deal with the several THOUSAND calls PER DAY since the launch of 3.0?! And do you think that they wanted to tell their customers "I'm sorry that you bought a 3G phone 3 months ago and the 3GS is coming out in 11 days, but we are no allowed to do anything to make you happy." If the same thing happened with a Samsung or a LG or ANY OTHER PHONE, AT&T; can and will bend over backwards to keep you happy. But APPLE told AT&T; to FIRE any employee, manager, or anyone else who bends the rules for the iPhone. THEN, after scaring the CRAP out of all the AT&T; employees they told them a few days AFTER the release of the 3GS that they CAN do what is called an "early upgrade," which made their customers who were told "no way no matter what" VERY angry because they thought that AT&T; just didn't know what they were talking about. OH! And as for your comment about "When you partnered with Apple to release the original iPhone back in June 2007 you were seen as an innovator. People left Verizon, Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile, and many others in mass quantities because they must have the iPhone. It was the most advanced smartphone available...." since WHEN is a phone that can't send MMS, take video, or have voice commands (remember, the app store didn't come out until the release of the 3G) "the MOST ADVANCED SMARTPHONE?!" I'm pretty sure it was just the latest "I'll give you whatever I have in my bank account because of the Apple logo on the back" device...but to call it advanced...that's just wrong. Keep in mind that I REALLY DO love the phone NOW...but at release, it was a useless brick that could access email and SORTA make phone calls.
remowlms
· 4 months ago
First, your MMS story is obviously not true. Had you actually received an MMS picture message from you "girlfriend" you would have received an SMS with a link to a web site, a user name and password that would have allowed you to view and save the picture to your iPhone using Safari (really sweet and simple with cut, copy and paste now). There was no reason to switch sim cards to a different phone (anyone who is semi-intelligent person knows AT&T; turned off MMS on the iPhone account so MMS won't work on any phone at all with that accounts sim) - The only way your story is plausible is that you are the one who isn't exactly computer savy, and maybe "she" needs to dumb things down for you.
pornstarrunner
· 4 months ago
You change the settings in iTunes, log on to AT&T; and change your phone to a blackberry or any other phone... Did I dumb that down enough for you?
remowlms
· 4 months ago
They will NEVER end their partnership with SIM based carriers as that would limit them to US and very few foreign markets. Even Verizon is going to abandon CDMA in a few years (though they will support it for a while). Apple isn't going to give up the world, which is SIM based GSM by vast numbers, so you can have a CDMA phone in the US.
pornstarrunner
· 4 months ago
Wait...was that addressed to me? Because I said my wife works at AT&T;, not my "girlfriend" and I never said she sent me a picture, though she has. With an unlocked iPhone 3GS, you don't get the link anymore, btw. So if someone sends you a MMS message, you simply don't get it. At all. So type in "unlock MMS for iPhone" in google and follow the directions.
remowlms
· 4 months ago
My comment was to the story, not your comment. You also don't know what you are talking about because I have an iPhone 3GS and I am looking at the SMS AT&T; sent me regarding the MMS picture that was sent, the web site, the user name and the password. Please don't discuss things you know NOTHING about...
pornstarrunner
· 4 months ago
I don't doubt your story. I also don't doubt mine. My wife has an LG view, and before we "altered" mine, I had her send me a picture the day after the 3.0 update. I got NOTHING. now, the odds are that the glitch has been fixed, but at the tine I tried it, it dud not work. I'm assuming that at the time the author wrote this the same problem existed. But I'll try it again. I need to reset my phone to "normal" status anyway...I don't want to void any warranty! After I do, I'll have her send me another picture and I'll let you know how it goes.
pornstarrunner
· 4 months ago
My point: AT&T; DID NOT SEND THE MESSAGES BECAUSE THEY ASSUMED MMS WAS UP AND RUNNING!!! Steve Jobs had a liver transplant, prompting apple to release the 3GS earlier than they had anticipated. They told AT&T; that the phone would be released in LATE JULY. they changed their mind when they had to cover up that the CEO was sick to try to protect their stock. Apple blindsided AT&T; with the announcement. AT&T; is ready to roll out MMS messaging as soon as Apple finds a way to charge you extra for them like they did in the other countries (4 to 8 SMS messages per mms message. Since AT&T; has unlimited messaging, apple can't get any more money. Though the tethering will cost as soon as they re word the "unlimited data" contract...). Do me a HUGE favor and call AT&T; and see what happens if you say you have a problem with any other phone. Hang up. Call back with the same problem with an iPhone. Apple put serious handcuffs on AT&T; for the iPhone exclusive. Was it worth it? Yes. Will they take the PR hit for now? Yes. Their company will thrive regardless.
tjleeland
· 4 months ago
I never said they would give up SIM-based companies, I said they would move to another SIM-based company. Or companies. That's because I Apple isn't going to redesign their phone to use CDMA when it's running on GSM today. They might make a CMDA in addition to GSM, but I would hold my breath.
Waiting4
· 4 months ago
Well done. Can you share the priceless picture with us and AT&T;? It would be a perfect way to show exactly why we will jump ship to any other carrier that supports mms sooner.
Pony99CA
· 4 months ago
What? RIM isn't a carrier, and AT&T; carries BlackBerry phones. So how exactly will RIM walk over AT&T;?
