.mac proposal.
Steve,
What .mac needs is value-added service--if it is going to be $100 a year, there needs to be *something* that balances that beyond the extortion of getting to keep our own email addresses and webpages of our kids playing in the sandbox. Virus protection and some kind of half-assed backup doesn't cut it.
here's my proposal: dial-up access. Not full access, but national dial-up numbers, and every iTools account gets 20 hours a week free, after which they have to pay a nominal sum (say $1 an hour).
It doesn't replace your standard dial-up, but if you are on the road you can always dial in--the fact that folks can't stay on all the time limits traffic, and it's a nice backup feature that adds the kind of value people need, especially broadband adopters--it's nice to have a backup.
I'm not saying this puts .mac over the top, but it would really make a big difference to me.
What .mac needs is value-added service--if it is going to be $100 a year, there needs to be *something* that balances that beyond the extortion of getting to keep our own email addresses and webpages of our kids playing in the sandbox. Virus protection and some kind of half-assed backup doesn't cut it.
here's my proposal: dial-up access. Not full access, but national dial-up numbers, and every iTools account gets 20 hours a week free, after which they have to pay a nominal sum (say $1 an hour).
It doesn't replace your standard dial-up, but if you are on the road you can always dial in--the fact that folks can't stay on all the time limits traffic, and it's a nice backup feature that adds the kind of value people need, especially broadband adopters--it's nice to have a backup.
I'm not saying this puts .mac over the top, but it would really make a big difference to me.
Comments
Dear Steve, Today you announced .mac, pronounced "dot mac" which replaces the previously free advertising I provided your company by emailing from my iTools account. In the two and a half years since you introduced iTools, both the demand for Internet services and the cost of providing them has increased dramatically. As a result, I'm no longer able to offer mac.com advertising for free. Instead, I am introducing a new paid membership program that will allow me to continually enhance and expand my advertising services offerings for you, my customer. And right now, you can save $50 off your first year of service, and only pay me $100 for each year thereafter. This will help offset my increasing internet services costs and to keep me advertising Apple and the Mac each time I send a .mac email. If you choose not to sign up, your advertising services will be turned off on September 30.
"And what then of us Mac and iTools users not living in the good ole US of A?"
Roll out in individual countries on a case-by-case basis--not perfect, but it still adds a hell of a lot of value at a reasonable price point for Apple.
The rest of you comment is insipid whiny drek.