Mobispine pens tell all about their iPhone MMS app, doesn't exactly tell all

We've heard a few things about the Mobispine MMS app supposedly being developed for the iPhone, but the company's just answered a couple of questions, and we thought we'd give you a quick rundown. Interestingly, the app will utilize Apple's announced but delayed push notification, which Mobispine says is due "pretty soon," though carriers may use SMS notification in lieu of the service. The company says that the app will be carrier-branded, and that it will be up to them how much to charge you, the MMS-starved consumer. Mobispine says that the software will "probably" be made available through the App Store, "probably" because it's still in some vague phase of development, and has yet to be approved by Apple. Just let us know when the thing is ready, okay guys?

[Thanks, Carlos]

[Cybergypsy @ Nov 24th 2008 11:12AM]

yea for Apps!

[Tinu @ Nov 24th 2008 11:41AM]

But will it get approved by Apple?

*Your application has been denied as it duplicates the functionality of: Pictures, iPod, and Text Message when all 3 applications are combined together. Hehe.

[Esat Dedezade @ Nov 24th 2008 11:17AM]

Could someone just briefly refresh my memory as to exactly why Apple:

1.) Did not do this in the first place...
2.) Are not doing this now themselves.

Many thanks.

[bob sakamano @ Nov 24th 2008 11:35AM]

f5

[From My Cube @ Nov 24th 2008 11:45AM]

because steve will introduce this "new exciting feature" in january at the mac expo and will describe it nothing short of " beuatiful, simple, and on the iphone as a download today!"

[dreamscape86 @ Nov 24th 2008 12:10PM]

Because then they couldn't build it into the 3rd Generation iPhone as a feature! Obviously...

[Patriks7 @ Nov 24th 2008 12:29PM]

@ From my Cube
Yah downloadable.. but for 10$, which makes it even more orgasmic! xD

[KarlW @ Nov 24th 2008 1:25PM]

(1) We don't know. Some speculate that Apple wants to promote email over MMS. No statement has been made (in typical Apple fashion)
(2) We don't know that they're not.

It'd be great if Apple could start being more open with customers. Maybe set up a blog to talk about what they're working on for the iPhone software updates. I can't think of any reason to be so secretive. They set up a blog for MobileMe service outages, and Microsoft have thousands of blogs detailing what they're working on.

[Eric @ Nov 24th 2008 4:03PM]

I think the idea is not to be secretive from the consumer so much as it is to secretive from competitors. This isn't your typical open-source project where everything's free anyway.

But that's just me.

[Odineye @ Nov 24th 2008 11:23PM]

Why MMS wasn't originally included?

Maybe because besides teenyboppers who can't afford the phone in the first place, everyone else can figure out how to send a picture via email?

And if they can't, they didn't care in the first place?

This is the most overhyped "missing feature" I've every heard of - and the lack of it clearly isn't hurting sales for Apple. Maybe we should all just move on.

[Imran @ Nov 24th 2008 11:18AM]

What a convoluted way of bringing a basic standard mobile function to one of the most advanced devices around!

[mos @ Nov 24th 2008 11:41AM]

Not to mention $$$ for those basic functions that all other phones included, no string attached.

[ybd @ Nov 24th 2008 12:26PM]

And that's exactly why I'm not going to pay a cent for bullshit like this or the 1G Touch's upgarde to 2.0.

[tyler @ Nov 24th 2008 10:33PM]

No kidding. Apple, please give us MMS. If not, give us copy and paste so when I get an MMS message, I have an easier way of getting that stupid message ID and password onto www.viewmymessage.com

[JamesR @ Nov 24th 2008 11:18AM]

Why does something that other phones have been doing for years sound so difficult and ground breaking for the iPhone? Am I missing something?

[Level 5 @ Nov 24th 2008 11:18AM]

Meh, anyone notice that it's the smartphones that are the most crippled? I've had many smartphones on Sprint, and they have NEVER EVER allowed MMS. All Sprint has ever decided to do is send an SMS with a hyperlink in it, which goes to a website that's unviewable on the mobile platform. I dunno, I'd pull the trigger on the iPhone if it had real MMS along with a couple of the broken record missing features; so I suppose this is absolutely better than nothing.

[Sarig @ Nov 24th 2008 11:39AM]

No, in most of the rest of the world we don't let the carriers cripple the phones for us.

Which makes the iPhone stand out rather fantastically, since even the cheap dumbphones do MMS fabolously. And yes, MMS does get some use, at least here in Scandinavia.

[Matt @ Nov 24th 2008 12:57PM]

I've never had any complaints with sending or receiving MMSs on Verizon.

[Chris Dupont @ Nov 24th 2008 11:20AM]

** C'mon Apple it makes no sense that you torture us by holding back on Simple Features!!!**

Why do you hold back simple things that even FREE cell phones have.

