A service like this should be a paid service. It's critical enough that a yearly fee will hold the provider (Apple) to a certain standard of expectation. For what you're getting (especially as an iPhone and Mac user), the $100/year is a fair deal. And the service is getting better all the time.
Free?... so we can start seeing ads on the .me pages?... ads glued to our .me emails?
The servers need to be paid for somehow... and making it free would only increase their bandwidth costs. (more people would use it ... including spammers.)
As others have said, I'm happy with the $99 annually to NOT have to deal with ad-based free crap.
Absolutely.
There's plenty of value in not having to waste bandwidth and time with ads and spam and such.
If you want iDisk auto backup there is a Mac software by Apple that does that. I found it few months ago by chance and it is kind of useful if you have an important folder.
Thanks. I thought that was just old software hanging on from the iTools days. I?d check it out but there is still that issue with unencrypted syncing. I do it manually after putting my files in an encrypted DMG periodically.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffharris
Absolutely.
There's plenty of value in not having to waste bandwidth and time with ads and spam and such.
$8 a month isn't too bad.
Amazon.com has it for $6.04 a month. I pay more than that for a beer at a pub.
I had hoped that with SL they would put an option in the MM preference pane AND as a check box in Get Info for a file/folder that would auto sync with the iDisk folder without having you to specifically drag-n-drop it into the folder.
For me, I just create an alias to folders on my iDisk in my Documents folder and keep my whole iDisk synchronized. You could even create aliases to specific files if you want more fine grain control.
I definitely think the Mobile Me service should be a paid service. I just think it should offer everything that the other mail services and MORE. I think 20GB of online storage space is pretty damn sweet for $100/year
You think 20GB for $100 is a good deal? Sure, in 2002 maybe. For $100, you can get web hosting with unlimited storage, a registered domain name, email, plus more a PHP and MYSQL server with unlimited databases. MM doesn't even offer PHP/MySQL which are essential for any real website (Wordpress, Drupal).
I think ME should be free for users who own both a Mac and iPhone. You paid a lot for the hardware and it's a value added feature that makes the hardware more attractive and creates a better Apple ecosystem, which makes people like the Mac experience even more and recommend it to others. The actual features offered by MM are pretty basic and more worth of $30 a year at most.
One feature I'd like to see added is the address of the lost phone. While one can see the street names, it's still hard to find the city, state, and zip. I should be able to click on the location and get a drive-to directions or a Pin location on Google Maps website.
BTW why is Find My Phone not as accurate as the iPhone's GPS? I'm sure it uses the phone's GPS for the location.
Free?... so we can start seeing ads on the .me pages?... ads glued to our .me emails?
The servers need to be paid for somehow... and making it free would only increase their bandwidth costs. (more people would use it ... including spammers.)
As others have said, I'm happy with the $99 annually to NOT have to deal with ad-based free crap.
They want to update the service properly? Make it free.
Then create a Mobile me API, and let developers write paid apps for the service that Mobile me subscribers can buy/add-on. They get them added up the menubar. Apple can take a cut and provide Mac users with real value. The Mobile me API program could be $299 for devs to join. Or it could be free, but invite only.
Instead of charging $100 a year for stuff that should be free or very nearly free. Create bloody value.
I like the concept of expanding Mobile Me this way (so long as it never impacts performance and no ads) in theory but doesn't the effort (that is paying off) to have Mobile me accepted by corporate IT departments preclude this due to the stringent requirements they demand. Having said that I suppose there could be a pro version that is fee based that is 'clean' for corporate use ... maybe renamed 'MobileThem' .
One feature I'd like to see added is the address of the lost phone. While one can see the street names, it's still hard to find the city, state, and zip. I should be able to click on the location and get a drive-to directions or a Pin location on Google Maps website.
BTW why is Find My Phone not as accurate as the iPhone's GPS? I'm sure it uses the phone's GPS for the location.
Uhh.... I don't think it does use the iPhone's GPS as the GSP does not broadcast it position. It is a passive receiver. It does however use the GSM network's triangulation data to send out your position. If you have your GPS running and an application uses that application to broadcast your position, then you might be correct, but as it stands you are a bit off.
Free?... so we can start seeing ads on the .me pages?... ads glued to our .me emails?
The servers need to be paid for somehow... and making it free would only increase their bandwidth costs. (more people would use it ... including spammers.)
As others have said, I'm happy with the $99 annually to NOT have to deal with ad-based free crap.
Could not agree more with you.
