Giving everyone a MobileMe account would be a big selling point and no great loss of revenue for Apple. Apple would more than recoup the lost revenue by the additional sales of Ipads and iphones.
As they sell them faster than they can make them, this is not really a huge motivation. If they do anything at all, it will be a limited and/or ad supported free solution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe hs
Perhaps only new iOS devices "qualify", i.e. iPad G2 or later.
This is absolutely possible, as providing additional services that could lower the profit margin of devices already accounted for could be in conflict with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Any ad income would have to at least cover the cost of operation and maintenance to stay clear of such complications (as far as I understand it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Apple has a great deal to learn from Google on how to implement email and related applications (e.g., Picasa) well. MobileMe - I've been a member since Day1 - is a mediocre offering from Apple.
??? MobileMe mail beats Gmail by miles, at least it is 100% IMAP compliant, while Gmail's label mess is causing conflicts with most mail clients (and do not even get me started on the handling of contacts with Gmail - it is so bad, there should be a law against it). And comparing Picasa to the current iPhoto... Picasa looks like a freak accident. Google could not design a decent GUI if their life depended on it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iSamurai
So far Apple has not done much with the expertise and assets that came along with the purchase of LaLa. Apple could add a LaLalike service to make is MobileMe offering even sweeter.
No idea what it will be, if anything. But one thing is for sure: the streaming rights that companies like LaLa, Spotify, etc. have obtained are not transferable... so, Apple basically only bought human resources. I hope they at least use them to make iDisk performing anywhere near what a free Dropbox account provides. While I love almost everything about MobileMe, the iDisk feature is so poor, it is a mere joke.
Given the range of iOs devices that Apple now sells, this is an underlying service whose costs could easily be built into the hardware pricing (e.g., as with razor blades and handles).
You may have that one backwards: The razor and blades strategy subsidizes the initial discount, not the other way around. The handle is cheap; the blades are expensive.
How about Apple figure out why all of my MobileMe sent e-mails are ending up in everyone's spam folders?
I used to use MobileMe for everything, now I can't trust it to get my e-mails out.
Do you use a me.com or a mac.com address for sending mails? I happily still use my old mac.com address and I have no such problems.
Anyhow, there is nothing Apple can do about it, as the logic and blacklists of the spam filters are maintained by the receiving providers and users, not Apple.
Too much email history (incl the family). Inertia. And, I can afford it.
Why can't you move the history to Gmail??
I personally can't stand gmail. The web interface is very very klunky. I had it be unavailable about 1 every 2 weeks for a period of time (10-15 minutes). I can't get its sent mail to sync properly across devices and I still don't have a standard push service on the iPhone.
I've had zero problems with mm mail. it just works, for me and other family members. and the syncing of everything else just works as well. Well worth < $6/month (as has been pointed out elsewhere is the third-party cost). Add to that the rest of the services which also seem to just work these days.
The only reason I still have a gmail account it to play around with the new features that I never end up using. Also, forwarding of non-standard e-mail address I play with. If it cost anything I would be gone from gmail.
Do you use a me.com or a mac.com address for sending mails? I happily still use my old mac.com address and I have no such problems.
Anyhow, there is nothing Apple can do about it, as the logic and blacklists of the spam filters are maintained by the receiving providers and users, not Apple.
I use a me.com address. I never had a mac.com address.
But yeah, I understand it's not Apple's fault, but it's frustrating as crap. Apple has so much clout in the tech world. I would think they could strong arm some of these other providers.
Yeah, yeah. we heard that about the iPhone 4. Never happened.
Apple will need partners to pull that off.
the whole "we heard this before" is not an argument. It doesnt need partners on launch, just a nfc capable device. Google have this now, if Apple wait until 2011 it is curtains.
To be honest a limited free Mobile Me that at least matches the features available from Google and Microsoft is long overdue.
This from the guy whose sig is:
Prevent Apple from tracking your iDevice activity. Visit oo.apple.com.
This service is provided by... Apple.
