AT&T said it would finally be turning on MMS for US customers. On mid-day Friday you will be able to update your iPhone with new carrier setting which will enable MMS. This has been a long time coming and has been hampered by the overwhelming iPhone sales and underwhelming network capability. Lets hope we have enough bandwidth for such simple messaging capability come Friday.
Apple Insider has posted that a vendor in "the know" has brought to our attention that AT&T is working on a major upgrade to their data network prior to the new iPhone hardware rumored to be arriving in June. AT&T has had their network stressed greatly due to the iPhone data traffic since the iPhone 3G. The iPhone accounts for about two thirds of all of AT&T’s data consumption and has caused numerous outages and slow downs in the past. If the new iPhone does include a video camera with upload capability as we suspect, AT&T will certainly need such bandwidth increases to meet demand. It will be interesting to see if there is real world speed increases that we iPhone users will see. At this point we can only hold out and anticipate what Apple has for us in June.
We can now downlaod all of our music without having to be on WiFi. Apple has announced that starting today, 3G downloads are go. We can use all the features of the iTunes store, but with the bandwidth we pay for, instead of the WiFi we used to have to use.
A long time in the making and wrestling with record companies has finally paid off for Apple. It seems Apple has finally won the battle of DRM-free downloads on the iTunes store.
"The deal reported by sources speaking to CNET News.com would see Apple break its longtime insistence on a fixed per-track rate for songs and give in to frequent demands from Sony, Universal and Warner that would change the pricing depending on the popularity and recentness of a given song."
An announcement will probably be made tomorrow at the MacWorld Expo as one would expect. To go along with such a deal are sources reporting that AT&T and Apple have reached an agreement which would allow us to further use our bandwidth we pay for every month on the iPhone. This means we will be able to download iTunes songs via 3G and hopefully podcasts larger than 10MB, which most already are.
We hope to hear more details on this news and more tomorrow at MacWorld.
Rogers, the carrier of the iPhone in Canada has just extended their data plan promotion in Canada. The original data plan came under much criticism for its lack of monthly allowed bandwidth and overpricing. "As part of those adjustments, due to the customer complaints, Rogers announced a promotional plan for $30 per month that allowed for the transfer of 6 GB of data. It was set to expire on August 31, but the company has now decided to extend it until the end of September."
Rogers has also adjusted its normal data plans prior to the release of the Blackberry Bold. "A 500 MB plan will cost users $25 per month, and include three months of unlimited usage. Another will allow 1 GB for an additional $5 per month."
Rogers will also allow tethering of the data from the phone (blackberry I assume) to any connected computer
This could be more confirmation of an Apple tethering app for the iPhone. Lets hope so…
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