It's well worth the service level that I have come to receive from Apple for a measly $99 bucks.
It's well worth the service level that I have come to receive from Apple for a measly $99 bucks.
Well, I'll throw my vote into the "mobile me is well worth the $100 annual cost" pile as well.
On another topic, this whole "find my phone" thing (in my opinion) is a bit handicapped because location services have to be on. Of course that's obvious, but as we all know, that'll eat up the battery like there's no tomorrow.
Well, I'll throw my vote into the "mobile me is well worth the $100 annual cost" pile as well.
On another topic, this whole "find my phone" thing (in my opinion) is a bit handicapped because location services have to be on. Of course that's obvious, but as we all know, that'll eat up the battery like there's no tomorrow.
Catch 22 eh, would be neat if it could be enabled at anytime from the MobileMe site.
If that happens I will have to head out and get a lotto ticket ;-)
Catch 22 eh, would be neat if it could be enabled at anytime from the MobileMe site.
If that happens I will have to head out and get a lotto ticket ;-)
Now that would be a neat solution. Remotely enabling location services from within the "find my phone" area on the Mobile Me site. Either that, or somehow dramatically improving battery life so the charge would last as long with LS on as it does now with LS off.
Uhh.... I don't think it does use the iPhone's GPS as the GSP does not broadcast it position. It is a passive receiver. It does however use the GSM network's triangulation data to send out your position. If you have your GPS running and an application uses that application to broadcast your position, then you might be correct, but as it stands you are a bit off.
The GPS does not "broadcast" your position, but your phone send the position that it receives from the GPS and sends it to your .mac account. .mac then googles it inside your .mac screen.
Hence if you have that feature turned OFF on your phone you cannot track it.
I think ME should be free for users who own both a Mac and iPhone. You paid a lot for the hardware and it's a value added feature that makes the hardware more attractive ...
As a compromise, it should be free for the first year when you buy a new Mac or iPhone. And then offered at a discount if you buy an actual copy of Apple's latest OS or Boxed Set. Reward long-time Apple customers with an integrated ecosystem and loyalty discounts on multiple product purchases.
I think Me.com should offer more value tied to the iTunes store, as well. Everything you buy from the store should be automatically backed up to your me.com account, available for download again if you manage to lose the original copy.
They want to update the service properly? Make it free.
Then create a Mobile me API, and let developers write paid apps for the service that Mobile me subscribers can buy/add-on. They get them added up the menubar. Apple can take a cut and provide Mac users with real value. The Mobile me API program could be $299 for devs to join. Or it could be free, but invite only.
Instead of charging $100 a year for stuff that should be free or very nearly free. Create bloody value.
Brilliant idea! I've had .Mac/MobileMe since day one and love it. But yours is a better idea! Providing of course, not ads!
You think 20GB for $100 is a good deal? Sure, in 2002 maybe. For $100, you can get web hosting with unlimited storage, a registered domain name, email, plus more a PHP and MYSQL server with unlimited databases. MM doesn't even offer PHP/MySQL which are essential for any real website (Wordpress, Drupal).
You write that as if it's the only feature you get with MM. That is right up there with the "they want me to pay $100 a year for email". It's disingenuous, at best.
One feature I would like to see if the ability to sync folders with MM iDisk. I have few folders that I use everyday and sometimes I need to access the files when I don't have my MBP with me. Furthermore, I can't use Back to My Mac because of how our university IT configures our network
The new default in Snow Leopard is to have the iDisk on your desktop and set to automatically sync like a watch folder.
Unfortunately, it's a very weak process and worse in effect than merely mounting the iDisk when you wish to copy to it.
For instance dumping files into a local (synced) iDisk completes in a few seconds (because it's local), and then takes however long it takes to sync to the cloud. Trouble is there is no way to know how long this sync will take and no progress bar or indicator of how far along the sync is. So you can't ever just throw stuff in there and be sure it will be synced to the cloud because it could take anywhere from a few minutes to days. You may be able to share the file later on, or access it from another computer, but you may not, and there is no way to tell.
I like MobileMe and think it's an excellent value, but it is still quite a bit behind the capabilities of other services at this point IMO. It could be so much more, and I think it will be, but Apple is sure taking the long slow gradual approach.
Personally I'd like to see them focus on the email part of it. It's still horrendously slow on anything but primo Internet connection and it's a confusing mess like most IMAP email services. If Apple could make IMAP email actually work like people think IMAP email works (before they actually use it and find out the horrible reality), it would put them ahead of the whole industry.
