This is true, they did give a free service (iTools), and then start charging for it (.Mac/MobileMe)...but think of it this way...
The whole time, Apple has been feverishly trying to figure out what to do. They know there is a formula to make this online service successful, but so far they haven't figured it out. I think they will keep trying til they get it right. Since both .Mac and MobileMe have been limited in their userbase and success as paid services, I think Apple finally realizes that the formula is to make it free to make the ecosystem complete and tie it all together. Afterall, with Google giving similar things away for free, I think they have to give in a bit to remain competitive. I think a tiered service would be fine, but it seems like there has to be a basic service that is free for all Mac users to get them hooked. Then for power users, they can upgrade as they will already know the value in the services.
I have a tendency to agree with you DJ, I too remember iTools and .Mac and used them both way back when. I've been paying the yearly fee for as long as I can remember. I think the syncing of contacts, and email are well worth the price of admission. As far as Ping, websites, photo sharing Apple missed the boat and Facebook handles most of that now, especially for young people. iDisk is too slow compared with Dropbox.
It will be interesting to see what they come up with. Again, the ecosystem, as you say, was my sole reason in paying for it all this time!
Maybe MobileMe is just moving to a totally digital distribution method.
We may see MobileMe appear on the Mac App Store. Non Mac users would have to subscribe through their iOS device or on Apple's website. I mean there was never anything very useful in the MobileMe box anyway.
Me too, wouldn't you know! Or rather I joined the MobileMe clic for the FIRST time ever to see what it was all about... Those that complained about it as a product and those that were willing to pay for a ad free premium service and had no problems or just requests for add-ons and some improvements...
If it does become a free and a "premium" service, wonder if those that purchased within the year get some pro-rated discount for Apple store or iTunes as an offset, based on IF and when the service goes free that is?... Would be a nice gesture from Apple... like that's gonna happen!
Maybe MobileMe is just moving to a totally digital distribution method.
We may see MobileMe appear on the Mac App Store. Non Mac users would have to subscribe through their iOS device or on Apple's website. I mean there was never anything very useful in the MobileMe box anyway.
Good point. Separate the components and lower the prices so we can purchase chunks on the App store. This appears to be the direction Apple is going as today, FaceTime 1.0 appeared in the App store for .99 cents.
We've all read how Apple is going to sell software on the App store and make room in their retail stores for showcasing more hardware. I wonder if this App store (with the 30% chunk going to Apple) will cross over to hardware? Why not just remove the Apple Store online and make the whole thing one store and take 30% of everything you sell?
Good point. Separate the components and lower the prices so we can purchase chunks on the App store. This appears to be the direction Apple is going as today, FaceTime 1.0 appeared in the App store for .99 cents.
We've all read how Apple is going to sell software on the App store and make room in their retail stores for showcasing more hardware. I wonder if this App store (with the 30% chunk going to Apple) will cross over to hardware? Why not just remove the Apple Store online and make the whole thing one store and take 30% of everything you sell?
To my mind, separating out the components seems less possible than putting the entire suite of services on the Mac App Store. Hopefully we'll know more on Wednesday.
That's quite a tease. What was the conclusion of this sentence?
"And on Wednesday, Apple executives revealed at the company's annual shareholder meeting that its massive $1 billion data center in North Carolina is set to open this spring. The usually tight-lipped company also let slip that the data center will be used to support iTunes and MobileMe."
It's on the main AI page, at the bottom of this story.
Because you only use a tiny percentage of the functionality, it's the service that's somehow flawed?
The web apps are amazing, accessing and sharing files, web hosting, galleries, calendars, backtomymac, syncing, the best webmail app in existence - for less than a fiver a month, ad free with my personal data kept data. Being able to sync my mac - even down to the dock icons...
A very small price to pay.
I agree. I found MobileMe very expensive when I first looked at it, but now I am using all its features I appreciate how good value it is!
I will give an example for our friend who clearly shouldn't be using the service as he doesn't need it. I host my web site with MobileMe. My domain registrar also offers hosting that I do not buy from them.