Steve
Pony99CA
· 4 months ago
I don't know. I've read romors that an iPhone will be coming to Verizon -- and probably before they convert to LTE or some other 4G technology.
Steve
Mic W.
· 4 months ago
I meant that RIM will walk over Apple and the iPhone... And that AT&T; in crippling the iPhone and costing them customers...
pornstarrunner
· 4 months ago
Good idea! A cell phone company that costs 4x as much as a regular company, but the bill and service plans come in fancy black or white boxes with amazing graphics. Granted, you won't get service unless you are in a "mac area" and you won't be able to call anyone unless they are also on mac-wireless...but just having the sticker that says "AppleComm" on your car will make you 20x cooler and add several douchebag points to your portfolio. Tell your idea to the people at the genius bar...which, btw, does NOT serve liquor, and that is total BS.
pornstarrunner
· 4 months ago
Yes! Do that!! :)
ksanders
· 4 months ago
my friend, i couldn't agree with you more!!!! i would like to send a version of this to at&t; myself. i would like to know by what means did you get this to apple?
All Comments
Personally, I think MMS and texting are pretty outdated. MMS should be handled by E-mail and texting should be handled by IMing. The only reason to keep SMS and MMS are for the older phones that can't support data connections. I hope we'll soon see a day where every cellular plan includes both voice and data.
Steve
sign the twitter petition to get Qik on the iphone. they have an app that allows you to stream live video and audio instantly to the net. One of the most useful things ever for a cell phone. Not just social, think of the political and judicial ramifications!
http://twitition.com/28nzu
I agree that AT&T; should be ashamed to be the only (I think) provider not offering these two features, but I'm sure they have their reasons -- budget or technical.
Unfortunately, I think they are going to wake up one day to an announcement that Apple is extending it's partnership to other SIM-based providers. But until then, we will be stuck in the dark ages of telco companies while sitting on the bleeding-edge of smart phones.
I don't get AT&T;'s business plan, unless they feel that their partership with Apple is so strong they just don't have to worry about losing the iPhone -- but I suspect Motorola felt that way just before the company moved to Intel.
We really need to be appealing to Apple to move to a real network. Even if they did offer tethering tomorrow, I find getting good 3G connections is so hard that I'm not sure it would be worth any price, no matter how low.
Guess who told AT&T; not to release the MMS and tethering code? APPLE! Can anyone guess why? Neither can I. My wife works for AT&T...now; before you say "hey, that's why you aren't PRO Apple" I have to say that I LOVE my iPhone...because my wife opened my phone and I can send and receive MMS and tether if I chose to pay the extra 30 bucks for 5G limit...which I'm not. :)
So before you write an open letter to any company, do some research.
Do you REALLY think that AT&T; wanted to deal with the several THOUSAND calls PER DAY since the launch of 3.0?! And do you think that they wanted to tell their customers "I'm sorry that you bought a 3G phone 3 months ago and the 3GS is coming out in 11 days, but we are no allowed to do anything to make you happy." If the same thing happened with a Samsung or a LG or ANY OTHER PHONE, AT&T; can and will bend over backwards to keep you happy. But APPLE told AT&T; to FIRE any employee, manager, or anyone else who bends the rules for the iPhone. THEN, after scaring the CRAP out of all the AT&T; employees they told them a few days AFTER the release of the 3GS that they CAN do what is called an "early upgrade," which made their customers who were told "no way no matter what" VERY angry because they thought that AT&T; just didn't know what they were talking about.
OH! And as for your comment about "When you partnered with Apple to release the original iPhone back in June 2007 you were seen as an innovator. People left Verizon, Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile, and many others in mass quantities because they must have the iPhone. It was the most advanced smartphone available...."
since WHEN is a phone that can't send MMS, take video, or have voice commands (remember, the app store didn't come out until the release of the 3G) "the MOST ADVANCED SMARTPHONE?!" I'm pretty sure it was just the latest "I'll give you whatever I have in my bank account because of the Apple logo on the back" device...but to call it advanced...that's just wrong. Keep in mind that I REALLY DO love the phone NOW...but at release, it was a useless brick that could access email and SORTA make phone calls.
Did I dumb that down enough for you?
Steve Jobs had a liver transplant, prompting apple to release the 3GS earlier than they had anticipated. They told AT&T; that the phone would be released in LATE JULY. they changed their mind when they had to cover up that the CEO was sick to try to protect their stock. Apple blindsided AT&T; with the announcement. AT&T; is ready to roll out MMS messaging as soon as Apple finds a way to charge you extra for them like they did in the other countries (4 to 8 SMS messages per mms message. Since AT&T; has unlimited messaging, apple can't get any more money. Though the tethering will cost as soon as they re word the "unlimited data" contract...). Do me a HUGE favor and call AT&T; and see what happens if you say you have a problem with any other phone. Hang up. Call back with the same problem with an iPhone. Apple put serious handcuffs on AT&T; for the iPhone exclusive. Was it worth it? Yes. Will they take the PR hit for now? Yes. Their company will thrive regardless.
Steve
Steve
Tell your idea to the people at the genius bar...which, btw, does NOT serve liquor, and that is total BS.