That's something I would pay even more a month for.
Comments
Free?... so we can start seeing ads on the .me pages?... ads glued to our .me emails?
The servers need to be paid for somehow... and making it free would only increase their bandwidth costs. (more people would use it ... including spammers.)
As others have said, I'm happy with the $99 annually to NOT have to deal with ad-based free crap.
Absolutely.
There's plenty of value in not having to waste bandwidth and time with ads and spam and such.
$8 a month isn't too bad.
If you want iDisk auto backup there is a Mac software by Apple that does that. I found it few months ago by chance and it is kind of useful if you have an important folder.
Thanks. I thought that was just old software hanging on from the iTools days. I?d check it out but there is still that issue with unencrypted syncing. I do it manually after putting my files in an encrypted DMG periodically.
Absolutely.
There's plenty of value in not having to waste bandwidth and time with ads and spam and such.
$8 a month isn't too bad.
Amazon.com has it for $6.04 a month. I pay more than that for a beer at a pub.
I had hoped that with SL they would put an option in the MM preference pane AND as a check box in Get Info for a file/folder that would auto sync with the iDisk folder without having you to specifically drag-n-drop it into the folder.
For me, I just create an alias to folders on my iDisk in my Documents folder and keep my whole iDisk synchronized. You could even create aliases to specific files if you want more fine grain control.
I definitely think the Mobile Me service should be a paid service. I just think it should offer everything that the other mail services and MORE. I think 20GB of online storage space is pretty damn sweet for $100/year
You think 20GB for $100 is a good deal? Sure, in 2002 maybe. For $100, you can get web hosting with unlimited storage, a registered domain name, email, plus more a PHP and MYSQL server with unlimited databases. MM doesn't even offer PHP/MySQL which are essential for any real website (Wordpress, Drupal).
I think ME should be free for users who own both a Mac and iPhone. You paid a lot for the hardware and it's a value added feature that makes the hardware more attractive and creates a better Apple ecosystem, which makes people like the Mac experience even more and recommend it to others. The actual features offered by MM are pretty basic and more worth of $30 a year at most.
BTW why is Find My Phone not as accurate as the iPhone's GPS? I'm sure it uses the phone's GPS for the location.
No...
He just bashed your argument and his is much more valid. "No" is not a coherent rebuttal to a somewhat week argument.
Free?... so we can start seeing ads on the .me pages?... ads glued to our .me emails?
The servers need to be paid for somehow... and making it free would only increase their bandwidth costs. (more people would use it ... including spammers.)
As others have said, I'm happy with the $99 annually to NOT have to deal with ad-based free crap.
I'll also gladly continue to pay the $100.
It's an excellent value for the money, IMHO
They want to update the service properly? Make it free.
Then create a Mobile me API, and let developers write paid apps for the service that Mobile me subscribers can buy/add-on. They get them added up the menubar. Apple can take a cut and provide Mac users with real value. The Mobile me API program could be $299 for devs to join. Or it could be free, but invite only.
Instead of charging $100 a year for stuff that should be free or very nearly free. Create bloody value.
I like the concept of expanding Mobile Me this way (so long as it never impacts performance and no ads) in theory but doesn't the effort (that is paying off) to have Mobile me accepted by corporate IT departments preclude this due to the stringent requirements they demand. Having said that I suppose there could be a pro version that is fee based that is 'clean' for corporate use ... maybe renamed 'MobileThem'
One feature I'd like to see added is the address of the lost phone. While one can see the street names, it's still hard to find the city, state, and zip. I should be able to click on the location and get a drive-to directions or a Pin location on Google Maps website.
BTW why is Find My Phone not as accurate as the iPhone's GPS? I'm sure it uses the phone's GPS for the location.
Uhh.... I don't think it does use the iPhone's GPS as the GSP does not broadcast it position. It is a passive receiver. It does however use the GSM network's triangulation data to send out your position. If you have your GPS running and an application uses that application to broadcast your position, then you might be correct, but as it stands you are a bit off.
Free?... so we can start seeing ads on the .me pages?... ads glued to our .me emails?
The servers need to be paid for somehow... and making it free would only increase their bandwidth costs. (more people would use it ... including spammers.)
As others have said, I'm happy with the $99 annually to NOT have to deal with ad-based free crap.
Could not agree more with you.
It's well worth the service level that I have come to receive from Apple for a measly $99 bucks.
Could not agree more with you.
