I never said Apple should reinstate iCards at the expense of perfecting MobileMe "core" functions. Apple can do both.
Even if you never used iCards, they have a surprising number of very ardent fans... both those who sent them and those who received them. Members who did use them feel very strongly that Apple has done us wrong by taking away services for which WE PAID!
We were promised that MobileMe would be everything we loved about .Mac "and MORE". Instead we're getting less.
What made iCards so great in comparison to other eCard services? They were simple, they were elegant, and they didn't plaster recipients with advertisements, HTML, and flashing GIFS.
I got responses from sending iCards I never got from sending emails... not even emails with pictures. The combination of whimsical images and text in one small, savable JPEG in the iCard message was hard to resist.
Despite some less handsome alternatives, iWant Apple iCards Back!!
And in case you didn't notice, my second suggestion was that Apple set up a MobileMe feedback form on the feedback page. Several weeks ago, it eliminated the .Mac category, but DID NOT replace it with MobileMe... as if they don't want feedback from customers about the service.
This is inexcusable, and should be corrected immediately.
MobileMe is Apple's answer to Vista- a distaster on so many levels. Rushed to market, dropped features, tons of bugs, poorly implemented, and overpriced.
Right, except one of them is an ambitious service that has just launched (they did rush it and they shouldn't have launched it all at once during the unprecedented iPhone craziness) and has a reasonable $100 annual fee (it costs money because it's not supported by ads) while the other has been a total flop, cost a ridiculous amount for a multitude of largely neutered versions (except Ultimate obviously), has tons of compatibility problems, was delayed for years (it was hardly rushed to market; Apple got out two or three major retail releases of OS X in that time) and has been sitting around for nearly two years...
And in case you didn't notice, my second suggestion was that Apple set up a MobileMe feedback form on the feedback page. Several weeks ago, it eliminated the .Mac category, but DID NOT replace it with MobileMe... as if they don't want feedback from customers about the service.
This is inexcusable, and should be corrected immediately.
Interesting. Apple launches a slew of products on July 8 and get slapped all over the place because a handful of customers had a few issues connecting.
So Apple apologizes for their exuberance and gives every MobileMe user an extra month's service.
But hold it. They forgot to include iCards! Or did they? Perhaps Apple did it intentionally.
Perhaps Apple realized that iCards, that beautiful concept that they initiated back in 2000, that same product that many lambasted in the beginning and even up to its end, could in fact crash the system.
That little baby's picture was 366 KB. Imagine getting a slew of those every day in your mail and or worse, on your iPhone.
Perhaps it just made sense to hold off a bit.
P.S. When they built the first toll road, i.e., 407 Highway across the top of Toronto, they held a press conference and exuberantly proclaimed the end of traffic congestion. And just how were they going to do that. "Quite easily," they answered, "We'll just raise the tolls!"
Right, except one of them is an ambitious service that has just launched (they did rush it and they shouldn't have launched it all at once during the unprecedented iPhone craziness) and has a reasonable $100 annual fee (it costs money because it's not supported by ads) while the other has been a total flop, cost a ridiculous amount for a multitude of largely neutered versions (except Ultimate obviously), has tons of compatibility problems, was delayed for years (it was hardly rushed to market; Apple got out two or three major retail releases of OS X in that time) and has been sitting around for nearly two years...
It's a total flop because it's now geared around the iPhone. If you don't have an iPhone who needs it? .Mac was fine as it was. The iPhone ruined it.
Put Macs back on top as your priority, Apple; not one smartphone.
It's a total flop because it's now geared around the iPhone. If you don't have an iPhone who needs it? .Mac was fine as it was. The iPhone ruined it.
Put Macs back on top as your priority, Apple; not one smartphone.
How is making .Mac compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch and introducing much more desktop-like web apps in addition to 20GB of online storage, Back To My Mac remote control, and one click iWeb publishing "ruining" the service? .Mac/MobileMe's main job is to keep everything in sync across multiple Macs. Whether or not you (or Apple) want to admit it, the iPhone is an ultra-portable, WiFi enabled, touch-based Mac that runs the same core OS.