Free Mobile Me? No thanks. Google Buzz? Microsoft Security? Free?
Turn off Google or MS tracking?
Free in the corporate world does not exist. Don't pay in dollars you pay some other way. This seems to be widely, very widely, misunderstood. Corporations quoted on the stock markets can't give stuff away their primary duty is to protect the financial interests of shareholders, they can only 'give' something away for 'free' if the return is greater.
Free in dollars costs you some other freedom. Apple won't give you free stuff, they may bundle extra services in with the cost of the device.
Schmidt responded, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
Prevent Apple from tracking your iDevice activity. Visit oo.apple.com.
This service is provided by... Apple.
Free Mobile Me? No thanks. Google Buzz? Microsoft Security? Free?
Turn off Google or MS tracking?
Free in the corporate world does not exist. Don't pay in dollars you pay some other way. This seems to be widely, very widely, misunderstood. Corporations quoted on the stock markets can't give stuff away their primary duty is to protect the financial interests of shareholders, they can only 'give' something away for 'free' if the return is greater.
Free in dollars costs you some other freedom. Apple won't give you free stuff, they may bundle extra services in with the cost of the device.
Schmidt responded, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
While what you're saying is true, that doesn't mean it's right. The concept of "right and wrong" is difficult to wrap our capitalist minds around, I know.
Given that Apple is corporation whose mission and legal obligation is to make profits for it's stock holders, why do you think MobileMe should be free?
If MobileMe is mediocre it should be shut down.
They are charged to make a profit, not to be stupid. It can make sense to offer some things for free because of the network effect. The network effect causes something to become much more valuable as it becomes more ubiquitous. If there is an increasing probability that iOS and OS X devices are actually using the cloud services that come with Mobile Me then it becomes more likely that developers will enhance products with those cloud services making Apple devices more desirable. This is similar to what boosted the popularity of the iPod. Apple made iTunes free for the Mac and the PC (a free app for the competing OS) and built a low margin service to fuel the rise of the iPod. That use of "free" made stock holders huge profits.
There is also the issue that Apple is competing against free. If Apple chooses to stick with its current $100 per year model they will simply not be in the game for the possible next great thing that could come from cloud computing. Of course the optimistic thinking might prove wrong and not participating might be the right choice (remember the demands that Apple had to be in the netbook market?). But the size of Apple's investment in the North Carolina data center implies a free service is on its way.
"Apple will launch the iPad in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark"
Just in time for those long winter day-nights with nothing better to do than drink Vodka, sit in hot tubs and shag tall, hot blondes. Now, add iPad to the list!
Hehe, is that your image of us Nordic people. Guess what, we do not drink vodka and I guess 99.99% dont have ever been in a hot tube What comes to the blondes......
Go to the other end. I’m talking about from the device itself.
If your don’t have a PIN/passcode setup to protect your device, or have it set to some interval, if someone gets into the device they can, from Settings » Mail, Contacts, Calendars, delete your MobileMe account or disable Find My iPhone without any PIN or password protecting the user.
If you want to change your iDevice’s PIN/passcode you need to renter your PIN/passcode so the system knows you have legitimate access. This should be required to change any aspect of MobileMe that would disable or enable Find My iPhone on the device....
Ah, your first statement implied that there was a security hole in MobileMe, this is a different thing altogether.
MobileMe can be disabled if you delete the account but that leaves the criminal only in physical possession of your phone. Your MobileMe data is still safe, as is your email.
You can't use find my iphone anymore, but that isn't the same as a security hole. The same thing happens when you wipe the data. The wiping saves the security of the phone, but it leaves you unable to ever contact the phone again remotely.
I understand what you're saying about the PIN and I agree it should probably be changed, but this is not a security hole in MobileMe. You lose your phone in this situation, but the MobileMe information remains intact and secret.
Ah, your first statement implied that there was a security hole in MobileMe, this is a different thing altogether.
MobileMe can be disabled if you delete the account but that leaves the criminal only in physical possession of your phone. Your MobileMe data is still safe, as is your email.
