AT&T is reportedly making its multimedia messaging service available to some iPhone users ahead of its planned Sept. 25 launch, according to some iPhone users.
According to Apple Insider and some other reports, a "variety" of iPhone users have said the new MMS feature has been turned on.
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The MMS service in iPhone 3.0 would allow a user to send pictures, video, and audio recordings, as well as other information such as maps. AT&T was widely criticized for not providing the service when the iPhone 3GS began shipping in June.
AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel today said the service was not supposed to start until Sept. 25 and would provide no further comment. "MMS will be available for the iPhone on September 25. We have nothing to add to that," he said.
It's not uncommon for carriers to launch trial services to some customers as a means of readying a full service, analysts said.
AT&T was admittedly concerned about having the MMS service operate properly and smoothly once officially launched, and said recently it was making its networks available.
Blogger Ash Kalb at Mediaite.com wrote on Saturday that he noticed, after getting an iPhone OS 3.1 update last week, he suddenly had MMS on his iPhone "weeks ahead of AT&T's announced release date..." He urged iPhone users to give MMS a try in case their service might be already working.
This story, "MMS for iPhone works ahead of schedule for some users" was originally published by Computerworld.