At the same time, I don't quite understand the constantly repeated notion that Apple is leaving Mac users behind. They released Leopard and introduced that sleek, aluminum iMac with a sleek new keyboard last year and at Macworld this past January they introduced the MacBook Air, one of the most futuristic, yet durable computers they've ever made. We've all heard the essentially confirmed rumors about a major hardware transition coming this fall. What about their acquisition of PA Semi, which will be creating custom system-on-chip and supporting chips for Macs that will widen the gap between them and the competition in ways Dell, HP, etc. won't be able to easily replicate? And Snow Leopard promises to take advantage of Intel's processors (and whatever PA Semi puts out), natively supporting push services and overall optimizations that will make the operating system's footprint smaller.
What Apple learns from the iPhone, they will use to improve Macs and vice versa. These platforms aren't going off in different, disconnected directions, but advancing together to create a more and more seamless experience.
Adding a MobileMe category to Apple's feedback page would be a nice touch, too, by the way.
I agree, wholeheartedly, with your suggestion to reinstate iCards. It was a small, but frequently used, service...used by more folks than Apple probably realizes.
As for MobileMe, if the problem-ridden launch of MobileMe serves to humble an amazing company a bit, well, then, that may be a good thing. As well, it was probably unrealistic for early adopters of MobileMe to expect that everything would be hitting on all cylinders, from the open bell. We hope, but most of us know better.
At the end of the day...Apple--think of your customer more often than you think of profit margin. Apple product users--we're here because we know, when all is said and done, Apple builds exciting products. Celebrate, today, what works well, and, while holding Apple accountable to their marketing promises, exercise some patience as they work out through the challenges. And, if you want seamless performance, then wait until a service has been up and running for a period of time, before you surrender your hard-earned money.
For those of us already with .Mac, it's all about patience and feedback.
Except for the Chat Support, most of these links are for one-way communications from Apple to the customer, not feedback channels. The chat support people, by the way, didn't know that iCards were gone, either.
I'm talking about the usual page for feedback, where customers normally tell Apple what's on their minds:
Where the .Mac form has been removed, understandably, but where's the MobileMe icon which, if it were there, would pop up a feedback FORM (not forum) like the feedback forms for the other products??
Meanwhile, the Discussions forums have been heavily censored. One thread after another about this topic was taken down by the moderators... and that after each comment was chopped up by editing. They fudged the view numbers while they were at it, too, dropping the numbers from one day to the next.
Somehow, one thread escaped the moderator's notice... It had over 280 posts before they deleted it. More people have been angered by this than you realize. And who can blame them, when they go to the previous iCards location, expecting to send an iCard for someone they care about on a day they care about, and all they get is a MobileMe error page!?? (Hard to believe, but not everyone lives in these forums and checks for Apple news every half hour.)
Apple just put up this page, almost a whole month after they took down the service:
It just showed up in a Google search for the first time for me.
The advice to use Apple's Stationery is not sufficient. I'm running Tiger, but posts which got deleted said the stationery in Leopard was nowhere near what iCards used to be. And the advice to go to other greeting cards services is an insulting slap in the face. If there were eCard services elsewhere which were any better than Apple's, we'd already be using them. We use Macs because they're superior to any other computer. Likewise, we sent iCards, because they were superior to anything other eCard service on the web.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abster2core
But hold it. They forgot to include iCards! Or did they? Perhaps Apple did it intentionally.
Of course Apple did this intentionally. Almost everything Apple does is deliberate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abster2core
That little baby's picture was 366 KB. Imagine getting a slew of those every day in your mail and or worse, on your iPhone.
You just proved my point about the superiority of iCards, because that card I made with my grandbaby's photo was NOT an iCard. It's a homemade card using PostCard. iCards, on the other hand, were much lighter files. The entire email with the embedded iCard image averaged around 60 KB, no problem for an average iPhone that can load entire real webpages.
You just proved my point about the superiority of iCards, because that card I made with my grandbaby's photo was NOT an iCard. It's a homemade card using PostCard. iCards, on the other hand, were much lighter files. The entire email with the embedded iCard image averaged around 60 KB, no problem for an average iPhone that can load entire real webpages.