You can't use find my iphone anymore, but that isn't the same as a security hole. The same thing happens when you wipe the data. The wiping saves the security of the phone, but it leaves you unable to ever contact the phone again remotely.
I understand what you're saying about the PIN and I agree it should probably be changed, but this is not a security hole in MobileMe. You lose your phone in this situation, but the MobileMe information remains intact and secret.
If I'm in physical possession of your iPhone and you don't have a screen lock PIN set up, I can go into settings and disable find my phone WITHOUT deleting your MobileMe account and all of the data that resides on your phone. I've just turned off your ability to find... and remote wipe... your phone. I believe the 'find my phone' feature is worth the MobileMe subscription just by itself... IF it can't be disabled so easily by anyone in physical possession of your phone. I agree with the original poster that changing the 'find my phone' settings on your phone should require your MobileMe password to proceed.
I use Google to sync all of my ontacts and calender betweem my iPad, Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, Androind Droid Phone ( I have to use Verizon ) and my company Dell laptop. It is a great feature that google provides for free. I also use Google Docs and I am trying the beta iWork.com site as well.
So, Why pay for Moble ME, when Google sync is free and does everything I need it to do....?
I use Google to sync all of my ontacts and calender betweem my iPad, Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, Androind Droid Phone ( I have to use Verizon ) and my company Dell laptop. It is a great feature that google provides for free. I also use Google Docs and I am trying the beta iWork.com site as well.
So, Why pay for Moble ME, when Google sync is free and does everything I need it to do....?
You answered you own question, which was good enough for you. But not for me. You get what you paid for. So do I.
If I'm in physical possession of your iPhone and you don't have a screen lock PIN set up, I can go into settings and disable find my phone WITHOUT deleting your MobileMe account and all of the data that resides on your phone. I've just turned off your ability to find... and remote wipe... your phone. I believe the 'find my phone' feature is worth the MobileMe subscription just by itself... IF it can't be disabled so easily by anyone in physical possession of your phone. I agree with the original poster that changing the 'find my phone' settings on your phone should require your MobileMe password to proceed.
What PIN do you expect the thief put in in this case? You haven't set one up. how do you expect the system to know a pin?
The phone probably needs to re-ask for the PIN, for the cases where a PIN is set and the thief steals it unlocked and had time to disable Find My Phone, but it cant do anything for the user who doesnt set his PIN. All that Apple can do is force people to set their PIN if they are using the phone as a wallet.
What PIN do you expect the thief put in in this case? You haven't set one up. how do you expect the system to know a pin?
The phone probably needs to re-ask for the PIN, for the cases where a PIN is set and the thief steals it unlocked and had time to disable Find My Phone, but it cant do anything for the user who doesnt set his PIN. All that Apple can do is force people to set their PIN if they are using the phone as a wallet.
Oh... I'm not debating the importance of setting (or not) a screen lock PIN (or the duration before it auto locks). That's dependent on an individual's personal comfort/compromise with security of their personal information versus "hassle" of constantly entering a screen lock PIN.
That being said, my phone is associated with my MobileMe account which DOES require a password to access. Even though I can set my web access to keep me signed in for two weeks if I go to the find my phone feature it requires me to put my password in AGAIN even if I just signed into MobileMe with it 15 seconds ago. I strongly believe that in order to maintain the integrity of the find my phone feature from end to end it should require the MobileMe password to make changes on the phone as well... regardless of whether a screen lock PIN is in place or not. And yes the phone should know the password... its the same one for the MobileMe account that is "finding' it in the first place.
Comments
Giving everyone a MobileMe account would be a big selling point and no great loss of revenue for Apple. Apple would more than recoup the lost revenue by the additional sales of Ipads and iphones.
As they sell them faster than they can make them, this is not really a huge motivation. If they do anything at all, it will be a limited and/or ad supported free solution.
Perhaps only new iOS devices "qualify", i.e. iPad G2 or later.
