Apple gives another 60-day free extension for MobileMe

[AppleInsider]

Apple has offered an additional two month free extension for all MobileMe subscribers with active accounts as of August 19, 2008, on top of the original 30-day extension granted a month ago, shortly after the MobileMe launch.

In an email to subscribers, Apple said "We have already made many improvements to MobileMe, but we still have many more to make. We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe's launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around."

"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped." Apple notes on its MobileMe website. "While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards. We are extending subscriptions 60-days free of charge to express appreciation for our members’ patience as we continue to improve the service."

The 60-day extension also applies to any purchased upgrades, such as additional storage or a Family Pack upgrade.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[jlaselva]

Deleted.

[penchanted]

Originally Posted by jlaselva

I just hope Apple is refunding customers who request it—with more than just an extension of (what is still) their troubled online service.

I agree that Apple should be making refunds for those who request such.

I think this announcement suggests that Eddy Cue has had the opportunity to assess the situation with MobileMe and has determined that it will be closer to 90 days before we see MobileMe working as advertised. From what has been said about Mr. Cue, this is very much his style - no quick fixes but a systematic approach that will deliver on Apple's promises.

[aplnub]

Originally Posted by jlaselva

However, even 90 days of added service can't mask the fact that this product should never have made it out the door in the state it did.

I don't think they are trying to. They are stepping up and apologizing and giving some of us as many as 90 days of additional service free. If they were masking the fact it has had some problems, they would not be full fledged admitting it on their website and giving out MM extensions like candy.

Originally Posted by jlaselva

To charge $100 for a service that promises certain things, and then fails to deliver...

"..." what about the trying to make it right part??? So far, if people signed up for MM on launch day they will most likely get their year of great service and promises. However, it will come after 90 days, or maybe 120, etc. But you can bet Apple will make this right. I have not seen anything up to this point that says otherwise.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by aplnub

I don't think they are trying to. They are stepping up and apologizing and giving some of us as many as 90 days of additional service free. If they were masking the fact it has had some problems, they would not be full fledged admitting it on their website and giving out MM extensions like candy.





"..." what about the trying to make it right part??? So far, if people signed up for MM on launch day they will most likely get their year of great service and promises. However, it will come after 90 days, or maybe 120, etc. But you can bet Apple will make this right. I have not seen anything up to this point that says otherwise.

What about all the people who already had .Mac accounts and got something screwy instead of what they had subscribed originally to and had.
Shouldn't they get a refund as well- if not more?

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by jlaselva

However, even 90 days of added service can't mask the fact that this product should never have made it out the door in the state it did. To charge $100 for a service that promises certain things, and then fails to deliver...

I agree. It is a terrible service. It has been incredibly frustrating to get even the email to work, esp. in the web mode. It is slow and clunky, hangs a lot, has a non-intuitive mail user interface, has a messy spell-check, things don't get sent when one hits 'send,' and when one thinks it's finally sent, it does not show up in the 'sent msgs' folder, etc.

Really, a shame. I have stopped using my Mac mail, and even my kids (for whom I had obtained Mac.com addresses) have now switched to Gmail.

[teckstud]

ANd I was all ready to finally renew tonight and now this- I really don't know how long to wait? My account expired June 25th.
All I want is my .Mac working as it was. I don't have an iPhone- why should I have to suffer for Apple being stretched too thin because of the iPhone?

[J-Shea]

I'm not using MobileMe with an iPhone, but the service was been working fine for syncing and e-mail with my two Macs and iPod Touch. Back to My Mac has worked well, too.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by J-Shea

I'm not using MobileMe with an iPhone, but the service was been working fine for syncing and e-mail with my two Macs and iPod Touch. Back to My Mac has worked well, too.

Wow good for you.

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by jlaselva

I've had a MobileMe account (it was complimentary), though I've never made much use of it, even before the MobileMe launch.

I like that Apple has accepted responsibility for the MobileMe problems, and that they've compensated customers with some added service. However, even 90 days of added service can't mask the fact that this product should never have made it out the door in the state it did. To charge $100 for a service that promises certain things, and then fails to deliver...

I just hope Apple is refunding customers who request it—with more than just an extension of (what is still) their troubled online service.

