The iPhone 3G S launched a few months ago, but AT&T users haven’t been able to take advantage of a few much vaunted (and much needed) features as yet: MMS, Bluetooth file-sharing, and tethering are the Big Three. This, of course, despite the fact that AT&T is the “flagship” carrier! But never mind all that, because today we have some good news in the way of this latest bit of gossip: starting with iPhone OS 3.1, AT&T users will, in fact, be able to use MMS and Bluetooth file-sharing. Welcome to 2006, iPhone owners!
I kid, of course, but it is ludicrous that we’re getting so excited over a feature that’s been around for many years now. But I guess that’s what makes the iPhone so great, all that bleeding edge technology.
The key is Apple’s event next week, on September 9. (A few people from the Crunch Team will be there.) That’s when it’s expected that Apple will announce these new features—if not at the very event, then sometime that week.
Keep in mind that that Apple event seems to be music-centric. Whether that means new iPods with built-in cameras, the Beatles coming to iTunes, social media functionality built into iTunes (“Jim played ‘Paint it Black’ 22 times today. He must be going through a phase.”), or whatever, who knows.
In other news, the New York Times is finally getting around to something that we have known for months: the iPhone is just killing AT&T. Anyone who was at SXSW last March knows first hand how all those iPhone-toting attendees brought AT&T to its knees. Basically, iTunes users, with their excessive data consumption, is pushing AT&Ts’ network to the breaking point; some might even call it broken. (Comedian Jim Norton often ranks about his terrible iPhone reception, on the West Side of New York City.)
So, yeah, three cheers for MMS, maybe.