Some iPhone Users Get MMS Now

AT&T Inc.’s network is apparently supporting picture messaging for the iPhone for certain users, if eyewitness reports are accurate.

AT&T is planning to enable MMS on the iPhone beginning Sept. 25. But blogger Ash Kalb at Mediaite.com noted Saturday that his iPhone was miraculously MMS-ready after downloading the recent iPhone OS 3.1 update. That was followed by other reports.

AT&T, for its part, has publicly said only that the capability will come to all users on Sept. 25, and that it will require an unspecified software update (via iTunes).

Blogger Eric Zeman speculates that the necessary software update will be a carrier profile update rather than iPhone OS 3.2, since the lack of picture messaging is a function of the AT&T network only – iPhone OS 3.1 already supports MMS. It is likely that AT&T is tinkering around in advance of the service, updating some users’ carrier profiles in the process, unwittingly or not. Thus, some lucky peeps can send picture messages now.