Give us what we want!!

- MMS
- Video
- Vertical Keyboard for email and text
- Louder Sound for when emails come in.
- a Way for us to check our hotmail ( Not over browser )

The Iphone has so much potential and you B@asterds at Apple have to hold back on the simplest things.

[Curnsie @ Nov 24th 2008 11:42AM]

@Chris

"Give us what we want!!

- a Way for us to check our hotmail ( Not over browser )"

Its MS/hotmails fault that you can't get emails in the mail.app. You have to have a subscription account with MS to get this ability. There is nothign apple can do for you on this. I could be wrong, but thats what i read when i was trying to do this. I changed to googlemail because of this.
Drew

[KarlW @ Nov 24th 2008 1:22PM]

Gmail's beta anyway (see what I did there?)

[Kris @ Nov 25th 2008 1:10AM]

I saw Karl. And I applauded.

[MeMacAndYou @ Nov 24th 2008 11:30AM]

http://digg.com/apple/First_Real_MMS_Application_for_iPhone

[y3k.nik @ Nov 24th 2008 11:33AM]

Mobispine says that the software will "probably" be made available through the App Store.

Maybe when they submit it for the App Store apple will have had it already made for version 2.3 and decline this application.

[crescentmage @ Nov 24th 2008 11:34AM]

Swirly MMS has been out for a little while now, and works great. You do need a jailbroken iPhone to use it though. http://www.swirlyspace.com.

[Keith @ Nov 24th 2008 12:22PM]

yes it has and it works great but if you have AT&T they try everything under the sun to stop you from having MMS.

[0megapart!cle @ Nov 24th 2008 11:47AM]

It is absolutely insane that Apple didn't do this themselves. They should have made the Chat app handle MMS and SMS, with a button allowing you to attach a picture or video to a text message, turning it into a MMS. There is no way this would have hurt Apple's business whatsoever.

Apple is so blind to obvious functionality.

[aaron @ Nov 24th 2008 11:56AM]

Personally, I could really care less about having MMS on my iPhone. I'm not a 16 yr old girl...

[Chris Dupont @ Nov 24th 2008 6:04PM]

" Personally, I could really care less about having MMS on my iPhone. I'm not a 16 yr old girl..."

That is very ignorant for you to say this. What do you want...... a cookie because you don't use MMS?

- Everyone else wants MMS ...we don't care if you don't use it.

[Filmguy15 @ Nov 24th 2008 12:22PM]

"Everyone else wants MMS"

No.....everyone in the tech/geeky community wants MMS. No matter how strong you think your numbers are, you are still the minority, the average consumer being the majority. It's the minority that is crying out for MMS, and you are a faint whisper to Apple.

The MAJORITY of consumers bought the iPhone for what it does, and what it's advertised to do. No one every mentioned or promised MMS.

Let's say RIM or Apple whoever came out with a new phone that had all the awesome features, but a black & white screen. Lame right? Well, would you buy it anyway, then send 100 emails a day to them saying that "every phone under the sun has a color screen, why did you leave out such an important feature!?!?!?" Probably not. You would probably just buy a different phone. Why didn't you just buy a different phone?

Plus MMS is just crippled email....there isn't much reason for it anymore.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 24th 2008 12:32PM]

"Plus MMS is just crippled email....there isn't much reason for it anymore."

Yeah.... because everyone has email on their phones.. sure.. whatever..

[pavlindrom @ Nov 24th 2008 12:54PM]

@Filmguy: my brother is not a geek, and he wants MMS...

[Shan @ Nov 24th 2008 2:24PM]

@Filmguy15

You miss the point. Yeah we know it doesn't have it, but unlike other phones - the iPhone updates via software and it isn't very difficult for Apple to overhaul the SMS app and add in the MMS functionality. It really is as simple as creating an app and giving it to us in an update. Other more general phones on the market do not update via the internet etc. How many other phones on the market have had as many software/firmware updates within a 1.5 year period of their existance? Exactly.

You point out that we know the feature is missing from the outset, so why bitch about it? Well did you ever consider that we might actually like to receive MMS too? It's not about just wanting the ability to send stuff, but if someone wanted to send me something - they can't. I don't want to click a stupid weblink. I want to see it on the phone.

The third point is that MMS is pretty much, so basic and common in every practical phone - it is just expected. I mean under your argument - why should Apple even include SMS then, if we can send messages via email? When it is a basic function that now exists in practically all phones - there is no reason for Apple to omit it.

We can assume that they left it out initially because they wanted to concentrate on more important stuff, but surely by now - 2 generations later - Apple seriously need to get their act together and just add it to the phone. It really is getting silly.

[Craysh @ Nov 24th 2008 6:25PM]

No. It is NOT just the tech geeks who want MMS, though that in and of itself should be a huge market for Apple. I've lost count how many times people have asked me tech advice before they buy a computer, phone, or TV.
Also, my cousin is a contractor. He uses MMS constantly on the job site.

