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Yes, Nokia confirms that MMS Picture Messaging support is coming to the Nokia N900 cell phone internet tablet. The N900 will be able to use MMS to send and receive picture messages. Right now, the N900 cell phone can only receive MMS messages but not send them. That's all changing with a firmware upgrade. Customers have been onlines in droves, asking if the phone will support MMS, with Nokia notably absent in directly answering the question online (Nokia, where are you? Seems you're hiding after that terrible first MMS decision; your customer service representatives swear you're online to answer these questions, but you seem to be notably absent from every major discussion on these MMS issues).
It's wack that Nokia would design its heftily-priced, and newest, device without MMS technology support for sending picture messages. Read the N900 specifications and you'll find the MMS picture messaging use notably absent. You can get 'em, you just can't send 'em. Nokia technical support swears the MMS upgrade is coming soon to that N900 internet tablet near you, via cell phone firmware upgrade, so buyers will be able to send and receive those picture messages with availability by end of first quarter 2010.
Of course that MMS availability is a couple months out, since nothing including the Nokia N900 store apps, seems to be running on time (or rather, it's running on Nokia time). While Nokia customer service is now stating the firmware upgrade will make that MMS change, device buyers have since been hinting that a developer could easily create an app to make MMS a reality on the N900 phone. With the timeframe Nokia's utilizing, that app may be out near the same time Nokia releases the firmware upgrade. But, on the upside, at least N900 buyers can now rest easy knowing at least Nokia has decided to make the MMS change.
Nokia might well have learned from Apple on this one, the company who initially refused MMS support in first iPhone models, but just made that major change to include MMS support this past September. Nokia's infamous N900 was slated to ship to US customers September but experienced delays (delays Nokia still has yet to explain) and meaning the device didn't ship (even for pre-order customers, ordering directly through Nokia) until November.
Hello, Nokia. Where were you when developing the N900? If you're going to delay shipments of one of the hottest new gadgets (call it a cell phone, call it an internet tablet, call it a computer, or whatever else you want, it's a gadget), ensuring through the media that the N900 cell phone is touted as the phone that's going to replace Apple's iPhone, maybe one of your developers should at least have paid attention to major changes Apple has been recently making. Nokia certainly had the time, especially considering its delayed shipment of the model. And of course a firmware upgrade for the cell phone could have been released before, near (or, heck, even after) Christmas, after the N900 was already shipping. Customers aren't happy about the lack of MMS support right now. And if you're going to use the media to make claims of replacing the iPhone, at least make sure you're meeting AND exceeding options on that device. Apple added MMS technology support to its iPhones for a reason, Nokia. At least learn from (what you hope to be your top) competitor in the US.
Buyers of the N900 had been debating the urgency of MMS support on Nokia's latest cell phone, or what the company dubs its new 'internet tablet'. Many customers have been angry over the lack of MMS support being built into the device, stating debate over returning the purchased device.
The N900's been a device with limited availability. Very limited availability. First on pre-order, off-schedule by months for shipping, to the ire of disappointed Nokia customers. If you considered yourself lucky enough to get one of the few N900 phones made available to the US, then disappointed to find out the hottest gadget really doesn't offer MMS (really, Nokia? really?) , that'll be changing soon.
For customers who want to feel ticked off, order Nokia's N900 from Amazon, make sure to read the specs and assume Nokia has used common sense in its design, then receive the phone to discover Amazon's specs are wrong. Amazon incorrectly listed the Nokia N900 specs as including MMS messaging support. Though Nokia has now confirmed verbally that this MMS upgrade is coming in the next months, this has not held true while Amazon has been selling the model like hotcakes.
N900 buyers will need to depend on Nokia's verbal promise that MMS is coming via firmware upgrade, or customers can instead decide to return that device. Return it while they can still get their money back. Things aren't looking so good for the N900 right now, since 'there's [NOT] an app for that'. Nokia's Ovi Store isn't even set up yet for N900 customers. And that certainly helps kill the excitement, especially when Nokia is estimating the Ovi store won't be 'fixed' until the first quarter of 2010. 'Fixed'? It hasn't even been open yet to N900 customers to warrant being broken. 'Not set up' is probably a more accurate description of the scenario that's happening with Ovi for N900 buyers. But not to digress...
Amazon's N900 customers certainly hold the right to be more than slightly irritated about what can be construed as misadvertising by Amazon. While Amazon touted the inclusion of MMS for the N900, Nokia itself states the opposite in its specifications.Nokia customers have been speaking out, voicing their irritation, in droves.
