Finally the iPhone Gets MMS This Friday

So much for the “late summer” release date Apple. At least the iPhone is getting it’s upgrade to be able to send and receive images and video via MMS. I knew the iPhone was good for more than just talking on the phone and finding local prices of houses.

via AT&T’s Facebook page: MMS Update: We know you’ve been eager for this service so we wanted to offer a quick update on the launch plans for MMS on Friday, Sept. 25. Late morning, Pacific Time, on Friday, the new carrier settings update enabling MMS should be live and ready …to download through iTunes. We’ll provide the steps and all of the details you need right here at that time.

AT&T has posted another encouraging note via Facebook that they will stick to schedule and roll out full MMS capability on Friday. The wireless giant confirmed that we can expect the service to be up and running by “Late Morning” Pacific Time.

AT&T did promise that the iPhone’s innate ability to send MMS messages would make its American debut by September 25—this Friday, in case you don’t have a calendar handy. Is AT&T going to disappoint us (again) or will it deliver the goods? Count on the latter, according to no less a source than AT&T itself—or at least the corporate behemoth’s Facebook page. Glad we don’t rely on AT&T’s announcement for anything like finances or our health. Did I mention there is an easy way to stay healthy while sitting at your computer?

On that site, the carrier promises that MMS support will launch late in the morning, Pacific time, this Friday. “The new carrier settings update enabling MMS should be live and ready to download through iTunes,” AT&T says, promising to provide more details when the launch begins. (Once the update is live, you’ll be prompted to install it the next time you connect your phone to iTunes. It’s not a whole software update, just a small installation of additional settings onto your iPhone.)

As a reminder, the ability to send and receive photos, contact info, audio files, and locations via the iPhone’s Messages application was added with Apple’s iPhone 3.0 update—AT&T just didn’t support it. That’s not the case in at least 76 other countries where iPhone 3G users already take advantage of MMS support.

Needless to say, a lot of people will be paying attention to AT&T on Friday. And if this report on DSLreports.com is accurate, that’s making the carrier very nervous, as it rushes to beef up its infastructure to support the expected burst of activity. Let’s hope they don’t screw up my cell phone records again and send the bill somewhere else.

Here’s hoping that AT&T’s network is ready for millions of iPhone users to send a few test MMS messages starting late Friday morning.