No contract iPhone in China; Mac App Store search in 10.6.6, iCal alerts on me.com

AppleInsider

China Unicom today will begin offering customers the option of a contract-free iPhone 3GS. Meanwhile, Mac OS X 10.6.6 will be capable of searching the Mac App Store for apps to open unsupported file types. And Apple has launched iCal alerts on Me.com.



No-contract iPhone in China



In a bid to compete more aggressively with rivals China Mobile and China Telecom, China Unicom said Saturday that it will immediately begin offering customers the option of a contract-free 8GB iPhone 3GS for 3,999 yuan, or roughly $600 U.S. dollars.



Monthly services plans for the handset will reportedly include between 33 yuan ($5) and 58 yuan ($9) in complimentary phone expenses each month, depending on the customer's choice of service plan.



Mac OS X 10.6.6 Mac App Store search



Apple plans to include some rudimentary integration between its upcoming Mac App Store and the next maintenance release of Mac OS X 10.6, according to discoveries made a MacGeneration forum member.



Mac OS X 10.6.6, due for release in the next few weeks, will offer users the option of searching the Mac App Store for applications when it runs into an unsupported file type for which no application has previously been assigned.







As can be seen in the French-language screenshot above, attempting to open a file with an ".mkv" extension in build 10J537 of Mac OS X 10.6.6 displays a dialog box which says, "There's no application set to open the document [filename].mkv. Search the App Store for an application that can open this document, or choose an existing application on your computer."



In this case, the ".mkv" extension stands for a Matroska Video File and searching the Mac App Store -- due to launch on January 6th -- would return applications capable of opening the file, such as VLC player for Mac.



Calendar Alerts Now Available on me.com



Apple announced Thursday that its new MobileMe Calendar web application now includes the ability to set and edit alerts to remind you of upcoming events.



"Like the calendar alerts you can already set on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC (with Outlook), they will be displayed on whichever device you're using to remind you that an event is about to start," the company said. "You will also receive the alerts on the web at me.com as long as you have the Calendar web application opened in a browser window or tab, even if you are viewing another web page."

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MacPro

I confess i always assumed the calendar events were active on MobleMe but good to hear they are now. When stuck on a PC for any reason I always use Safari and MobileMe now.

benice

For some reason I was thinking that apps like VLC would not be making it into the App store as its mainly designed for paid-for apps, not open and free apps like VLC.



As to the reminders through mobileme, is it possible to set it so it emails you just in case you're not on a computer than can access me.com? Having to leave the browser on a particular page (even if wasn't blocked) seems like a good way to miss a reminder if the tab is closed for any reason.

robin huber

I still can't get my iMac's calendar and the one on my wife's iMac to sync properly. We have a family pack MobileMe and I have spent hours on the phone with Apple support. I wish they would just make the basic functions work before adding bells and whistles.

rain

I would like to see MobileMe become a free service. A lot of the services are redundant or can be found for free.

Loved the iChat features thou, and I'm sure FaceTime will add some value. However, at $120 and how often I used the service, it didn't make sense to renew.



Something still feels a little off with it. It almost seems like 3rd party software, even thou it's integrated into OSX just fine. Maybe it's the community or lack there of. If more people had accounts, I might have renewed. A free service would attract more. Maybe have paid upgrades? Let developers add modules or services to the platform?

lighteningkid

Quote:

Originally Posted by benice


For some reason I was thinking that apps like VLC would not be making it into the App store as its mainly designed for paid-for apps, not open and free apps like VLC.



As to the reminders through mobileme, is it possible to set it so it emails you just in case you're not on a computer than can access me.com? Having to leave the browser on a particular page (even if wasn't blocked) seems like a good way to miss a reminder if the tab is closed for any reason.

Well, technically they said they wouldn't allow free trials, only full retail apps, right? It shouldn't actually matter what the apps cost (or don't), as long as they are full versions.

capoeira4u

Quote:

Originally Posted by rain


I would like to see MobileMe become a free service. A lot of the services are redundant or can be found for free.

