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AT&T, why must iPhone users suffer the way we have?  When you partnered with Apple to release the original iPhone back in June 2007 you were seen as an innovator.  People left Verizon, Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile, and many others in mass quantities because they must have the iPhone.  It was the most advanced smartphone available and Apple has continued the innovation with the 3G and the 3GS.  Unfortunately I don’t think I can say the same for continued innovation on your half of the equation. 

Apple has once again raised the bar with the iPhone 3GS giving users much needed upgrades such as the new 3.0 MP autofocus camera.  On the software side of things, Apple has finally given us tethering and MMS.  I would like to address these 2 things individually and start with tethering.  While this may be important for many people, I personally think that this should be a priority, but not the top priority.    Given that the iPhone OS has the Safari web browser to handle internet needs, the Mail app for your messages, and the App Store for just about anything else, the iPhone OS can fill this gap decent enough until tethering can be worked out on your end.

However, MMS is a completely different story.  This feature should have been live and available to users when the 3.0 OS shipped to customers.  Carriers such as Rogers, T-Mobile, O2, Orange, and Vodafone all supported MMS from the launch of OS 3.0.  This to me is unacceptable as AT&T was the original iPhone carrier and should be leading the pack in feature support.  I have stood by you as a service and defended you time and time again to all my friends who say that Verizon is the best.  I always tell them how I left Verizon for AT&T because our Verizon coverage was terrible and how we never dropped calls.  I honestly don’t have a way to defend the lack of MMS.  My girlfriend sent me a picture two days ago and when I was with her last night, she asked if I got it.  My response was “No, I didn’t get it because while my iPhone can do picture messages, AT&T is dumb and hasn’t turned it on yet.”  Now, I have to admit, she isn’t a computer savvy person at all so I normally dumb things   down anyway, but things like this should just work.  To be able to receive her picture later that night, I had to take the SIM card out of my iPhone, put it into my old Samsung Sync and attempted to receive the picture message.  Not only did it not download but the WAP browser wouldn’t work either.  I spent well over 30 minutes on the phone with technical support getting MMS working just to get one priceless picture from my girlfriend then re-enable my iPhone service.  Nobody should have to go through this.

In conclusion, I hope you take my thoughts into consideration and get things together.  This experience has been as “un-Apple” as it can get and I feel that if Steve Jobs were running things at AT&T our service would be just as seamless as the iPhone experience is.  In the future, I really hope to see some more innovation from the AT&T side of the Apple/AT&T relations

Adam Wyss
iPhone.mobilitysite.com

P.S.  I just saw this article on Gizmodo and this article on TechCrunch and I must say that I completely agree.  Apple is in a position right now where they can take the iPhone to any network that they want to because of the success it has had.  That success came because of Apple’s innovation.  If you (AT&T) were doing any real innovating, people would not be writing articles like this about your network, instead they would be praising you as the best carrier in the nation.  Do you really want Apple to take the iPhone ecosystem, pack it all up, and take it to Verizon?  They had the first chance at the iPhone and Apple was turned down.  Now it is up to you to keep the iPhone.  Hurry up and finish MMS and tethering NOW and then put as much money and manpower available into upgrading this network to make it better, stronger, and faster than it ever has been before.  Hurry up and roll out the HSDPA upgrades nationwide, build more towers, and make this network one to really rule the US wireless industry!