They said it couldn’t be done. They said the radio simply wouldn’t allow it. But that, as it turns out, is hooey. Despite Apple’s protestations to the contrary, it appears that the original iPhone is perfectly capable of sending and receiving Multimedia Messages (MMS).
Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s necessarily an above-board way to, in the words of Jean-Luc Picard, make it so. However, if you happen to have jailbroken your phone and have access to the Cydia installer, you can find an application called, intuitively enough, ActivateMMS2G.
Now, your results may vary, and even if you do manage to get MMS enabled, its use may be limited by your wireless provider, so, as always, proceed at your own risk. The package also advises not installing on the 3G or 3GS, so, well, don’t.
Frankly, Apple’s claim always seemed to be a little suspect to me. There are plenty of cheap and free phones on the market that handle MMS adroitly and have been doing so for years—you’re telling me that one of the most advanced smartphones on the market in 2007 couldn’t deal with sending picture messages?
And still we continue to await AT&T completing whatever strange and sinister incantations and rituals are required to get MMS on the iPhone 3G and 3GS. My life will not be complete until I can send pictures of my cat doing funny things to everybody I have ever met.
[hat tip: Cris Pearson]