I agree that MobileMe should have been delayed as a number of its problems were caused by the iPhone 3G launch hysteria that downed Apple's servers. But most new MobileMe users likely didn't pay $100. They probably signed up for the free trial, allowing them to try out the new service while also delaying the cost and commitment. Also, MobileMe's service, while still buggy and missing a few features like links to iDisk attachments, are pretty much firing on all cylinders.

Originally Posted by teckstud

What about all the people who already had .Mac accounts and got something screwy instead of what they had subscribed originally to and had.
Shouldn't they get a refund as well- if not more?

They still have many of the same services intact - web email, Back to my Mac, Web Gallery, iDisk, syncing of desktop apps among multiple Macs (including bookmarks), and iWeb web hosting with 1-click publishing - in addition to the new, desktop-like SproutCore-powered web apps interface, and push email, contacts, and calendars, the latter two are new services.

Originally Posted by teckstud

ANd I was all ready to finally renew tonight and now this- I really don't know how long to wait? My account expired June 25th.
All I want is my .Mac working as it was. I don't have an iPhone- why should I have to suffer for Apple being stretched too thin because of the iPhone?

Where's the smily with the tears? How many times have you repeated this mantra? Sorry, but your whining won't bring back the rather lackluster .Mac.

Shoot, what about all the paying home and small business subscribers depending on Google's web apps and online storage, who've had three major outages in the past week? Google hasn't done anything but apologize on their blog.

[SpamSandwich]

They're doing the right thing, of course, but what a major loss of face. The problems will eventually be resolved, but how many have moved on to Gmail, Yahoo e-mail or MSN already out of anger and frustration?

[MacTel]

MobileMe will be out of beta in 60 days. That's a weird beta program. Apple obviously needs beta programs for such services. Use Google's example of beta programs. Once out of beta give people 90 day trials.

[rangerdon]

Ok. Got the email which says they've extended my free membership for two months, but the expiration date is the original one. Hope that gets corrected.

And is this gadget supposed to forward all the mail from my apple mail account, even though that's on a different server system? Or only to show messages addressed to this account? Couldn't find any info on the apple pages except for those telling how "amazing" the program is.

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

They're doing the right thing, of course, but what a major loss of face. The problems will eventually be resolved, but how many have moved on to Gmail, Yahoo e-mail or MSN already out of anger and frustration?

It's the year 2008. I think most people already had an email account before MobileMe, so they're likely not "moving on" to alternatives, but falling back on the web mail service they've been using for years, while seeing how MobileMe pans out. You're also simply comparing web mail services to the entirety of MobileMe, which offers quite a bit more.

You were joking with MSN, though, right? Come on.

Originally Posted by MacTel

MobileMe will be out of beta in 60 days. That's a weird beta program. Apple obviously needs beta programs for such services. Use Google's example of beta programs. Once out of beta give people 90 day trials.

MobileMe hasn't been in, nor will it be going into beta. When it launched, it was certainly beta-quality, but now most of the major kinks have been worked out. Of course, most of their consumer base wouldn't know what beta meant anyway.

Gmail's been out for how many years now? Yet Google hasn't removed the BETA stamp, probably to avoid flack from customers during outages like the major ones that occurred this past week. That stamp doesn't help fix anything of course.

[iPeon]

Originally Posted by teckstud

What about all the people who already had .Mac accounts and got something screwy instead of what they had subscribed originally to and had.
Shouldn't they get a refund as well- if not more?

What in your .Mac account is screwy?

I have a .Mac acconut that expired on July 15. It's still alive and kicking, apparently it will continue to do so for another 60 days. It just won't die! I wanted it dead so people would get the message once and for all that it's dead and start using my new MobileMe e-mail instead.

People just don't listen, I keep telling them that I have a new e-mail account and they're still sending it to the .mac one. Now I have to monitor it for another 60 days... Damn it! How can i kill this thing?

On a serious note: Kudos to Apple for giving us MobileMe subscribers an additional two month free extension. I'm happy with that. Thank you Apple.

[iVlad]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I agree. It is a terrible service. It has been incredibly frustrating to get even the email to work, esp. in the web mode. It is slow and clunky, hangs a lot, has a non-intuitive mail user interface, has a messy spell-check, things don't get sent when one hits 'send,' and when one thinks it's finally sent, it does not show up in the 'sent msgs' folder, etc.