The N900 currently does not include or support sending MMS picture messaging at all, even though users can receive MMS messages.
Many technophiles are arguing about MMS being crucial or irrelevant.For those arguing that MMS is irrelevant, not necessary, and that the focus should be on the Linux open source nature of the supposed internet tablet: many things in life, and technology, may be unnecessary however that doesn't exclude the fact that inclusion of those technologies might simply make life easier. And that makes them very relevant indeed. You may not use MMS but that doesn't mean Nokia was wise in not including support of MMS technology when creating the Nokia N900 device. From a business standpoint alone, the lack of MMS picture messaging was just plain dumb on behalf of Nokia. Numerous online statements discuss potential Nokia customers choosing HTC and other brands of cell phones over the N900, solely because of the fact that Nokia did not make MMS part of the phone.
Gadget geeks can argue about MMS not being necessary, but it seems there's a lot of arguments simply for the sake of arguing. Just because you personally don't utilize a technology doesn't mean developers should bypass technology used by so many in the US. You can be a gadget geek and also have common sense. Those intent on arguing the MMS point seem intent on conveying the idea that they are somehow more intelligent, by the fact that they do not use (and apparently have no need for) MMS.
Society should move forward, not backward. We've had the ability and technology to send picture messages for years now. Refusing to include MMS, in a high-priced, technologically-advanced, cell phone is like informing Microsoft that the world should be running DOS. For those claiming that they've been sending messages by text, alone, for years and that that there's absolutely no need for MMS messaging: you are missing a world in color. Perhaps we should also revert to solely black-and-white movies. Better yet, how about silent films?
If a picture is worth a thousand words, why exactly do we want to type those thousand words? Sony, HTC and other major cell phone providers have been smart enough to include support for MMS messaging with their cell phones, for reason. It's been many years now. Apparently Nokia thinks we should all move backward, now, with what is supposed to be a premium phone. Call it an internet tablet. Call it whatever you want. It's a piece of technology built to make our life easier, and most of all, designed to communicate. The best pieces of technology communicate effectively. It's ridiculous to make life more difficult, not easier, by excluding technologies like MMS.
Speaking of pictures, Nokia, you've included a top-of-the-line Carl Zeiss camera in the N900. One of your developers didn't see the sense in including the ability to send pictures, considering all that fancy lens techonology?
Not including MMS certainly cuts out a major customer base for Nokia in the US, considering the large portion of US customers which uses MMS frequently. And if MMS is supposedly so unnecessary and such a useless technology (pay attention gadget geeks whom are arguing the lack of necessity), then why, exactly, does Nokia plan a firmware upgrade in the first quarter of 2010 that will now provide MMS technology for the N900 cell phone (internet table, or whatever else you'd like to call it)? Again, of course Apple had that pegged with its iPhone MMS change in September, research Nokia apparently should have been paying attention to for its own customer base of the N900.
Granted Nokia is based internationally in Finland rather than in the US, and its largest market share is in Europe rather than the US. Apparently Nokia wasn't paying attention to the massive MMS use in the US, different than international MMS use where the technology is less popular. This MMS screw-up is obviously based on a lack of attention to the market than the highly intentional decision that some gadget geeks believe to be the case. Some in the tech world seem focused on this idea that Nokia is so focused on the idea that the only true messaging needed is text. For those that aren't seeing the business side, and the fact that Nokia simply screwed up, wake up: MMS isn't used in Europe to the extent it is in the US, Nokia is based in Europe, and Nokia was obviously focusing on its main market rather than paying attention to needs of its US market. If you don't believe this to be true, again refer to the basic fact that Nokia is immediately changing to include MMS in its next firmware upgrade for the US.
Yes, Nokia does plan to change and upgrade firmware for the new N900 which will allow users to send MMS messages. Straight from the horse's mouth, or as close as it gets, straight from a supervisor in Nokia Customer Service. Unfortunately for the customers who've paid premium prices for the Nokia N900 in time for Christmas, that MMS firmware change will not occur for (probably) months.
Smart move, Nokia, for realizing the importance of MMS to your customer base. Granted, it took months after the product was designed, and droves of angry customers voicing a fact which seems obvious to the average non-designer, for the realization to sink in. But perhaps the MMS firmware upgrade will come faster than the opening of the Ovi store to N900 customers. Hopefully before the excitement over the hyped N900 fades, then dies, entirely.
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