This is absolutely possible, as providing additional services that could lower the profit margin of devices already accounted for could be in conflict with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Any ad income would have to at least cover the cost of operation and maintenance to stay clear of such complications (as far as I understand it).
Apple has a great deal to learn from Google on how to implement email and related applications (e.g., Picasa) well. MobileMe - I've been a member since Day1 - is a mediocre offering from Apple.
??? MobileMe mail beats Gmail by miles, at least it is 100% IMAP compliant, while Gmail's label mess is causing conflicts with most mail clients (and do not even get me started on the handling of contacts with Gmail - it is so bad, there should be a law against it). And comparing Picasa to the current iPhoto... Picasa looks like a freak accident. Google could not design a decent GUI if their life depended on it.
So far Apple has not done much with the expertise and assets that came along with the purchase of LaLa. Apple could add a LaLalike service to make is MobileMe offering even sweeter.
No idea what it will be, if anything. But one thing is for sure: the streaming rights that companies like LaLa, Spotify, etc. have obtained are not transferable... so, Apple basically only bought human resources. I hope they at least use them to make iDisk performing anywhere near what a free Dropbox account provides. While I love almost everything about MobileMe, the iDisk feature is so poor, it is a mere joke.
I used to use MobileMe for everything, now I can't trust it to get my e-mails out.
Given the range of iOs devices that Apple now sells, this is an underlying service whose costs could easily be built into the hardware pricing (e.g., as with razor blades and handles).
You may have that one backwards: The razor and blades strategy subsidizes the initial discount, not the other way around. The handle is cheap; the blades are expensive.
How about Apple figure out why all of my MobileMe sent e-mails are ending up in everyone's spam folders?
I used to use MobileMe for everything, now I can't trust it to get my e-mails out.
Do you use a me.com or a mac.com address for sending mails? I happily still use my old mac.com address and I have no such problems.
Anyhow, there is nothing Apple can do about it, as the logic and blacklists of the spam filters are maintained by the receiving providers and users, not Apple.
Apple will debut a phone with NFC next year. It will be your wallet. Your credit card. Your Oyster card. etc.
If stolen it needs to be deactivated, so mobile me needs to be free.
Yeah, yeah. we heard that about the iPhone 4. Never happened.
Apple will need partners to pull that off.
Too much email history (incl the family). Inertia. And, I can afford it.
Why can't you move the history to Gmail??
I personally can't stand gmail. The web interface is very very klunky. I had it be unavailable about 1 every 2 weeks for a period of time (10-15 minutes). I can't get its sent mail to sync properly across devices and I still don't have a standard push service on the iPhone.
I've had zero problems with mm mail. it just works, for me and other family members. and the syncing of everything else just works as well. Well worth < $6/month (as has been pointed out elsewhere is the third-party cost). Add to that the rest of the services which also seem to just work these days.
The only reason I still have a gmail account it to play around with the new features that I never end up using. Also, forwarding of non-standard e-mail address I play with. If it cost anything I would be gone from gmail.
Do you use a me.com or a mac.com address for sending mails? I happily still use my old mac.com address and I have no such problems.
Anyhow, there is nothing Apple can do about it, as the logic and blacklists of the spam filters are maintained by the receiving providers and users, not Apple.
I use a me.com address. I never had a mac.com address.
But yeah, I understand it's not Apple's fault, but it's frustrating as crap. Apple has so much clout in the tech world. I would think they could strong arm some of these other providers.
Yeah, yeah. we heard that about the iPhone 4. Never happened.
Apple will need partners to pull that off.
the whole "we heard this before" is not an argument. It doesnt need partners on launch, just a nfc capable device. Google have this now, if Apple wait until 2011 it is curtains.
To be honest a limited free Mobile Me that at least matches the features available from Google and Microsoft is long overdue.
This from the guy whose sig is:
Prevent Apple from tracking your iDevice activity. Visit oo.apple.com.
This service is provided by... Apple.
Free Mobile Me? No thanks. Google Buzz? Microsoft Security? Free?
