Report: Swedish carrier planning iPhone MMS app

Swedish iPhone carrier Telia has apparently convinced Apple to let it offer its own MMS application.

(Credit: Telia)

Swedish iPhone users may soon have a way to send each other pictures and video via text messaging.

Telia, Apple's carrier partner in Sweden, is going to develop its own MMS (multimedia messaging service) application for the iPhone, according to a report from MacWorld Sweden. The lack of MMS is perhaps one of the most common gripes about the missing features of the iPhone, second only to cut and paste.

But instead of adding that function itself, or allowing a third-party developer to build it for the App Store, Apple is apparently going to let Telia enable MMS on its own. And it doesn't sound like the rest of the world is going to get a crack at that application, based on the translation, which was verified as legit by a few Daring Fireball readers conversant in Sweden.

Telia will have the application up and running in two months, it told MacWorld Sweden. There were MMS options available to those who wished to jailbreak their iPhones, but this is apparently an officially sanctioned way to text pictures to your friends.

[tech_crazy]

"but this is apparently an officially sanctioned way to text pictures to your friends."

Sorry to nitpick, but how does one text pictures? You either text or you send pictures.

[Tom Krazit]

Yeah, that's perhaps not the best sentence construction. The idea is that it lets you send pictures as part of a text message, using the same text message application. You're not sending them as attachments, you're not sending a link to pictures hosted elsewhere, you're sending an actual picture in the text message field.

[contentcreator--2008]

"A picture's worth a thousand words" ... in this case it's pretty literal. You do text pictures --- the pictures are transmitted from phone to network as a series of text messages. The texting and the picture-sending all rely on access to the same underlying infrastructure in the phone and network.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Apple...the only phone maker that requires you to move to Sweden and use a third-party app. to send MMS.
Apple...It just doesn`t work. And it costs way more , so you get double-shafted by Jobs.

[technewsjunkie]

Apple is the third biggest smartphone maker now.
Did you read that news Applesuxleo?

[AppleProLeo]

Funny you talk of MMS and costs more in the same post. Get over yourselves, Apple is helping you from being ripped off by not allowing you to MMS. By not adding MMS to the most popular phone they are speeding up the process of killing MMS and here's why:

MMS is basically email that the carries forces its customers to pay for, every phone number has and unique email address attached to it by the carriers, many people have found out what the email address is and have emailed from a normal computer and have had it sent straight to a phone as "MMS".

Slowly...er well quickly really, people are moving to smart phones that receive true emails on their phones which are free and the carriers cannot force a tax on it by renaming it MMS. So what Apple is doing is helping in the killing of a feature that is not only misleading and borderline theft but also overrated.

Apple have always pushed/forced people (or its customers) to move forward to better technology, this reminds me of the iMac and floppy disk bit**ing. It's about being ahead of the curve, it what Apple customers like about Apple.

Find your own MMS address:
http://iphone.macworld.com/2007/08/sending_and_receiving_mms_on_y_1.php

Carry on AppleSuxLeo your you ignorant and misleading c*** and carry on showing us how stupid you really are.

[turoa76]

Am I the only one that doesn't use MMS or care if it's even on a phone? I've had my current phone for 2 years now. Never sent an MMS - don't even use the camera. Couldn't care less.

[sterlingcoo]

No you're not the only one, apparently it's a HUGE deal online but in the real world I can't find a single person who gives a damn about it...

[rsmck]

There's definitely a demand for it, I operate iphonemms.net (please don't construe this as an advertisement - it's not a profit-making venture; I created it originally for friends and family and then decided more people could benefit from being able to send MMS messages!!) - and it now has many 100s of messages a week pass through it showing there is a demand for this service...

We're currently working on a native application, and I hope other networks follow Telia's example :)

[AppleProLeo]

MMS is overrated, I live in the UK where MMS is basically free along with SMS - as most if not all our packages include a silly amount of MMS/SMS in our bundles, I have 1000/month on mine for example. Yet most people still use SMS over MMS, in the past year I received 4 MMS - 2 of which was a dancing Hippo gif which I regard as spam really - and have sent none.

@rsmck

HAHAHHAHHAHA....so 100s of messages pass a week, hahahhaha 100;s, you really think hundreds a WEEK is a lot in the internet world? hahahahha Sorry I'm not trying to be patronising but I can't stop laughing at the fact that you think hundreds is a lot in an internet world of a billion.

[AppleSuxLeo]

If I get ripped off by the iPhone , does it come with the Swedish Bikini Team ?

[AppleProLeo]

I don't see how you'll ever get ripped off buying an iPhone - unless of course you buy it for example from a guy in an ally in which case you'll only have your self to blame - Because if you buy an iPhone and you don't like the product which I'm sure some won't you have 14 days or 30 days(depending on the country) to return it for a full refund.

Again AppleSuxLeo you show us how you love talking out your A**.

[drewmcmanus--2008]

This is crazy. Apple needs to fix the situation. I try to make the case here: http://blog.mcmanus-family.com/2008/09/the-case-for-mms-on-the-iphone.html

[JadedGamer]

MMS is as others have noted the little brother of email - why would you want that on a device with full email capability? Do people really like to transform their images to the 0,3 megapixels (640x480) used for transfer over that mediocre soution?

[Lipmonger]

Ef you Apple. GIMME MY FRIGGIN MMS!

This is frickin lunacy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: While you're at it, slap in that line of code for landscape typing - and consider having a coder or two figure out how to implement some copy/paste for THE LOVE OF ALL THAT REMAINS HOLY!!!!!!!!!!

[allex083]

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