June 15, 2009, 10:15 PM — Remember the jeers from the WWDC keynote audience when Apple proudly presented the list of carriers that would be ready for MMS messaging upon iPhone OS 3.0's release, and AT&T wasn't among them? U.S. iPhone users have long grown accustomed to bad news from AT&T, and so we assumed that MMS messaging would be very late and pricey to boot. Well, only one out of two of those isn't so bad, in the end, according to a recent AT&T announcement. While the service won't be available for a while ("later this summer" in Apple's formulation became "late summer" in AT&T's), it won't be pricey -- or at least no pricier than the existing SMS service. MMS messages will be included in any text messaging plan you already have, and will cost the same 20 cents a message for those without plans.
Tethering hasn't seen a firm debut date -- or price point -- from AT&T yet, but if they follow the lead of their counterparts across the pond, things might get spendy. That link to the Register article in the previous paragraph outlines what O2's charging in the UK: $23.93 per month for 3 GB, and $47.86 for 10 GB. Not cheap, and certain to elicit outraged cries of BUT I ALREADY PAY FOR INTERNET ACCESS HOW DARE YOU CHARGE ME FOR HOW I USE IT I WILL JAILBREAK THE CRAP OUT OF THIS etc.
Another sad tale comes form Erica Sadun over at the The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Sadun was grandfathered in on a prepaid GoPhone plan when she got her iPhone, and has made monthly payments in the two years since, but now is being informed by AT&T that she needs to sign up for a new two-year contract or risk losing reliable Internet access. Since she (I'm guessing?) paid unsubsidized rates for the phone initially, this does in fact seem fairly sketchy, and a series of updates indicates that AT&T may be spinning its way out.
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