Turn off Google or MS tracking?
Free in the corporate world does not exist. Don't pay in dollars you pay some other way. This seems to be widely, very widely, misunderstood. Corporations quoted on the stock markets can't give stuff away their primary duty is to protect the financial interests of shareholders, they can only 'give' something away for 'free' if the return is greater.
Free in dollars costs you some other freedom. Apple won't give you free stuff, they may bundle extra services in with the cost of the device.
Schmidt responded, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/48975
http://www.networkworld.com/communit...nts-arent-read
Free?
http://www.businessinsider.com/huaxi-air-fleet-2010-11
Also, if you think that Apple bases its pricing decisions on what trolls in forums might or might not complain about, it's also a silly imagination.
You would have to be pretty narrow minded to come to that conclusion.
This from the guy whose sig is:
Prevent Apple from tracking your iDevice activity. Visit oo.apple.com.
This service is provided by... Apple.
Free Mobile Me? No thanks. Google Buzz? Microsoft Security? Free?
Turn off Google or MS tracking?
Free in the corporate world does not exist. Don't pay in dollars you pay some other way. This seems to be widely, very widely, misunderstood. Corporations quoted on the stock markets can't give stuff away their primary duty is to protect the financial interests of shareholders, they can only 'give' something away for 'free' if the return is greater.
Free in dollars costs you some other freedom. Apple won't give you free stuff, they may bundle extra services in with the cost of the device.
Schmidt responded, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/48975
http://www.networkworld.com/communit...nts-arent-read
Free?
http://www.businessinsider.com/huaxi-air-fleet-2010-11
While what you're saying is true, that doesn't mean it's right. The concept of "right and wrong" is difficult to wrap our capitalist minds around, I know.
Given that Apple is corporation whose mission and legal obligation is to make profits for it's stock holders, why do you think MobileMe should be free?
If MobileMe is mediocre it should be shut down.
They are charged to make a profit, not to be stupid. It can make sense to offer some things for free because of the network effect. The network effect causes something to become much more valuable as it becomes more ubiquitous. If there is an increasing probability that iOS and OS X devices are actually using the cloud services that come with Mobile Me then it becomes more likely that developers will enhance products with those cloud services making Apple devices more desirable. This is similar to what boosted the popularity of the iPod. Apple made iTunes free for the Mac and the PC (a free app for the competing OS) and built a low margin service to fuel the rise of the iPod. That use of "free" made stock holders huge profits.
There is also the issue that Apple is competing against free. If Apple chooses to stick with its current $100 per year model they will simply not be in the game for the possible next great thing that could come from cloud computing. Of course the optimistic thinking might prove wrong and not participating might be the right choice (remember the demands that Apple had to be in the netbook market?). But the size of Apple's investment in the North Carolina data center implies a free service is on its way.
"Apple will launch the iPad in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark"
Just in time for those long winter day-nights with nothing better to do than drink Vodka, sit in hot tubs and shag tall, hot blondes. Now, add iPad to the list!
Hehe, is that your image of us Nordic people. Guess what, we do not drink vodka and I guess 99.99% dont have ever been in a hot tube
Go to the other end. I’m talking about from the device itself.
If your don’t have a PIN/passcode setup to protect your device, or have it set to some interval, if someone gets into the device they can, from Settings » Mail, Contacts, Calendars, delete your MobileMe account or disable Find My iPhone without any PIN or password protecting the user.
If you want to change your iDevice’s PIN/passcode you need to renter your PIN/passcode so the system knows you have legitimate access. This should be required to change any aspect of MobileMe that would disable or enable Find My iPhone on the device....
Ah, your first statement implied that there was a security hole in MobileMe, this is a different thing altogether.
MobileMe can be disabled if you delete the account but that leaves the criminal only in physical possession of your phone. Your MobileMe data is still safe, as is your email.
You can't use find my iphone anymore, but that isn't the same as a security hole. The same thing happens when you wipe the data. The wiping saves the security of the phone, but it leaves you unable to ever contact the phone again remotely.