Loved the iChat features thou, and I'm sure FaceTime will add some value. However, at $120 and how often I used the service, it didn't make sense to renew.



Something still feels a little off with it. It almost seems like 3rd party software, even thou it's integrated into OSX just fine. Maybe it's the community or lack there of. If more people had accounts, I might have renewed. A free service would attract more. Maybe have paid upgrades? Let developers add modules or services to the platform?

I totally agree. Make it free with option to upgrade. I won't hold my breath waiting though.

chris_ca

Quote:

Originally Posted by benice


For some reason I was thinking that apps like VLC would not be making it into the App store

The article did not say VLC is going to be in the app store. It just explained that the OS will search when it cannot open a file and gave an example. Whether the example is actually valid has yet to be seen (since there is no app store yet)

psych_guy

All I can say is that I find MobileMe indespensible now. As a counselor/therapist, keeping track of appointments across devices is invaluable; iPhone, iMac and (gag) PC at the office I work at all synced. Not to mention iDisk and email.



I would also like to see it offered for free, and I won't hold my breath either.



(Oh and as an aside FileMaker Pro 11 to keep track of all client details) Apple rocks.

kibitzer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin Huber


I still can't get my iMac's calendar and the one on my wife's iMac to sync properly. We have a family pack MobileMe and I have spent hours on the phone with Apple support. I wish they would just make the basic functions work before adding bells and whistles.

Before putting out iOS 4.2, Apple offered an interim calendar upgrade download around October that really screwed up our family's MobileMe calendars, too. They really did MobileMe subscribers a disservice on that one.



I ended up making an appointment with our One-to-One membership to sort out our calendar syncing for our Macs, two iPads, two iPhones and one iPod Touch. It took about 45 minutes. You might try booking a Genius Bar appointment. Apple owes you the support for your MobileMe subscription, and fixing this is just too messy to do by phone. Among other things, you never want to sync Calendars or Contacts using iTunes - just sync using MobileMe and avoid creating any "On My Mac" calendars or contacts accounts.

nvidia2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by rain


I would like to see MobileMe become a free service. A lot of the services are redundant or can be found for free.

Loved the iChat features thou, and I'm sure FaceTime will add some value. However, at $120 and how often I used the service, it didn't make sense to renew.



Something still feels a little off with it. It almost seems like 3rd party software, even thou it's integrated into OSX just fine. Maybe it's the community or lack there of. If more people had accounts, I might have renewed. A free service would attract more. Maybe have paid upgrades? Let developers add modules or services to the platform?

MobileMe is discombobulated, and has been for years. It does enough for what I need, which is wireless sync, push email and one or two other things. Reliability in 2010 has improved a lot, nonetheless I sympathise with those not having much luck with it. In 2011 they need to decide whether to make it rock solid and free. iTunes Store globally with app and Mac store is pretty reliable, they have to just roll in MobileMe with it and integrate everything cohesively. Find my iPhone free is good, but still feels as it is operating as an offshoot somehow rather than fully integrated with you iTunes Store / Apple ID account.



I think there are multiple teams working fairly disparately on cloud services at Apple. MobileMe came up several years ago, and was leapfrogged somewhat by iTunes Store, App Store, and now FaceTime. Find my iPhone free is an attempt to harmonise the development streams... Then off somewhere we have iWork.com which is an interesting start but fairly simple. iDisk has been fairly troublesome for most people. It would work better as a kind of SugarSync or wireless iTunes syncing kind of thing through the cloud not necessarily through WebDAV.



In 2011 Apple needs to decide whether to really become a major Cloud player worthy of its new size, scope and influence.

appleaddict2011

Hi Kasper.



If you keep banning IP addresses, you will begin to ban some of the most popular Starbuck's locations in a major Northeast city.



Just so you know.



And BTW, IP addresses are in infinite supply to me, so banning IPs does exactly nothing bad for me.









If you'd like, we can agree to just get along.

billmatt

Just to add my comment - I have found that Google Calendar serves much better for "reading" on MacBook Pro, with an app on iPhone and iPad. They automatically sync with each other, I only have to click on the app icon and there it is!