Apple's MobileMe push service now live

[AppleInsider]

Apple early Thursday morning switched on MobileMe, its new Internet service that delivers push email, push contacts and push calendars from the MobileMe service in the "cloud" to native applications on iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs.

MobileMe completely replaces Apple's previous-generation .Mac service, as such, all existing .Mac subscribers will find under their Software Update a MobileMe Updater application that will changes all ".Mac" references in existing software to "MobileMe" or ".me.com" references.

"The Mac OS X Update For MobileMe is recommended for users running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4 and includes general system fixes that enhance your Mac for MobileMe," the company said.

Additional information on MobileMe is available at Apple's MobileMe website or via AppleInsider's MobileMe topics page.

Some screenshots of MobileMe and a complete rundown of its features were previously published.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Ireland]

Yeah I noticed, you were quick on the draw this time AI, I'll get you next time!!

[Ireland]

It's not up fully yet though, it's down again.

[Bergermeister]

It still doesn't seem to be up.

[norton]

Originally Posted by Ireland

Yeah I noticed, you were quick on the draw this time AI, I'll get you next time!!

The site is down. Lovely Launch.

[oweneck]

Originally Posted by norton

The site is down. Lovely Launch.

Not really, it's been up and down since they started last thing last night. I imagine that they're doing it a couple of days early to make sure that any unforeseen problems or bugs are all worked out first so this is all really a good thing, I would imagine that this a really big task to do and not a simple switch over.

[Wiggin]

I've been checking about every 20-30 minutes since 6 AM this morning and have yet to see anything but the "down for maintenance" page.

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by oweneck

Not really, it's been up and down since they started last thing last night. I imagine that they're doing it a couple of days early to make sure that any unforeseen problems or bugs are all worked out first so this is all really a good thing, I would imagine that this a really big task to do and not a simple switch over.

"really a good thing" ?!?! Are you nuts! Sure, maybe if they had left the .Mac site operational while they brought up MobileMe it would be a good thing. But they didn't. I now have NO access to anything.

For a paid service, this is horrible! No warnings or advanced notice to paying customers of the planned interuption to service, and now it appears that they've totally botched the transition!

[Football]

This is a huge thing for Apple to pull off. I am not a bit surprised that it is taking a while to get this going. We are all going to be very fortunate to have this when it does get straightened out.

Please write on the chalkboard ten thousand times "thank you for me.com Apple, thank you Apple, thank you Apple etc..."

[solsun]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

"really a good thing" ?!?! Are you nuts! Sure, maybe if they had left the .Mac site operational while they brought up MobileMe it would be a good thing. But they didn't. I now have NO access to anything.

For a paid service, this is horrible! No warnings or advanced notice to paying customers of the planned interuption to service, and now it appears that they've totally botched the transition!

There have been "warnings and advanced notice" on the main .mac page for over three weeks now.. There were also several emails sent out to all .mac subscribers explaining this.

It clearly said how to prepare for mobile me and that service would be interrupted while the service was going live..

[Football]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

"really a good thing" ?!?! Are you nuts! Sure, maybe if they had left the .Mac site operational while they brought up MobileMe it would be a good thing. But they didn't. I now have NO access to anything.

For a paid service, this is horrible! No warnings or advanced notice to paying customers of the planned interuption to service, and now it appears that they've totally botched the transition!

Yup, I see that it sucks hard for the moment and fortunately will be great hopefully sometime soon. My friend just called to tell me he had sent his mortgage broker and ultimatum email yesterday that he would find another mortgage company if his loan wasn't squared away by this morning (it's taken waaaay too long) and now he can't get his emails!!!

[BRussell]

Email is still available through a mail app, there's just no web access right now.

[Football]

Ah, very good to know

[Bergermeister]

Yep. I'm using Mail right now without any problems.

Any document of such importance should always be kept on one's computer, anyway, and backed up to an external HD as well, because the Net can go down from time to time.

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by solsun

There have been "warnings and advanced notice" on the main .mac page for over three weeks now.. There were also several emails sent out to all .mac subscribers explaining this.

It clearly said how to prepare for mobile me and that service would be interrupted while the service was going live..

Emails were NOT sent to all .Mac subscribers. I never recieved one, and on another message board several other people also said they never received those emails.