I understand what you're saying about the PIN and I agree it should probably be changed, but this is not a security hole in MobileMe. You lose your phone in this situation, but the MobileMe information remains intact and secret.
Ah, your first statement implied that there was a security hole in MobileMe, this is a different thing altogether.
MobileMe can be disabled if you delete the account but that leaves the criminal only in physical possession of your phone. Your MobileMe data is still safe, as is your email.
You can't use find my iphone anymore, but that isn't the same as a security hole. The same thing happens when you wipe the data. The wiping saves the security of the phone, but it leaves you unable to ever contact the phone again remotely.
I understand what you're saying about the PIN and I agree it should probably be changed, but this is not a security hole in MobileMe. You lose your phone in this situation, but the MobileMe information remains intact and secret.
If I'm in physical possession of your iPhone and you don't have a screen lock PIN set up, I can go into settings and disable find my phone WITHOUT deleting your MobileMe account and all of the data that resides on your phone. I've just turned off your ability to find... and remote wipe... your phone. I believe the 'find my phone' feature is worth the MobileMe subscription just by itself... IF it can't be disabled so easily by anyone in physical possession of your phone. I agree with the original poster that changing the 'find my phone' settings on your phone should require your MobileMe password to proceed.
I use Google to sync all of my ontacts and calender betweem my iPad, Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, Androind Droid Phone ( I have to use Verizon ) and my company Dell laptop. It is a great feature that google provides for free. I also use Google Docs and I am trying the beta iWork.com site as well.
So, Why pay for Moble ME, when Google sync is free and does everything I need it to do....?
Exactly,
I use Google to sync all of my ontacts and calender betweem my iPad, Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, Androind Droid Phone ( I have to use Verizon ) and my company Dell laptop. It is a great feature that google provides for free. I also use Google Docs and I am trying the beta iWork.com site as well.
So, Why pay for Moble ME, when Google sync is free and does everything I need it to do....?
You answered you own question, which was good enough for you. But not for me. You get what you paid for. So do I.
If I'm in physical possession of your iPhone and you don't have a screen lock PIN set up, I can go into settings and disable find my phone WITHOUT deleting your MobileMe account and all of the data that resides on your phone. I've just turned off your ability to find... and remote wipe... your phone. I believe the 'find my phone' feature is worth the MobileMe subscription just by itself... IF it can't be disabled so easily by anyone in physical possession of your phone. I agree with the original poster that changing the 'find my phone' settings on your phone should require your MobileMe password to proceed.
What PIN do you expect the thief put in in this case? You haven't set one up. how do you expect the system to know a pin?
The phone probably needs to re-ask for the PIN, for the cases where a PIN is set and the thief steals it unlocked and had time to disable Find My Phone, but it cant do anything for the user who doesnt set his PIN. All that Apple can do is force people to set their PIN if they are using the phone as a wallet.
What PIN do you expect the thief put in in this case? You haven't set one up. how do you expect the system to know a pin?
The phone probably needs to re-ask for the PIN, for the cases where a PIN is set and the thief steals it unlocked and had time to disable Find My Phone, but it cant do anything for the user who doesnt set his PIN. All that Apple can do is force people to set their PIN if they are using the phone as a wallet.
Oh... I'm not debating the importance of setting (or not) a screen lock PIN (or the duration before it auto locks). That's dependent on an individual's personal comfort/compromise with security of their personal information versus "hassle" of constantly entering a screen lock PIN.
That being said, my phone is associated with my MobileMe account which DOES require a password to access. Even though I can set my web access to keep me signed in for two weeks if I go to the find my phone feature it requires me to put my password in AGAIN even if I just signed into MobileMe with it 15 seconds ago. I strongly believe that in order to maintain the integrity of the find my phone feature from end to end it should require the MobileMe password to make changes on the phone as well... regardless of whether a screen lock PIN is in place or not. And yes the phone should know the password... its the same one for the MobileMe account that is "finding' it in the first place.