My registrar's cheapest deal: 100MB space, 3,000MB bandwidth/month...£50/year
My registrar's most expensive service: 20,000MB space, 30,000MB bandwidth/month...£500/year
Add to that the push data synching with my iPhone and Mac, the beautiful galleries, the superb webmail etc. and it really is a stunning service, provided you need it!
If Apple makes MobileMe free, it won't be supported by ads or sales of your information. That is not Apple's way. They will instead view it as a value-added service that will recoup costs by enticing more buyers of the Apple products which use the service. In other words, Apple might believe that by making MobileMe free, they enhance the perceived value of their products, and they will sell more of them. I agree wholeheartedly.
Thompson
Don't be too sure about Apple not using ads to subsidize a free MobileMe. They didn't pay $275 million to buy Quattro for fun. I wouldn't be surprised if iAds appeared on a free MobileMe service.
Just because they haven't used an ad-supported model for their products / services YET doesn't mean they won't.
They also have never shipped products with snakes inside, but I suppose we can't rule that out either.
However, the best predictor of future behavior is prior behavior. Absent some specific reason to think Apple is about to change its corporate DNA, there's no reason to believe that they would tarnish the user experience of one of their products by making it ad supported.
Glad to see some others who appreciate MobileMe as much as I do. It's a kick ass service. Can it be improved? Of course! The most obvious improvement is mentioned here often: a drop box like file syncing. I'm sure apple is working on that and much more. But apple has many projects going at any given time so it's natural that some draw more focus than others. It looks like MobileMe has reached near the top of apple's attention list recently and I could not be more happy.
It's important to keep in mind that MobileMe does many things. Comparing it to one trick ponies is not fair. Apple will have to improve individual features while maintaining and improving the integration of the program and deciding what cloud features need implementation. This is actually a pretty complicated project--not some no brainer some of you make it out to be. Just because some of you use only a few of the features, it does not mean the rest of the features are useless to the many rest of us. I for one, have no problem continuing to pay for a MobileMe that continues to grow more robust and seamless with my own little apple universe.
Oh, and it is not slow. Anything but in my case. Maybe there is something location specific going on.
Interesting. Does this mean the service is going the free route? I'm a bit worried if it does. I don't want a Google set-up where ads are present and my personal information is sold for profit. I'd rather to pay to keep my personal information private.
I just re-subscribed in January. Hopefully, Apple stays true to it's past and looks out for those with paid subscriptions. Will be watching these developments closely.
It is not the Apple way, so don't be alarmed.
However if it was Google, then you should put on your peril sensitive sunglasses. PANIC !
It is simply a part of the scheme of things that Apple is doing now and in the short/long term future. Once its all done and we all see the big picture then we will all realise how petty and pathetic our squables and concerns were.
I have full faith in Apple, probably the only company on Earth, do I give my total faith.
Glad to see some others who appreciate MobileMe as much as I do. It's a kick ass service. Can it be improved? Of course! The most obvious improvement is mentioned here often: a drop box like file syncing. I'm sure apple is working on that and much more. But apple has many projects going at any given time so it's natural that some draw more focus than others. It looks like MobileMe has reached near the top of apple's attention list recently and I could not be more happy.
It's important to keep in mind that MobileMe does many things. Comparing it to one trick ponies is not fair. Apple will have to improve individual features while maintaining and improving the integration of the program and deciding what cloud features need implementation. This is actually a pretty complicated project--not some no brainer some of you make it out to be. Just because some of you use only a few of the features, it does not mean the rest of the features are useless to the many rest of us. I for one, have no problem continuing to pay for a MobileMe that continues to grow more robust and seamless with my own little apple universe.
Oh, and it is not slow. Anything but in my case. Maybe there is something location specific going on.
I'm with you, except that if you tell Preferences to keep a local copy of your iDisk and to sync automatically, then that is pretty much exactly Dropbox for you right there, automatically syncs, available on the cloud, on the phone, capable of sharing file with private links etc etc.
I love MM. I think Back to My Mac is great (since I got it working by using my Airport Extreme as my main NAt router), calendar sharing is great without having to resort to long winded cludges with google etc, plus all your mail is ad-free unlike a lot other the free services. There's is only 1 thing that is worth complaining about, and it's the lack of ability to use your own email address with it. There are workarounds, but it should just let you specify what you want to use and accept it.