Yes, I got the emails announcing MobileMe, but NO emails warning of ANY of the planned interuptions to service that they've had the last few weeks. I would not have known about the "big switch" last night if not for reading this message board.

Edit: Sorry if I'm being harsh, but I work at a company where we roll out major service upgrades all the time. While this is undoubtly a complex thing for Apple to accomplish, communication to your customers is key; and on that count Apple has totally dropped the ball. Plus I'm a bit peeved that Apple's forced upgrade is going to make my .Mac/MobileMe account useless on the computer I most need it on because I can't upgrade the browser (unless they maintain some limited capability on older browsers).

[Bergermeister]

mobileme just came back up...

haven't received Apple's email notification, yet, though...


edit:

slow. slow. slow

[Bergermeister]

Down again.

[solsun]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

Emails were NOT sent to all .Mac subscribers. I never recieved one, and on another message board several other people also said they never received those emails.

Yes, I got the emails announcing MobileMe, but NO emails warning of ANY of the planned interuptions to service that they've had the last few weeks. I would not have known about the "big switch" last night if not for reading this message board.

Copied from my email. Clicking on the links to the .mac homepage explained that service would be temporarily interrupted during the transition starting at 8pm pst on July 10, 2008. Sorry if you missed it, but it was there.

"Dear .Mac member:

As you may know, your .Mac subscription is being upgraded to MobileMe, Apple's new Internet service for your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and PC. This includes a new way to manage bookmarks across your computers and even push them over the air to your iPhone and iPod touch.

As part of the transition to MobileMe, web access to your .Mac Bookmarks will end in July 2008 and you will no longer be able to access or update your bookmarks at mac.com. Mac-to-Mac sync will not be affected.

To avoid losing bookmarks saved on .Mac, please sync them with your Mac before June 30. This will ensure that MobileMe can keep your bookmarks in sync going forward. Here's how.

For more information on the transition, please visit the MobileMe FAQ.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

The .Mac Team"

[joblowski]

The little MobileMe updater doesn't show up for me on either of my 2 Macs, and I don't see it on the download page.

Anyone know the deal? Or are I just stupid?

[Bergermeister]

Mobileme is offline still... Apple's main pages are beginning to respond faster than they were until just a few minutes ago, so something seems to be getting sorted out.

They probably have thousands of people trying to get the jump on lots of apps and goodies today..

[southerndoc]

Originally Posted by joblowski

The little MobileMe updater doesn't show up for me on either of my 2 Macs, and I don't see it on the download page.

Anyone know the deal? Or are I just stupid?

Not showing up for me either. I wonder if they took down the updates for some reason (large demand, problem, etc.)?

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by solsun

Copied from my email. Clicking on the links to the .mac homepage explained that service would be temporarily interrupted during the transition starting at 8pm pst on July 10, 2008. Sorry if you missed it, but it was there.

"Dear .Mac member:

As you may know, your .Mac subscription is being upgraded to MobileMe, Apple's new Internet service for your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and PC. This includes a new way to manage bookmarks across your computers and even push them over the air to your iPhone and iPod touch.

As part of the transition to MobileMe, web access to your .Mac Bookmarks will end in July 2008 and you will no longer be able to access or update your bookmarks at mac.com. Mac-to-Mac sync will not be affected.

To avoid losing bookmarks saved on .Mac, please sync them with your Mac before June 30. This will ensure that MobileMe can keep your bookmarks in sync going forward. Here's how.

For more information on the transition, please visit the MobileMe FAQ.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

The .Mac Team"

If there was a notice on the home page, yes I missed it. But I don't go to the .Mac home page every day. I do use the gallery pages, group web pages, etc every day. And that email you quoted is useless. There is no mention of service interuptions nor any specific timelines. This major planned outage should have been proceeded by an email to every .Mac member stating the date and times of the planned outage. I love Apple as much as the next guy, but they have a LOT to learn about customer communication. Their tight-lipped approach to new product announcements and such is fine. But if you are going to operate a service like this you have to be able to let your customers know what's going on.

[nicoleivy]

Originally Posted by solsun

There have been "warnings and advanced notice" on the main .mac page for over three weeks now.. There were also several emails sent out to all .mac subscribers explaining this.

It clearly said how to prepare for mobile me and that service would be interrupted while the service was going live..

Yes, it clearly said between 6pm and midnight. Nice job Apple.

[solsun]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

If there was a notice on the home page, yes I missed it. .

