The much anticipated iPhone OS 3.0 landed this evening at approximately 6pm, British Summer Time. Everything went smoothly for me which I most definitely wasn’t anticipating, given that major releases usually cause the iTunes servers to collapse and curl up into the foetal position. However, I know the updating procedure didn’t go smoothly for everyone, with some reporting activation errors and a 2-3 hour wait before everything was complete.

Something else that I wasn’t expecting to be activated so quickly was MMS by o2. I received a text message, then an MMS message from o2 shortly after applying the 3.O software update letting me know that picture messaging was ready to use. I didn’t need to do anything to get that message, it came to me automatically. I know there has been some confusion over whether a persons iPhone is set up and ready to go with MMS, but you should receive this message when you’re good to go.

mms.jpg

o2 tweeted this evening…

Huge backlog of requests for MMS. We are working as fast as we can to process the requests and everyone should be set up within a few hours (via @o2)

I’ve sent and received several MMS this evening and although I had initially thought it would be a feature I wouldn’t use much, now I’m not so sure. It is pretty convenient for sending photos quickly to people that you know haven’t got regular access to their e-mail accounts – or an e-mail account at all!

UPDATED

I’ve had a lot of people asking how I got MMS activated on my iPhone so quickly. To my knowledge I didn’t do anything. However, I know that I did activate Find My iPhone on my phone which may be purely coincidental (settings > mail, contacts, calendars > clicked on my MobileMe account > switched on Find My iPhone). Then I logged into me.com and clicked ‘Find My iPhone’ which located my phone. It wasn’t long after that when o2 sent me confirmation that MMS was activated.

Now, that may or may not play any part in activation, but worth a try if you still haven’t been set-up. I would recommend a call to o2 if you are still waiting for activation, just so they can investigate. There have been no further updates from o2 on twitter.

Another update: Twitter friend Sam received text from o2 stating…

“We know you’re waiting for MMS activation; you should be set up in a few hours”.

More of my twitter friends are reporting having received this message now. Hope everyone will be firing on all MMS cylinders by this evening :)