Ever since the iPhone first hit the streets, one feature that users have been clamoring for has been MMS. And now, after months of speculation, AT&T has officially, and finally, announced that it will enable MMS support for iPhone 3G and 3GS users on September 25.
In a press release issued today, AT&T explained why they took so long to get MMS support up and running for the iPhone as carriers overseas have been supporting the feature for months now.
We know that iPhone users will embrace MMS. 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. We appreciate your patience as we work toward that end.
We’re riding the leading edge of smartphone growth that’s resulted in an explosion of traffic over the AT&T network. Wireless use on our network has grown an average of 350 percent year-over-year for the past two years, and is projected to continue at a rapid pace in 2009 and beyond. The volume ofsmartphone data traffic the AT&T network is handling is unmatched in the wireless industry.
On one hand, it's hard to fault AT&T for waiting until it had the infrastructure in place before supporting MMS. Since day 1 of theiPhone's release, customers have wailed against AT&T's atrocious service which often results in dropped calls and garbled conversations. Making matters worse, poor AT&T service was especially prominent in places like New York City and San Francisco - where iPhone users exist enmasse . AT&T and Apple have actually both been on the receiving end of a number of lawsuits relating to a shoddy user experience which some consumers have labeled as misleading. Disappointment with AT&T's handling of the surge in iPhone data has even spawned a somewhat online grass roots movement that is counting the days until AT&T's exclusive contract with Apple expires.
So with all of that said, it's understandable that AT&T wanted to avoid jumping the gun at all costs.
But on the other hand, you can reasonably argue that AT&T has absolutely no excuse for its poor iPhone service. Granted, iPhone users are consuming enormous amounts of data, but this isn't news to AT&T, and they've had the past 2 years to fix a number of problems which they were aware of from day 1. And to fan theflames a bit more, it's not like AT&T had any reason to pinch pennies when it came to upgrading their network. I mean, iPhone users, on average, spend over $85 a month on their phone bills, a figure which is almost laughably higher than the industry average. AT&T is getting paid a lot of money from a lot of people to provide a service, and they've simply failed to live up to their end of the bargain. Looked at from that context, AT&T's delay in finally implementing MMS support is just the latest example of theirincompetance.
In the end, though, MMS is finally here and that should overshadow any shortcomings on behalf of AT&T, especially since it's widely believed that the iPhone won't be an AT&T exclusive for that much longer. So yeah, AT&T's handling of the iPhone has been extremely disappointing, but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel.