If you haven’t done so already, you should get out the iPhone cable and update your carrier settings. The long awaited MMS is finally here, delayed for what seemed an eternity by the ever-failing AT&T.
For the update to take effect you’ll need to reboot your phone. From there, though, you’ll have a nifty little picture icon next to the message line of every text. The service allows you to send pictures and video at no extra charge, assuming you’ve already got some sort of bundled plan.
A research firm called Interpret recently did a study concerning smartphone purchase habits among consumers and found that getting phones into people’s heads makes a big difference. It’s not easy, though. In fact, Palm’s Pre and the iPhone 3GS are the only smartphones to have struck the balance between smart features, the cool factor, and increased productivity in a way that got people talking. Blackberry just didn’t make the cut.
The study is a mildly interesting read. It’s no surprise that getting people thinking about a phone is key to sales, but it’s strange that so few phones get it right. I was also really surprised to see that the Pre had done so well. It’s second only to the iPhone in terms of mindshare, though we know the sales aren’t even close. Looks like Sprint really scares people off or the Pre is just an afterthought in iPhone googoo-gahgah-land.
AT&T has announced plans for the iPhone MMS rollout via its Facebook page. We’ve known for some time that the service would be coming on Friday, but the how and when wasn’t so clear.
From the company’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.
For my fellow east-coasters, that means we’ll be waiting until early afternoon before plugging and unplugging our phones for updates. Some people are speculating that AT&T is nervous about the update, and rightfully so. This is the kind of update that has been anticipated for so long that it is likely to kill AT&T’s networks in a lot of places. And if the service fails on day one, the public will be calling for the bodies of AT&T executives.
Mum’s not always the best word when it comes to gadgets. Sometimes it can be better for companies to leak information little by little to generate a little excitement and anticipation for a product. That’s never really been Apple’s SOP, but they will occasionally announce products way ahead of schedule. With the rumored Apple tablet, though, the company’s been quiet, and Microsoft just might be positioned to take advantage of the silence.
Today Gizmodo leaked the first news of a Microsoft tablet called “Courier.” It’s a dual-touchscreen device that uses a blend of gestures and a stylus for control. The whole thing is built like a notebook, you know, the paper kind, with a camera on the backend. Gizmodo even has a video to make the thing look much cooler than it actually is.
I’m pretty skeptical about the whole situation. First, the Giz article was written under the byline “The Paperboy,” which, if you read Gizmodo, you’ll recognize is not a regular contributor. There’s also the fact that no one else seemed to get the exclusive news + video (also granted, it was shown at the Gizmodo Gallery), and frankly, the video looks too good to be true. Granted, the whole thing is shot around the alluring concept of being a young design professional. The controls are clean, if a little complicated at times, and show plenty of eye-candy, but that’s how almost every device video comes off. As one Giz commenter reminded me, even the HP TouchSmart looked great over video. It turned out to be a terribly limited platform with somewhat clunky controls.
Gizmodo promises more in-depth coverage on the device as the week goes on. I’ll wait to pass more judgment until I see a hands-on. For now, I think Microsoft is doing something really smart here. Nothing like imprinting the way a tablet “should work” into consumers minds to generate buzz. Apple’s device will have to be truly fantastic to get attention after this.
Movie theaters are looking into IR light as a way to help combat piracy from movie-goers with cameras. Japan’s National Institute of Informatics has requested help from Sharp, which came up with the following method.
By projecting IR from behind the movie screen, movie theaters can wash out a camcorder’s image by flooding the sensor with light that is undetectable to the human eye. The light passes through the screen through small holes designed for sound. The resulting effect is a grid of light over the image, rendering the cam unusable.
There is, of course, the problem of getting every theater to install these things, which will likely further increase ticket prices in a declining market. It was a nice thought guys. Really, it was.
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