Yes, there was... It's been there for weeks.

[Bergermeister]

Here is the old AI story on it:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...y_evening.html

[nicoleivy]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

Here is the old AI story on it:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...y_evening.html

Previously, they had that time frame (6-12) listed right on the apple mobileme support page. They removed it about 15 minutes ago.

[solsun]

Originally Posted by nicoleivy

Previously, they had that time frame (6-12) listed right on the apple mobileme support page. They removed it about 15 minutes ago.

I could have sworn mine said 8pm - 2am PST... Some have said that it was up in the early morning, but has been down since..

I'm not gonna get up in arms over a couple of hours.. This is a big launch.. Besides, email is still available via the mail app on my Mac and iPhone..

[oweneck]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

"really a good thing" ?!?! Are you nuts! Sure, maybe if they had left the .Mac site operational while they brought up MobileMe it would be a good thing. But they didn't. I now have NO access to anything.

For a paid service, this is horrible! No warnings or advanced notice to paying customers of the planned interuption to service, and now it appears that they've totally botched the transition!

As this has been said above, they did give warnings out and on the status section of the website they have had detailed information about it also for at least what I know to be the past few days and if you are desperate for email for example you could still access it through your Mail.app. If you don't usually you could have still set it up temporarily for this, while the maintenance went on.

[Robin Huber]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

all existing .Mac subscribers will find under their Software Update a MobileMe Updater application that will changes all ".Mac" references in existing software to "MobileMe" or ".me.com" references.

Not yet we don't. Also, when I click on my old .Mac link I still get taken to the "site down" message. Not only do I no longer have .Mac, but I have no way to get to MobileMe either. I think Apple owes me a rebate on my yearly fee for the time I am deprived of service. Still waiting.

[solsun]

Originally Posted by Robin Huber

Not yet we don't. Also, when I click on my old .Mac link I still get taken to the "site down" message. Not only do I no longer have .Mac, but I have no way to get to MobileMe either. I think Apple owes me a rebate on my yearly fee for the time I am deprived of service. Still waiting.

Yeah call customer service and ask them for your rebate..

Let's see.... $99 a year divided by 365 days = .27 cents a day..

Oh wait, it's only been less than half a day. So yes, you're right.. You are entitled to a .14 cent rebate..

[Bergermeister]

Originally Posted by Robin Huber

Not yet we don't. Also, when I click on my old .Mac link I still get taken to the "site down" message. Not only do I no longer have .Mac, but I have no way to get to MobileMe either. I think Apple owes me a rebate on my yearly fee for the time I am deprived of service. Still waiting.

edit: solsun mentioned 27 cents first

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by solsun

Yes, there was... It's been there for weeks.

The notice that's been there for weeks (I saw that one) was as vague and uninformative with respect to this major planned outage as the email quoted earlier.

It's getting close to the time for Apple to execute their backout plan to restore the previous service so they can go back to the drawing board and figure out what went wrong. Oh wait, they probably didn't have a backout plan, either.

PS: This issue not withstanding, I am an Apple fan!

[solsun]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

The notice that's been there for weeks (I saw that one) was as vague and uninformative with respect to this major planned outage as the email quoted earlier.

It's getting close to the time for Apple to execute their backout plan to restore the previous service so they can go back to the drawing board and figure out what went wrong. Oh wait, they probably didn't have a backout plan, either.

PS: This issue not withstanding, I am an Apple fan!

What is so vague about.. .Mac services will be temporarily down during the transition to moblie me starting at 8pm PST on July 10, 2008.

It's pretty clear to me..

[danielandrews]

IF they had not planned ahead and made mail access work via desktop apps / iPhone, I'd be pissed about this switchover. As it stands though, I can live with this as long as it's sorted out sometime today, which I imagine it will be.

[ZagMac]

Originally Posted by solsun

Copied from my email. Clicking on the links to the .mac homepage explained that service would be temporarily interrupted during the transition starting at 8pm pst on July 10, 2008. Sorry if you missed it, but it was there.

"Dear .Mac member:

As you may know, your .Mac subscription is being upgraded to MobileMe, Apple's new Internet service for your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and PC. This includes a new way to manage bookmarks across your computers and even push them over the air to your iPhone and iPod touch.

As part of the transition to MobileMe, web access to your .Mac Bookmarks will end in July 2008 and you will no longer be able to access or update your bookmarks at mac.com. Mac-to-Mac sync will not be affected.