I just retrieved an iCard that I got a couple of years ago and it was 228 KB.
However, you are right that it is not a problem for an average iPhone that can load entire real webpages.
However, remember that you could make custom iCards. As such, they can be quite large depending on the image type and size.
My point was it wasn't the size of the file, but the effect of what millions of such files could have on the servers. Remember that with the exception of a few other countries, the US is virtually the only one providing unlimited data (for now).
I do know that in the beginning, (I signed up on Jan 6, 2000) there were a slew of complaints that chastized iCards because of the problems PCrs had opening their emails. I used it early in the game, however, I got more complaints than accolades. Simply put, people, particularly in business were getting too much junk mail as it was and this just created excessive delay and unnecessary fluff.
Apple, for whatever reason, removed iCards. They have every right to do so as the legal policies in the contractual agreement on purchase stipulates. And you have every right to ask why. I would think that if the demand was great enough it would be brought back. However, if there was one reason why not to, it may be for the same issues that surrounds text messaging. Again not the size of the file but the astonishing numbers of them, and the consequential demand on carriers to store, manage and distribute the massive bulk.
I just retrieved an iCard that I got a couple of years ago and it was 228 KB.
I see your experience goes back to the early days of iTools. Evidently Apple fixed the problem of large files crashing the system and file compatibility with Windows. It's too bad you didn't check back on iCards all these years. You missed out on a splendid and enjoyable service.
I bought my iMac and joined .Mac in 2002. (Click for story.) I sent my very first iCard 11/21/2002, and the entire email is a whopping 32.2 KB.
This is a custom icard made with my own photo of a female mallard duck which did not survive an encounter with a red fox:
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacSmiley
The iCard itself is 44.7 KB. Apple converted the image when making the iCard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abster2core
My point was it wasn't the size of the file, but the effect of what millions of such files could have on the servers.
Apple didn't need iCards to bring down the MobileMe system. That's exactly what Steve's made-to-be-leaked email reveals. A million new customers crashed the mail system, most of whom knew little about iCards in the first place, all the while Apple was rolling out too much too soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abster2core
I do know that in the beginning, (I signed up on Jan 6, 2000) there were a slew of complaints that chastized iCards because of the problems PCrs had opening their emails. I used it early in the game, however, I got more complaints than accolades.
Sorry there was trouble in the early days. My experience has been the exact opposite. ALL ACCOLADES, and ZERO complaints. Most of my recipients have been Windows PC users. They loved getting iCards.
As far as corporate policies, the battle has been with virus-infected attachments, malicious HTML mail, and links to malware. iCards merely got lost in the shuffle of corporate IT clamp-downs. They were never the direct cause.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abster2core
Apple, for whatever reason, removed iCards. They have every right to do... Andyou have every right to ask why.
Comments
I never said Apple should reinstate iCards at the expense of perfecting MobileMe "core" functions. Apple can do both.
Even if you never used iCards, they have a surprising number of very ardent fans... both those who sent them and those who received them. Members who did use them feel very strongly that Apple has done us wrong by taking away services for which WE PAID!
We were promised that MobileMe would be everything we loved about .Mac "and MORE". Instead we're getting less.
What made iCards so great in comparison to other eCard services? They were simple, they were elegant, and they didn't plaster recipients with advertisements, HTML, and flashing GIFS.
I got responses from sending iCards I never got from sending emails... not even emails with pictures. The combination of whimsical images and text in one small, savable JPEG in the iCard message was hard to resist.
Despite some less handsome alternatives, iWant Apple iCards Back!!
And in case you didn't notice, my second suggestion was that Apple set up a MobileMe feedback form on the feedback page. Several weeks ago, it eliminated the .Mac category, but DID NOT replace it with MobileMe... as if they don't want feedback from customers about the service.
This is inexcusable, and should be corrected immediately.
MobileMe is Apple's answer to Vista- a distaster on so many levels. Rushed to market, dropped features, tons of bugs, poorly implemented, and overpriced.