Glad to see some others who appreciate MobileMe as much as I do. It's a kick ass service. Can it be improved? Of course! The most obvious improvement is mentioned here often: a drop box like file syncing. I'm sure apple is working on that and much more. But apple has many projects going at any given time so it's natural that some draw more focus than others. It looks like MobileMe has reached near the top of apple's attention list recently and I could not be more happy.
It's important to keep in mind that MobileMe does many things. Comparing it to one trick ponies is not fair. Apple will have to improve individual features while maintaining and improving the integration of the program and deciding what cloud features need implementation. This is actually a pretty complicated project--not some no brainer some of you make it out to be. Just because some of you use only a few of the features, it does not mean the rest of the features are useless to the many rest of us. I for one, have no problem continuing to pay for a MobileMe that continues to grow more robust and seamless with my own little apple universe.
Oh, and it is not slow. Anything but in my case. Maybe there is something location specific going on.
"A kick ass product."
Does it do some good things? Yes. It's nice to sync everything between my Mac and my phone and web. But the HTML calendar is horrible. I use it all the time, and it constantly freezes, returns error messages when creating events, etc. It's infuriating. I don't even use the e-mail anymore. I don't do a lot of online backup. There isn't enough space to do much anyway. Basically I pay $99 a year for an e-mail address I never use and the ability to sync my calendars, which I need. Performance needs to be vastly improved.
Does it do some good things? Yes. It's nice to sync everything between my Mac and my phone and web. But the HTML calendar is horrible. I use it all the time, and it constantly freezes, returns error messages when creating events, etc. It's infuriating. I don't even use the e-mail anymore. I don't do a lot of online backup. There isn't enough space to do much anyway. Basically I pay $99 a year for an e-mail address I never use and the ability to sync my calendars, which I need. Performance needs to be vastly improved.
I'm quite surprised by the problems you seem to be having. I use my email address professionally and have never had a moment's trouble with it.
Comments
This is true, they did give a free service (iTools), and then start charging for it (.Mac/MobileMe)...but think of it this way...
The whole time, Apple has been feverishly trying to figure out what to do. They know there is a formula to make this online service successful, but so far they haven't figured it out. I think they will keep trying til they get it right. Since both .Mac and MobileMe have been limited in their userbase and success as paid services, I think Apple finally realizes that the formula is to make it free to make the ecosystem complete and tie it all together. Afterall, with Google giving similar things away for free, I think they have to give in a bit to remain competitive. I think a tiered service would be fine, but it seems like there has to be a basic service that is free for all Mac users to get them hooked. Then for power users, they can upgrade as they will already know the value in the services.
I have a tendency to agree with you DJ, I too remember iTools and .Mac and used them both way back when. I've been paying the yearly fee for as long as I can remember. I think the syncing of contacts, and email are well worth the price of admission. As far as Ping, websites, photo sharing Apple missed the boat and Facebook handles most of that now, especially for young people. iDisk is too slow compared with Dropbox.
It will be interesting to see what they come up with. Again, the ecosystem, as you say, was my sole reason in paying for it all this time!
Best
i just renewed in december. lol.
Me too. That said an overhaul is badly needed. HTML calendar is barely usable. Haven't touched photo storage or iWeb type stuff.
We may see MobileMe appear on the Mac App Store. Non Mac users would have to subscribe through their iOS device or on Apple's website. I mean there was never anything very useful in the MobileMe box anyway.
It was November for me!
Me too, wouldn't you know!
If it does become a free and a "premium" service, wonder if those that purchased within the year get some pro-rated discount for Apple store or iTunes as an offset, based on IF and when the service goes free that is?... Would be a nice gesture from Apple...
Maybe MobileMe is just moving to a totally digital distribution method.
We may see MobileMe appear on the Mac App Store. Non Mac users would have to subscribe through their iOS device or on Apple's website. I mean there was never anything very useful in the MobileMe box anyway.
Good point. Separate the components and lower the prices so we can purchase chunks on the App store. This appears to be the direction Apple is going as today, FaceTime 1.0 appeared in the App store for .99 cents.