It's well worth the service level that I have come to receive from Apple for a measly $99 bucks.
Well, I'll throw my vote into the "mobile me is well worth the $100 annual cost" pile as well.
On another topic, this whole "find my phone" thing (in my opinion) is a bit handicapped because location services have to be on. Of course that's obvious, but as we all know, that'll eat up the battery like there's no tomorrow.
Well, I'll throw my vote into the "mobile me is well worth the $100 annual cost" pile as well.
On another topic, this whole "find my phone" thing (in my opinion) is a bit handicapped because location services have to be on. Of course that's obvious, but as we all know, that'll eat up the battery like there's no tomorrow.
Catch 22 eh, would be neat if it could be enabled at anytime from the MobileMe site.
If that happens I will have to head out and get a lotto ticket ;-)
Catch 22 eh, would be neat if it could be enabled at anytime from the MobileMe site.
If that happens I will have to head out and get a lotto ticket ;-)
Now that would be a neat solution. Remotely enabling location services from within the "find my phone" area on the Mobile Me site. Either that, or somehow dramatically improving battery life so the charge would last as long with LS on as it does now with LS off.
Uhh.... I don't think it does use the iPhone's GPS as the GSP does not broadcast it position. It is a passive receiver. It does however use the GSM network's triangulation data to send out your position. If you have your GPS running and an application uses that application to broadcast your position, then you might be correct, but as it stands you are a bit off.
The GPS does not "broadcast" your position, but your phone send the position that it receives from the GPS and sends it to your .mac account. .mac then googles it inside your .mac screen.
Hence if you have that feature turned OFF on your phone you cannot track it.
I think ME should be free for users who own both a Mac and iPhone. You paid a lot for the hardware and it's a value added feature that makes the hardware more attractive ...
As a compromise, it should be free for the first year when you buy a new Mac or iPhone. And then offered at a discount if you buy an actual copy of Apple's latest OS or Boxed Set. Reward long-time Apple customers with an integrated ecosystem and loyalty discounts on multiple product purchases.
I think Me.com should offer more value tied to the iTunes store, as well. Everything you buy from the store should be automatically backed up to your me.com account, available for download again if you manage to lose the original copy.
They want to update the service properly? Make it free.
Then create a Mobile me API, and let developers write paid apps for the service that Mobile me subscribers can buy/add-on. They get them added up the menubar. Apple can take a cut and provide Mac users with real value. The Mobile me API program could be $299 for devs to join. Or it could be free, but invite only.
Instead of charging $100 a year for stuff that should be free or very nearly free. Create bloody value.
Brilliant idea! I've had .Mac/MobileMe since day one and love it. But yours is a better idea! Providing of course, not ads!
You think 20GB for $100 is a good deal? Sure, in 2002 maybe. For $100, you can get web hosting with unlimited storage, a registered domain name, email, plus more a PHP and MYSQL server with unlimited databases. MM doesn't even offer PHP/MySQL which are essential for any real website (Wordpress, Drupal).
You write that as if it's the only feature you get with MM. That is right up there with the "they want me to pay $100 a year for email". It's disingenuous, at best.
One feature I would like to see if the ability to sync folders with MM iDisk. I have few folders that I use everyday and sometimes I need to access the files when I don't have my MBP with me. Furthermore, I can't use Back to My Mac because of how our university IT configures our network
The new default in Snow Leopard is to have the iDisk on your desktop and set to automatically sync like a watch folder.
Unfortunately, it's a very weak process and worse in effect than merely mounting the iDisk when you wish to copy to it.
For instance dumping files into a local (synced) iDisk completes in a few seconds (because it's local), and then takes however long it takes to sync to the cloud. Trouble is there is no way to know how long this sync will take and no progress bar or indicator of how far along the sync is. So you can't ever just throw stuff in there and be sure it will be synced to the cloud because it could take anywhere from a few minutes to days. You may be able to share the file later on, or access it from another computer, but you may not, and there is no way to tell.
I like MobileMe and think it's an excellent value, but it is still quite a bit behind the capabilities of other services at this point IMO. It could be so much more, and I think it will be, but Apple is sure taking the long slow gradual approach.
Personally I'd like to see them focus on the email part of it. It's still horrendously slow on anything but primo Internet connection and it's a confusing mess like most IMAP email services. If Apple could make IMAP email actually work like people think IMAP email works (before they actually use it and find out the horrible reality), it would put them ahead of the whole industry.
That's something I would pay even more a month for.