Really, a shame. I have stopped using my Mac mail, and even my kids (for whom I had obtained Mac.com addresses) have now switched to Gmail.

Terrible? OMG in what cave are you living. You haven't seen Horrible Service.
Apple spoils us too much and we get so picky.

[federmoose]

Originally Posted by iPeon

I have a .Mac acconut that expired on July 15. It's still alive and kicking, apparently it will continue to do so for another 60 days. It just won't die! I wanted it dead so people would get the message once and for all that it's dead and start using my new MobileMe e-mail instead.

People just don't listen, I keep telling them that I have a new e-mail account and they're still sending it to the .mac one. Now I have to monitor it for another 60 days... Damn it! How can i kill this thing?

I do realize you're joking, but I'm just making sure: you do get that your .mac account will survive past the 60 days... right? both .mac and .me will work. turns out you can't kill it.
can't even kill the .mac aliases! it makes you kill both!

[iPeon]

Originally Posted by federmoose

I do realize you're joking, but I'm just making sure: you do get that your .mac account will survive past the 60 days... right? both .mac and .me will work. turns out you can't kill it.
can't even kill the .mac aliases! it makes you kill both!

No, no, no... I do realize that current .mac subscribers have the option to use either .mac or .me. That is not my case. My .mac account will die eventually, I hope, because I purposely let it expire. I didn't renew it. I opened a new account when I purchased my MacBook Pro. I did that because I was getting too much spam on that old .mac.

[irnchriz]

My /Mac/Mobile me account was to renew at the end of August. After the first week of transition and all the server issues Apple had I have had no problems whatsoever.

I even upgraded to a family account last week which cost me £1.55 as I only had a few weeks left before renewal. Now I have ended up with a free service for 90 days before it renews which is excellent.

I use Mobile me on my iMac and iPhone. My son uses mobile me on his PC and iPhone and my wife uses Mobile me on her windows laptop.

It all works as expected and I have had no issues with syncing as I read the instructions and set it up correctly the first time !

[mretondo]

Originally Posted by iVlad

Terrible? OMG in what cave are you living. You haven't seen Horrible Service.
Apple spoils us too much and we get so picky.

Dito, the UI is works great even has DnD. He must be using it with IE.

[mretondo]

Originally Posted by iPeon

No, no, no... I do realize that current .mac subscribers have the option to use either .mac or .me. That is not my case. My .mac account will die eventually, I hope, because I purposely let it expire. I didn't renew it. I opened a new account when I purchased my MacBook Pro. I did that because I was getting too much spam on that old .mac.

You know you could have just created a .mac alias email address. Then changed your current email account to get mail from the alias email address.

[MacSmiley]

30 days plus 60 days should bring me to an expiration in January 2009, not December 2008. I'll give Apple a few days to fix this. If it's not fixed shortly, I'm gonna call

Apple Customer Relations at 1-800-767-2775

and tell them to credit me the complete 90 day extension for what we're not getting anymore.

I'm all for Apple's breakneck progress. Even so, why should I have to lose all the value of the ancillary .Mac services... especially Apple iCards!!

PLEASE don't kill Apple iCards!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/macsmiley/2652541101/

iWant Apple iCards Back, Too!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/macsmiley/2756802511/


There are two petitions clamoring for the return of Apple's iCards:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ic110608/petition.html

and

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/06291970/petition.html

Feel free to add your signature to the 1,000+ other voices crying in the wilderness!!

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The 60-day extension also applies to any purchased upgrades, such as additional storage or a Family Pack upgrade.

I just checked my account status and the extension is NOT visible for someone who immediately upgraded after realizing that you can only back up homeopathic quantities on the trial account....

[nvidia2008]

I sympathise with everyone that has had a rough time with MobileMe. I rejoice at getting another 2 months free.

However I hope everyone that demands a refund to be awarded it, and I hope with this new Eddy Cue guy things get sorted.

So far, let's say Apple sold 3 million iPhone 3Gs. By the end of the year, they may sell another 6 to 8 million (just as a rough estimate).

Depending on MobileMe adoption rates (which may or may not be less in developing countries), if Apple doesn't have a concrete plan to progressively manage this stuff properly then MobileMe is truly f*ked for the rest of the year and maybe next year.