We've all read how Apple is going to sell software on the App store and make room in their retail stores for showcasing more hardware. I wonder if this App store (with the 30% chunk going to Apple) will cross over to hardware? Why not just remove the Apple Store online and make the whole thing one store and take 30% of everything you sell?
Good point. Separate the components and lower the prices so we can purchase chunks on the App store. This appears to be the direction Apple is going as today, FaceTime 1.0 appeared in the App store for .99 cents.
We've all read how Apple is going to sell software on the App store and make room in their retail stores for showcasing more hardware. I wonder if this App store (with the 30% chunk going to Apple) will cross over to hardware? Why not just remove the Apple Store online and make the whole thing one store and take 30% of everything you sell?
To my mind, separating out the components seems less possible than putting the entire suite of services on the Mac App Store. Hopefully we'll know more on Wednesday.
That's quite a tease. What was the conclusion of this sentence?
"And on Wednesday, Apple executives revealed at the company's annual shareholder meeting that its massive $1 billion data center in North Carolina is set to open this spring. The usually tight-lipped company also let slip that the data center will be used to support iTunes and MobileMe."
It's on the main AI page, at the bottom of this story.
Because you only use a tiny percentage of the functionality, it's the service that's somehow flawed?
The web apps are amazing, accessing and sharing files, web hosting, galleries, calendars, backtomymac, syncing, the best webmail app in existence - for less than a fiver a month, ad free with my personal data kept data. Being able to sync my mac - even down to the dock icons...
A very small price to pay.
I agree. I found MobileMe very expensive when I first looked at it, but now I am using all its features I appreciate how good value it is!
I will give an example for our friend who clearly shouldn't be using the service as he doesn't need it. I host my web site with MobileMe. My domain registrar also offers hosting that I do not buy from them.
My registrar's cheapest deal: 100MB space, 3,000MB bandwidth/month...£50/year
My registrar's most expensive service: 20,000MB space, 30,000MB bandwidth/month...£500/year
ready for this?
MobileMe: 20,000MB space, 200,000MB bandwidth/month (!!)...£59/year
Add to that the push data synching with my iPhone and Mac, the beautiful galleries, the superb webmail etc. and it really is a stunning service, provided you need it!
[http://www.titaninternet.co.uk/hosti...ows/index.cfm]
[http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3287]
I'd love to agree with you but you have heard of iAd right?
iAd is a service available to third party developers. Apple themselves don't use an ad supported model, for any of their products.
If Apple makes MobileMe free, it won't be supported by ads or sales of your information. That is not Apple's way. They will instead view it as a value-added service that will recoup costs by enticing more buyers of the Apple products which use the service. In other words, Apple might believe that by making MobileMe free, they enhance the perceived value of their products, and they will sell more of them. I agree wholeheartedly.
Thompson
Don't be too sure about Apple not using ads to subsidize a free MobileMe. They didn't pay $275 million to buy Quattro for fun. I wouldn't be surprised if iAds appeared on a free MobileMe service.
iAd is a service available to third party developers. Apple themselves don't use an ad supported model, for any of their products.
Just because they haven't used an ad-supported model for their products / services YET doesn't mean they won't.
The service should be free, and then charge for online cloud storage.
This I agree with.
Just because they haven't used an ad-supported model for their products / services YET doesn't mean they won't.
They also have never shipped products with snakes inside, but I suppose we can't rule that out either.
However, the best predictor of future behavior is prior behavior. Absent some specific reason to think Apple is about to change its corporate DNA, there's no reason to believe that they would tarnish the user experience of one of their products by making it ad supported.
It's important to keep in mind that MobileMe does many things. Comparing it to one trick ponies is not fair. Apple will have to improve individual features while maintaining and improving the integration of the program and deciding what cloud features need implementation. This is actually a pretty complicated project--not some no brainer some of you make it out to be. Just because some of you use only a few of the features, it does not mean the rest of the features are useless to the many rest of us. I for one, have no problem continuing to pay for a MobileMe that continues to grow more robust and seamless with my own little apple universe.
Oh, and it is not slow. Anything but in my case. Maybe there is something location specific going on.