To avoid losing bookmarks saved on .Mac, please sync them with your Mac before June 30. This will ensure that MobileMe can keep your bookmarks in sync going forward. Here's how.

For more information on the transition, please visit the MobileMe FAQ.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

The .Mac Team"

I've read enough of your posts to know you are far more inteligent than to think the email quoted above actually serves the purpose of notifying paying users of an outage properly.

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by solsun

What is so vague about.. .Mac services will be temporarily down during the transition to moblie me starting at 8pm PST on July 10, 2008.

It's pretty clear to me..

That notice was NOT there weeks ago, as you suggested earlier. (By the way, "8 pm PST on July 10, 2008" has not yet arrived! )

Ok, look. You read these message boards. So do I. So we both knew about this planned outage because it was discussed here. You obviously visited the .Mac home often. I do not go there as often. If not for these message boards, I would have no idea what was going on this morning. So from a personal perspective, I have some idea of what's going on.

Now let's both step outside of our own personal little worlds and think more broadly. The vast majority of .Mac subscribers most likely do not read these message boards or visit the .Mac home page on a daily basis. The only way to get the message out to those folks is via email, which Apple did not do (apparently, as I and many other people did not get emails warning of this planned outage). Those people are left to wonder why they can't view their online photos, why they can't get to their group web sites, etc.

Yes, it's frustrating that I can't get to my mail due to apparent problems with the switch-over (no, I can't configure a mail client at my current location, and even if I could, I'd still have no address book to get addresses), but like you I am "in the know" about the planned outage, so I can live with it. But what about all those other people who are left in the dark wondering?

[oweneck]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

That notice was NOT there weeks ago, as you suggested earlier. (By the way, "8 pm PST on July 10, 2008" has not yet arrived! )

Ok, look. You read these message boards. So do I. So we both knew about this planned outage because it was discussed here. You obviously visited the .Mac home often. I do not go there as often. If not for these message boards, I would have no idea what was going on this morning. So from a personal perspective, I have some idea of what's going on.

Now let's both step outside of our own personal little worlds and think more broadly. The vast majority of .Mac subscribers most likely do not read these message boards or visit the .Mac home page on a daily basis. The only way to get the message out to those folks is via email, which Apple did not do (apparently, as I and many other people did not get emails warning of this planned outage). Those people are left to wonder why they can't view their online photos, why they can't get to their group web sites, etc.

Yes, it's frustrating that I can't get to my mail due to apparent problems with the switch-over (no, I can't configure a mail client at my current location, and even if I could, I'd still have no address book to get addresses), but like you I am "in the know" about the planned outage, so I can live with it. But what about all those other people who are left in the dark wondering?

I completely agree but I know some people apparently received emails from Apple but I didn't either but there was a detailed message on the .Mac website under the status area, that clearly stated this information for everyone to read but I am sure could easily be missed.

Edit: I am still able to access my email through the Mail.app and if you are worried about the website being down then you would probably be visiting the website enough to noticed the status updated, although like I said they could still be easily missed.

[Robin Huber]

Originally Posted by solsun

Yeah call customer service and ask them for your rebate..

Let's see.... $99 a year divided by 365 days = .27 cents a day..

Oh wait, it's only been less than half a day. So yes, you're right.. You are entitled to a .14 cent rebate..

Almost. Times the approximately 300 of my students who cannot access my class websites to do their work = about $42. Not factoring in all the time I put in emailing them about this problem and setting up alternate plans.

[BRussell]

I wish they had their act together, but come on, this is a massive, once-a-decade change they're making. They are completely revamping the service. I don't think it's unreasonable to take part of a day to get it going. I'm just feeling sorry for the worker bees staying up all night at Apple.

[DeCecconet]

Originally Posted by BRussell

I wish they had their act together, but come on, this is a massive, once-a-decade change they're making. They are completely revamping the service. I don't think it's unreasonable to take part of a day to get it going. I'm just feeling sorry for the worker bees staying up all night at Apple.

Interestingly, while i have yet to have luck with www.mac.com, i was able to log in via www.me.com while at work a few moments ago...

After a "known incompatibility" warning with IE7, i noticed performance to be VERY slow. I closed out and fired up firefox, but the www.me.com now directs to the same mantinence page again.

ARG!