[Mordak5]

Originally Posted by J-Shea

I'm not using MobileMe with an iPhone, but the service was been working fine for syncing and e-mail with my two Macs and iPod Touch. Back to My Mac has worked well, too.

Been working great for me, with iTouch - iMac - PC(Web)

[Brendon]

Originally Posted by teckstud

What about all the people who already had .Mac accounts and got something screwy instead of what they had subscribed originally to and had.

Agreed, the .Mac mail no longer works when I want to check it from work using a PC that I cannot load a different browser onto. Most of corp America are not allowed to load other browsers onto their PCs and if I want to check my mail I must now wait to get home. What is irritating is that this was changed and it is a service that I am paying for. They should have had a time when the old and new services would both work so people like me with .mac accounts could still use their e-mail.

[ascii]

I guess these extensions are a good way to ensure no-one encounters their renewal choice right now. But even those people whose anniversary wasn't coming up will be grateful.

[Stephenbw]

Originally Posted by rangerdon

Ok. Got the email which says they've extended my free membership for two months, but the expiration date is the original one. Hope that gets corrected.

Originally Posted by freelander51

I just checked my account status and the extension is NOT visible for someone who immediately upgraded after realizing that you can only back up homeopathic quantities on the trial account....

The link in my email clearly states:

Note: This article will be updated when all 60-day extensions have been made available. Please bookmark this page and check back in a few days. At this time, the MobileMe Support team is unable to provide additional information regarding this 60-day extension, so please refer to this article for updates in the meantime.

And in the Q&As

When will the 60-day extension be applied to my account?
Your 60-day extension will be applied to your account within the next few days. You can check your account page on me.com to verify the change when it occurs.

I am very happy about the free 90 day extension as, apart from a couple of hours without mail, I have had no problems with the new service

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by wobegon

I agree that MobileMe should have been delayed as a number of its problems were caused by the iPhone 3G launch hysteria that downed Apple's servers. But most new MobileMe users likely didn't pay $100. They probably signed up for the free trial, allowing them to try out the new service while also delaying the cost and commitment. Also, MobileMe's service, while still buggy and missing a few features like links to iDisk attachments, are pretty much firing on all cylinders.



They still have many of the same services intact - web email, Back to my Mac, Web Gallery, iDisk, syncing of desktop apps among multiple Macs (including bookmarks), and iWeb web hosting with 1-click publishing - in addition to the new, desktop-like SproutCore-powered web apps interface, and push email, contacts, and calendars, the latter two are new services.



Where's the smily with the tears? How many times have you repeated this mantra? Sorry, but your whining won't bring back the rather lackluster .Mac.

Shoot, what about all the paying home and small business subscribers depending on Google's web apps and online storage, who've had three major outages in the past week? Google hasn't done anything but apologize on their blog.

Listen up- my woes won't be gone.
And I am not whining- I'm suffering.

Seriously thank you for finally answering for me what I've been trying to ascertain here for the last 2 months: if the service works as good as prior to launch for those with the original .Mac. Based on your advice I will renew- and it better work or you will feel my wrath.
Whining is in the eyes of the beholder.
One man's whine is another man's complaint.

[federmoose]

Originally Posted by freelander51

I just checked my account status and the extension is NOT visible for someone who immediately upgraded after realizing that you can only back up homeopathic quantities on the trial account....

calm down calm down. these things take time.

[aplnub]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Listen up- my woes won't be gone.
And I am not whining- I'm suffering.

Seriously thank you for finally answering for me what I've been trying to ascertain here for the last 2 months: if the service works as good as prior to launch for those with the original .Mac. Based on your advice I will renew- and it better work or you will feel my wrath.
Whining is in the eyes of the beholder.
One man's whine is another man's complaint.

Suffering? A little over the top today? You have MM, which means you probably are not living in a third world country being beat to death because you are related to someone you shouldn't be.

I guess suffering is in the eye of the beholder.

-------

Apple has admitted the problem (more than I can say for Google regarding their paid for services we use at work), they are working on plan to fix it, they have given 90 days of free service out. I am not sure what else everyone thinks we are entitled too. To me, they are trying to make it right. I can accept that and move on with my life for the moment and live.

