A quick self observation today: For the second time in so many weeks, I've sent an MMS message to someone just to get a call later-on in which the other person tells me that they've received an SMS message that I sent them a picture and that they can take a look at a web address. With all the spam these days, both callers were a bit worried if it was actually a scam.
Three things are not right here:
First, the MMS should have been delivered but wasn't because both persons lately changed their phones and it seems the network was not quite sure the multimedia messaging configuration in the phone was correct.
Which brings me to the second point: In many networks, MMS messages still cost significantly more than SMS messages. And while SMS messages are perceived as practically free by many people because an unlimited amount is part of their contract, MMS is still the expensive and disregarded sibling. While this goes on, MMS will never become popular.
And finally, I wonder how many of those MMS messages that were not delivered would have gone through anyway if the system had tried!? The system could even be sure that the configuration is correct by sending an MMS message once an initial auto-configuration SMS has been delivered to the phone (that the user has to confirm). When this MMS is delivered correctly, one can assume that the configuration succeeded.
So quite a number of fronts to work on to bring MMS to the masses. It's not a technology question anymore…