iPhone MMS via AT&T to launch Friday, "late morning"

By this time tomorrow, iPhone owners should at long last be zapping photos back and forth via MMS, according to an official announcement from AT&T.

A specific time for the activation of iPhone MMS wasn't given except for "late morning, Pacific Time." An iTunes update will also be required to activate the MMS feature, so be ready to sync up with your computer after lunch tomorrow when the word comes down.

Apple Insider and DSLReports have stated that the upgrade will come in stages, group by group, until everyone's phone is activated. How will you know when yours is all set to go? You'll get a text message from AT&T announcing the activation, presumably with additional instructions.

For its part, AT&T is also said to be "very nervous" about what the MMS activation will do to its already sluggish network, saying that early trials on a small number of handsets led to a surprising flood of additional traffic for which it was ill-prepared. However, AT&T has reportedly spent the summer beefing up its network, and many iPhone users report getting better signal in areas where they used to have weak coverage or none at all.

As for that other big announcement that arrived with iPhone's 3.0 software upgrade, a date for the launch of tethering service (which would let computer users use the iPhone as a modem for their computer) has still not been formally announced, only that it will arrive at a "later date." Many have been expecting this arrival to occur before the end of the year, with $30/month a commonly-rumored price for the add-on feature. At least one source is banking on a $10/month tethering plan, though that may be a hefty case of wishful thinking.