AT&T Brings MMS To Apple iPhone

The first hint that MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) had gone into general availability for iPhone users seemed to have come very soon. Apple iTunes is offering to update the carrier settings for the iPhone by clicking download on that message, the magic of MMS lands on the iPhone after just three repetitions of the smartphone.

In order to update the iPhone to handle MMS, the device must be plugged into iTunes. If a dialog box doesn't appear immediately, click "check for update." A dialog box will then appear with the message: "An update to the carrier settings for your iPhone is available. Would you like to download it now?" Clicking "download and update" will bring the software updates to the smartphone.

Once the download is complete, the Apple iPhone needs to be rebooted. Once the reboot is complete, MMS functionality has been enabled and users can start sending those picture messages.

Now that MMS functionality is available on the iPhone, all eyes are turning toward the telecom's network. According to reports that recently emerged, AT&T was worried that the influx of picture messages would bring its network to its knees.

AT&T has likely had since June of this year to upgrade its infrastructure to support MMS on the iPhone -- something it already does for nearly every other phone in its portfolio. Realistically, however, it doesn't seem out of line to speculate that the carrier was aware of Apple's plans to bring MMS to the iPhone well ahead of its official launch. After all, AT&T is the exclusive carrier of the device.

Depending on how AT&T handles the increase in network traffic, it could bode well for the telecom's long-term relationship with Apple. The iPhone has been a bright spot for AT&T's earnings and a successful rollout could help the company make its case to extend the exclusive agreement it has in place with Apple, which is due to expire at the end of 2010.

Today could be an important day for AT&T to keep Apple from ditching it for Verizon Wireless.

How To Get the wikiHow iPhone Application

How To Get The Wiki How I Phone Application

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iTunes 9 Tips and Tricks - Solve The Mysteries Of the New iTunes

by Roberto Baldwin

Arrange Your iPhone Apps

You can now arrange your iPhone apps from within iTunes. Woo-hoo! Not so fast there, buddy, It's still a bit of a pain. You can't drag apps from, lets say, Screen 2 to Screen 10. The navigation doesn't scroll automatically as you attempt to drag and drop. The best method to move items from Screen 2 to Screen 10 is to click on Screen 2. Then scroll to Screen 10. Drag and drop your app from Screen 2 to Screen 10. You'll have to navigate back to Screen 2 in order to grab other apps, unless you Command-click to select more than one in the first place.



UPDATE: Commenter woolyninja points out that you can indeed drag apps to screens and have the screen list scroll as your drag. My two test machines with iTunes 9 wouldn't allow this, no matter how hard I tried. I just tried it on a third machine and it works like a charm. Thanks catching this Mr. Woolyninja, may all your throwing stars hit their mark.

Navigate the iTunes Store



All categories now have a menubar item at the top of the store window, and those menubar items have contextual menus. To move forward and back, you use the arrows in the upper-left corner. This may seem like "duh!" but a few folks have missed the drop-down menus entirely while navigating the new store layout.

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Player

Clicking the green radio button no longer shrinks your iTunes window to the Mini Player we've come to know and love. To do that, press Command-Shift-M, or choose View > Show Mini Player. Once the Mini Player is on your screen, you can click its green radio button to go back to a regular-sized window.



UPDATE: Option-Clicking on the green button will minimize the iTunes window to the Mini Player. Thanks Ryan Schaaf via Twitter!

Where are Genius Mixes?


To get the Genius Mixes feature to appear, you have to update Genius.



Navigate to Store > Update Genius. Genius Mixes will appear under the regular Genius playlist option.



On the iPhone and iPod touch, you need to have Genius Mixes turned on within iTunes. Plug your iPhone or iPod touch into your computer. Select your iPhone in the left panel and then navigate to the Music tab. There you can check the Genius Mixes under playlists. Those mixes will be synced to your iPhone. Careful, since you can't tell how many songs are in the Genius Mixes, the mix could be more than your device can handle if you have a large music library.

Once you've found the Genius Mixes, it can be a let-down. Genius Mixes doesn't allow you to see what songs are in the mix. You just have to trust it.

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