Add to that the fact that it's completely conceited to unilaterally decide that a feature that a huge majority of people have come to expect from a phone service (Especially if you're paying for said service) should become obsolete. Also, anybody who knows anything about email on the iphone knows that it's anything from an instant form of communication with the problems it's had with consistency on server pings.

Next on Apples lineup: You don't need to talk to someone in real time. The new iPhone has this cool new feature called iTalk2You. You just record your voice, and send it to someone! Wait, you expected to talk to someone in real time simply because it's a feature of some other phones? Welcome to innovation!

[Michael @ Nov 24th 2008 12:01PM]

why do you need mms when you have email?...really... i can send pix to all my friends phones by sending them to their phone's email like att's used to be [e-mail] they'd get an mms, i'd send an email, not that big of a deal...

[Neuro @ Nov 24th 2008 12:16PM]

I am sure this was said like million times, but here we go:
a) the gateway isn't available everywhere (not outside US anyway)
b) sending MMS is just 1/2 of the problem.

[Aaron @ Nov 24th 2008 12:14PM]

It works when sending to AT&T, and sort of works when sending to Sprint, but sending a MMS through email to Alltel customers does not work (at least with the phones my friends have). I haven't tried Verizon or T-Mobile yet. My previous phones with MMS worked across all carriers, which was a big plus, and friends didn't need to have my phone's email address saved to send me pictures - everyone just shoots it off to the phone number.

[Adrian Williams @ Nov 24th 2008 1:01PM]

MMS is just easier than having to have peoples phone numbers and email addys
/Ease: "Hey tony check out this chicks ass I just snapped on my phone " click on pic, click send to Tony, press ok
//Speed: Normal people don't check their email every 5 min but with a MMS it come to their phone like a text

[Maxwell @ Nov 24th 2008 2:36PM]

I haven't got it to work with AT&T--it doesn't send the attachment.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 24th 2008 12:01PM]

I probably look forward to using it.

@aaron,
I generally agree, I don't use MMS myself. But every once in awhile someone sends me one and it would be nice to be able to see it... hopefully in better quality than that postage-stamp sized picture on the ATT website that you have to visit. Plus I'm sure I'd find a use to send an MMS a few times a year.

All I know is, it's about the least important feature in a phone to me -- but I sure wouldn't complain if the feature was there.

[Dylan @ Nov 24th 2008 12:13PM]

viewmymessage.com is my most hated bit about att

I did find a way to view the image larger than a postage-stamp though

For Firefox:
Tools > Page Info
Media tab
scroll down the list till you find the swf file
save as and open it with your flash player.
with a swf decompiler you can get the full size jpg out of the swf...
if its that important...

[Eric @ Nov 24th 2008 4:17PM]

Actually, if you just go to the page on your iPhone (over wifi, edge doesn't seem to like viewmymessage.com), the page is smart enough to know you can't see flash so it just uses the normal img tag. You can just hold your finger down over the picture for a second or two and save the image off to your camera roll, at which point you can email it or get it off when you connect it to your computer.

I find that easier than decompiling.

[James @ Nov 24th 2008 12:08PM]

VingTalk's iphone app will be available December. It will let you send or respond to personal or group messages by text, e-mail and voice to text.

http://www.vingtalk.com/cpp

[Phoenix @ Nov 24th 2008 12:20PM]

Because we care >.<

Take your spam elsewhere, moron.

[ronmoses @ Nov 24th 2008 12:20PM]

I know it's not explicitly spelled out within the name, but I can't read the word Mobispine without seeing the word penis. In my mind, Mobispine will always be read as Mobi's penis, and that's all there is to it. Penis.

[rob @ Nov 24th 2008 12:45PM]

and i can't read your post without seeing the word "dyslexia"

[brandon @ Nov 24th 2008 12:42PM]

There are so many more important things the iPhone needs (Flash, copy/paste, etc), MMS doesn't even make it on my list...I use email!
http://www.woopid.com/

[Dillinger @ Nov 24th 2008 12:54PM]

Or you could use Quip a free MMS app and just quit whining. Personally i am glad i dont have MMS on my iPhone, The last thing i need is 40 messages a day of Santa Screwing Elves, or fat ladies painted like frogs. Maybe thats just me though.

[000000 @ Nov 24th 2008 2:15PM]

It's just you.

[Neuro @ Nov 24th 2008 12:55PM]

Filmguy15:
"The MAJORITY of consumers bought the iPhone for what it does, and what it's advertised to do. No one every mentioned or promised MMS."

No, the majority of consumers in the non-tech/geeky community bought iPhone for how it looks. They would expect it to do all the stuff they used on their old dumb phone, and better.