Interesting. Does this mean the service is going the free route? I'm a bit worried if it does. I don't want a Google set-up where ads are present and my personal information is sold for profit. I'd rather to pay to keep my personal information private.
I just re-subscribed in January. Hopefully, Apple stays true to it's past and looks out for those with paid subscriptions. Will be watching these developments closely.
It is not the Apple way, so don't be alarmed.
However if it was Google, then you should put on your peril sensitive sunglasses. PANIC !
It is simply a part of the scheme of things that Apple is doing now and in the short/long term future. Once its all done and we all see the big picture then we will all realise how petty and pathetic our squables and concerns were.
I have full faith in Apple, probably the only company on Earth, do I give my total faith.
Glad to see some others who appreciate MobileMe as much as I do. It's a kick ass service. Can it be improved? Of course! The most obvious improvement is mentioned here often: a drop box like file syncing. I'm sure apple is working on that and much more. But apple has many projects going at any given time so it's natural that some draw more focus than others. It looks like MobileMe has reached near the top of apple's attention list recently and I could not be more happy.
It's important to keep in mind that MobileMe does many things. Comparing it to one trick ponies is not fair. Apple will have to improve individual features while maintaining and improving the integration of the program and deciding what cloud features need implementation. This is actually a pretty complicated project--not some no brainer some of you make it out to be. Just because some of you use only a few of the features, it does not mean the rest of the features are useless to the many rest of us. I for one, have no problem continuing to pay for a MobileMe that continues to grow more robust and seamless with my own little apple universe.
Oh, and it is not slow. Anything but in my case. Maybe there is something location specific going on.
I'm with you, except that if you tell Preferences to keep a local copy of your iDisk and to sync automatically, then that is pretty much exactly Dropbox for you right there, automatically syncs, available on the cloud, on the phone, capable of sharing file with private links etc etc.
I love MM. I think Back to My Mac is great (since I got it working by using my Airport Extreme as my main NAt router), calendar sharing is great without having to resort to long winded cludges with google etc, plus all your mail is ad-free unlike a lot other the free services. There's is only 1 thing that is worth complaining about, and it's the lack of ability to use your own email address with it. There are workarounds, but it should just let you specify what you want to use and accept it.
Glad to see some others who appreciate MobileMe as much as I do. It's a kick ass service. Can it be improved? Of course! The most obvious improvement is mentioned here often: a drop box like file syncing. I'm sure apple is working on that and much more. But apple has many projects going at any given time so it's natural that some draw more focus than others. It looks like MobileMe has reached near the top of apple's attention list recently and I could not be more happy.
It's important to keep in mind that MobileMe does many things. Comparing it to one trick ponies is not fair. Apple will have to improve individual features while maintaining and improving the integration of the program and deciding what cloud features need implementation. This is actually a pretty complicated project--not some no brainer some of you make it out to be. Just because some of you use only a few of the features, it does not mean the rest of the features are useless to the many rest of us. I for one, have no problem continuing to pay for a MobileMe that continues to grow more robust and seamless with my own little apple universe.
Oh, and it is not slow. Anything but in my case. Maybe there is something location specific going on.
"A kick ass product."
Does it do some good things? Yes. It's nice to sync everything between my Mac and my phone and web. But the HTML calendar is horrible. I use it all the time, and it constantly freezes, returns error messages when creating events, etc. It's infuriating. I don't even use the e-mail anymore. I don't do a lot of online backup. There isn't enough space to do much anyway. Basically I pay $99 a year for an e-mail address I never use and the ability to sync my calendars, which I need. Performance needs to be vastly improved.
"A kick ass product."
Does it do some good things? Yes. It's nice to sync everything between my Mac and my phone and web. But the HTML calendar is horrible. I use it all the time, and it constantly freezes, returns error messages when creating events, etc. It's infuriating. I don't even use the e-mail anymore. I don't do a lot of online backup. There isn't enough space to do much anyway. Basically I pay $99 a year for an e-mail address I never use and the ability to sync my calendars, which I need. Performance needs to be vastly improved.
I'm quite surprised by the problems you seem to be having. I use my email address professionally and have never had a moment's trouble with it.