[zzcoop]

90 days, sweet!

Thanks to all of those who are apparently having some sort of problem!

[nasdarq]

Signed up for Mobile Me two days ago only because of the previous free trial ... Lucky me.

[Messiah]

I keep getting two @me.com email accounts showing up in Apple Mail.

There must be a subtle difference between the two accounts, because every Mac that I go to that is synced via MobileMe always notifies me that it has to modify my email accounts.

It's been modifying my email accounts each time for about two months now...

God I hate MobileMe!

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by Brendon

Agreed, the .Mac mail no longer works when I want to check it from work using a PC that I cannot load a different browser onto. Most of corp America are not allowed to load other browsers onto their PCs and if I want to check my mail I must now wait to get home. What is irritating is that this was changed and it is a service that I am paying for. They should have had a time when the old and new services would both work so people like me with .mac accounts could still use their e-mail.

I've heard this one before. If your boss is hunky dory about you checking your personal email on company time, he or she should be fine with you downloading a standards-compliant browser like Firefox or Safari so you can check it.

With that said, you can use MobileMe in IE, Apple simply puts up a disclaimer because Microsoft's browser may not do everything perfectly.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by iVlad

Terrible? OMG in what cave are you living. You haven't seen Horrible Service.
Apple spoils us too much and we get so picky.

Oh please. In case it wasn't evident from my previous post, I'll clarify that it is 'terrible' relative to the non-Apple email offerings out there.

I'll repeat: It is shameful that Apple can't put together some decent email software.

[zzcoop]

You 1% people sure do whine a lot!

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Listen up- my woes won't be gone.
And I am not whining- I'm suffering.

Using the words woe and suffering to describe your experience with an online service constitutes as whining on this planet.

Originally Posted by teckstud

Seriously thank you for finally answering for me what I've been trying to ascertain here for the last 2 months: if the service works as good as prior to launch for those with the original .Mac. Based on your advice I will renew

So, if I understand you right, you've been bitching and moaning about MobileMe, even though you haven't actually been using it first hand? Maybe whining was the wrong word. Trolling would be a better descriptor.

Originally Posted by teckstud

- and it better work or you will feel my wrath.
Whining is in the eyes of the beholder.
One man's whine is another man's complaint.

If you're wrath includes more whining/trolling, then I'd prefer you not renew as there are still bugs. Of course, there are still problems with gmail after all these years, Exchange wasn't good for a number of years after its release. .Mac ran into trouble sometimes too.

If you're willing to reset your unrealistically high standards for fledgeling services - and new things in general - you'll probably have an easier time getting through life.

[wobegon]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Oh please. In case it wasn't evident from my previous post, I'll clarify that it is 'terrible' relative to the non-Apple email offerings out there.

I'll repeat: It is shameful that Apple can't put together some decent email software.

Oh give me a break! MobileMe offers the first push email, contacts, and calendar service to consumers and after a rocky debut, the 1% affected by email problems have had their service restored and now we all have free 90 day extensions for the bugs. Also, Mail on the desktop works great and the iPhone implementation is the first desktop-class email application on a smartphone.

Oversimplifying MobileMe down to a web email service weakens your argument tremendously.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by wobegon

Using the words woe and suffering to describe your experience with an online service constitutes as whining on this planet.



So, if I understand you right, you've been bitching and moaning about MobileMe, even though you haven't actually been using it first hand? Maybe whining was the wrong word. Trolling would be a better descriptor.



If you're wrath includes more whining/trolling, then I'd prefer you not renew as there are still bugs. Of course, there are still problems with gmail after all these years, Exchange wasn't good for a number of years after its release. .Mac ran into trouble sometimes too.

If you're willing to reset your unrealistically high standards for fledgeling services - and new things in general - you'll probably have an easier time getting through life.

Listen up Woe-be-gone -
1.) You obviously cannot take a joke.
2.) MObileme from what people who do have it and post on here is still f*&cked up. And I can bitch and moan that I cannot renew my .MAc account as I had one right before the change to mobileme. Apple hasn't transitioned this right at all and many, not just me, are pissed off.
3.) Having something that actually works as advertised is an "unrealistically high standards for fledgeling services"? You sound like Steve Balmer using an excuse for Vista @ Microsh*t.