AT&T rolled out software Friday to give iPhone users the
long-awaited ability to support multimedia messaging service.
The lack of MMS capabilities has long been a hole in the iPhone
platform, as competitors such as BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and
even most entry-level handsets have been able to do this for years.
Apple addressed this issue with the release of the 3.0 software
earlier this summer, but AT&T did not support this feature out of
the gate because it wanted to ensure its network could handle the
traffic.
"The unique capabilities and high usage of the iPhone's multimedia
capabilities required us to work on our network MMS architecture to
carry the expected record volumes of MMS traffic and ensure an
excellent experience from day one," AT&T said in a statement.
The lack of MMS support has been a sore spot for many iPhone owners,
and AT&T is even facing a class-action lawsuit over the missing
feature in the 3.0 software. Users can get MMS support via a
software upgrade through iTunes, but the firmware update will not
bring picture messaging capabilities to the iPod Touch or the
original iPhone.
The MMS rollout may help quiet growing criticism of AT&T from a
small, but vocal, group of iPhone users regarding the carrier's
network quality. AT&T has also deployed 850-MHz spectrum in major
metropolitan markets to ease 3G congestion, and improved service
could be vital in retaining iPhone subscribers even after AT&T loses
exclusivity of Apple's touch-screen smartphone.
Another big feature of the 3.0 software is its ability to share the
iPhone's cellular data connection with a laptop or other mobile
computing device, but AT&T has not specified when this would be
available or how much it would cost.
Source:
InformationWeek.com
