The one feature strangely missing from the incredible iPhone is MMS. Everyone has MMS except iPhone and this has caused some confusion and anger amongst its users. AT&T has explained all of this in a press release from today. The network was to blame and they admit this to their credit. Finally a simple feature gets added this month. Read the press release after the jump:
We know many of our iPhone customers are eager for an update on our rollout schedule for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). We’ve been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches – and that launch date is: September 25 for iPhone 3G and 3GS customers. MMS will be enabled through a software update on that day.
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 of smartphone data traffic the AT&T network is handling is unmatched in the wireless industry. We want you to know that we’re working relentlessly to innovate and invest in our network to anticipate this growth in usage and to stay ahead of the anticipated growth in data demand, new devices and applications for years to come.
We thank you for your business and look forward to keeping you updated on our initiatives.
When living with an iPod or iPhone and you find you have a lot of storage left on your device wouldn’t it be nice if you could use that to backup your files automatically. With Clickfree you can do just that and much more easily than you might think. According to their site all you need to do is plug the device into a USB port on your Mac or PC and then plug your iPod or iPhone into the Clickfree device.
It then scans your computer for files you might want to backup and then backs up what it can to your iPod. The company says it never overwrites your existing music or files on your device and works without even touching it, hence the click-free part. The cost is $49.99 and if it works as it says it could be very valuable indeed, especially if you have an iPod Classic around with a lot of storage left over.
TORONTO – August 10, 2009 – Storage Appliance Corporation, developers of Clickfree Automatic Backup products, today announced another breakthrough product with the launch of its Clickfree Transformer for iPhone and iPod mobile digital devices and the Special Edition model, the Transformer SE. The new Transformers allow customers to backup their computer’s irreplaceable digital content onto excess storage space on their iPhone or iPod. These two new products can also be used to transfer music from any iPod or iPhone to your computer.
"From students to seniors, almost everyone owns an iPhone or an iPod these days, so why not make more use of the unused memory on these devices?" says Storage Appliance Corporation CEO, Bryan McLeod. "My 80 GB iPod has 40GB of music and photos – it still has over 40 GB of unused storage. Now I can maximize the extra storage by backing up my work and home computers. These Transformers are an inexpensive way to effortlessly backup your computer using devices you already own."
Customers can now easily backup their computer onto the extra storage space of any iPhone or iPod using the Clickfree Transformer. Simply connect your iPhone or iPod to the Clickfree Transformer, then connect it to your computer and backup will automatically begin. There is no software to install or setup and no manual to read. Only the excess capacity of your iPhone/iPod will be used, and existing content on your iPod/iPhone will never be overwritten.
The new Transformers will also allow customers to retrieve music collections back off their iPhone or iPod. So many customers have changed their computers, "orphaning" the content on the iPhone/iPod. With the new Clickfree Transformers, the content can be retrieved from the iPhone/iPod quickly and easily.
The Transformer SE, available next month, comes in a sleek piano black finish and has all the same functionality as the Transformer made for use with the iPhone/iPod. In addition, the Transformer SE also has the functionality of the award winning original Clickfree HD Transformer, which will work with any manufacturer’s external USB hard drive to deliver a fully automatic, no-click backup. Like all Clickfree products, there are no instructions to read, no copying and pasting of files and no software to install or setup.
Clickfree’s(TM) entire lineup of products, from the Clickfree(TM) Transformer for iPhone/iPod to Clickfree portable backup drives and DVDs, are designed for the 90 percent of computer users who, research shows, don’t get around to backing up their computers.
The Clickfree(TM) Transformer for iPhone/iPod has a retail price of $49.99 and the Transformer SE retails for $89.99. Both are now available directly from Clickfree www.clickfree.com.
Clickfree products can also be found at leading outlets such as Brandsmart, HH Greg, OfficeMax as well as on Amazon.com.
About Storage Appliance Corporation
Storage Appliance Corporation develops intelligent, Clickfree(TM) personal storage solutions
specifically designed for ease of use. Clickfree(TM) backup is the world’s first technology that
performs backup by simply connecting the storage device to the PC, without having to set up or
configure software. See www.clickfree.com for additional information.
According to Business Insider an analyst for Piper has been saying that they expect no iPhone announcement at WWDC, but rather an influx of news on the upcoming Snow Leopard. Analyst Gene Munster was quoted as saying:
"No New iPhones [at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference]. As indicated in today’s press release, we believe Apple will focus on the new version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard at WWDC. While some investors may be expecting Apple to launch redesigned iPhones at WWDC, we do not anticipate the launch in early June. Rather, we expect Apple to host a special event in late June or early July to launch a family of iPhones. We continue to expect multiple models, possibly a high-end iPhone with improved specs from the current version and a low-end version with lower capacity and fewer features along with a reduced pricing plan. Such a model could also be used in Apple’s launch of the iPhone into China as soon as the end of summer ‘09."
We can take this with a grain of salt as analysts are not the most accurate in making assumptions on the moves Apple makes. There could be some truth to this, but for now we will just have to wait and see.
Google has announced the launch of a new application which transcribes your voicemail into messages for you to view. The service will then send them via email or SMS message for you to read instead of having to listen to them when you are in a meeting, class or other situation where you cannot listen to your messages. If you are currently a subscriber of GrandCentral, Google will set this up for you automatically in the next few days. If not, you can sign up [Here]
This could be the perfect addition to our visual voicemail on the iPhone or amny phone for that matter. Be sure to sign up if you are interested in trying it out.
If you go and check for updates to your iPhone, you will find that there are updates for the carrier settings on the phone.
According to Apple’s knowledge base, the following has been update:
iTunes 7.7 and later has the ability to update the carrier specific settings on iPhone with iPhone 2.0 software or later. Carrier settings updates are small files (about 10k) that are downloaded from iTunes to be installed on your iPhone. The carrier settings can include updates to the default APN (how iPhone accesses the carrier’s cellular data network), special dialing codes at Settings > Phone > [Carrier] Services, default settings for Stocks, Maps, Weather, and other items.
According to TUAW, this is what is really being updated:
Logo replacements, apparently, for AT&T’s upcoming MicroCell service (at the time of this writing, the page is in maintenance mode). 2 images, light and dark versions of the image on the left (courtesy of MobileCrunch). Commenters atThe iPhone Blog also confirm the revised connectivity image. Our own commenters note that Apple has added settings for the Mobily network (Saudi Arabia) and Etisalat (United Arab Emirates) in this update as well, which adds weight to the expected 2/15 launch of the iPhone in those countries.
Logo replacements, apparently, for AT&T’s upcoming 