Right, except one of them is an ambitious service that has just launched (they did rush it and they shouldn't have launched it all at once during the unprecedented iPhone craziness) and has a reasonable $100 annual fee (it costs money because it's not supported by ads) while the other has been a total flop, cost a ridiculous amount for a multitude of largely neutered versions (except Ultimate obviously), has tons of compatibility problems, was delayed for years (it was hardly rushed to market; Apple got out two or three major retail releases of OS X in that time) and has been sitting around for nearly two years...
And in case you didn't notice, my second suggestion was that Apple set up a MobileMe feedback form on the feedback page. Several weeks ago, it eliminated the .Mac category, but DID NOT replace it with MobileMe... as if they don't want feedback from customers about the service.
This is inexcusable, and should be corrected immediately.
Something like this: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/status/ or this :http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/
or this: http://discussions.apple.com/categor...categoryID=116 or this:http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/ww/ or this: http://www.apple.com/ca/support/mobi...s_history.html or this: http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/mailchat/
BRING BACK APPLE iCARDS![/URL][/B]
Interesting. Apple launches a slew of products on July 8 and get slapped all over the place because a handful of customers had a few issues connecting.
So Apple apologizes for their exuberance and gives every MobileMe user an extra month's service.
But hold it. They forgot to include iCards! Or did they? Perhaps Apple did it intentionally.
Perhaps Apple realized that iCards, that beautiful concept that they initiated back in 2000, that same product that many lambasted in the beginning and even up to its end, could in fact crash the system.
Imagine for the moment what would have happened if the million or so new iPhone 3g owners decided to send an iCard or two like the one you linked to (http://homepage.mac.com/mac.zooks/.Pictures/bryn.png
That little baby's picture was 366 KB. Imagine getting a slew of those every day in your mail and or worse, on your iPhone.
Perhaps it just made sense to hold off a bit.
P.S. When they built the first toll road, i.e., 407 Highway across the top of Toronto, they held a press conference and exuberantly proclaimed the end of traffic congestion. And just how were they going to do that. "Quite easily," they answered, "We'll just raise the tolls!"
The fessing was only done internally, right? So, the consumers who have been getting the shaft have not received a formal apology.
That does be true dar. Well we did that that email I suppose.
While Apple is fixing its mistakes and bugs, now would be a good time to restore customer goodwill by reinstating terminated services that DID work.
BRING BACK APPLE iCARDS!
http://homepage.mac.com/mac.zooks/.Pictures/bryn.png
Petitions:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/06291970/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/ic110608/petition.html
Adding a MobileMe category to Apple's feedback page would be a nice touch, too, by the way.
Oh how I miss the Apple iCards. Remember when the were free even without .Mac?
Right, except one of them is an ambitious service that has just launched (they did rush it and they shouldn't have launched it all at once during the unprecedented iPhone craziness) and has a reasonable $100 annual fee (it costs money because it's not supported by ads) while the other has been a total flop, cost a ridiculous amount for a multitude of largely neutered versions (except Ultimate obviously), has tons of compatibility problems, was delayed for years (it was hardly rushed to market; Apple got out two or three major retail releases of OS X in that time) and has been sitting around for nearly two years...
It's a total flop because it's now geared around the iPhone. If you don't have an iPhone who needs it? .Mac was fine as it was. The iPhone ruined it.
Put Macs back on top as your priority, Apple; not one smartphone.
.ME- is that like as in Mac Explorer?
It's a total flop because it's now geared around the iPhone. If you don't have an iPhone who needs it? .Mac was fine as it was. The iPhone ruined it.
Put Macs back on top as your priority, Apple; not one smartphone.
How is making .Mac compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch and introducing much more desktop-like web apps in addition to 20GB of online storage, Back To My Mac remote control, and one click iWeb publishing "ruining" the service? .Mac/MobileMe's main job is to keep everything in sync across multiple Macs. Whether or not you (or Apple) want to admit it, the iPhone is an ultra-portable, WiFi enabled, touch-based Mac that runs the same core OS.
At the same time, I don't quite understand the constantly repeated notion that Apple is leaving Mac users behind. They released Leopard and introduced that sleek, aluminum iMac with a sleek new keyboard last year and at Macworld this past January they introduced the MacBook Air, one of the most futuristic, yet durable computers they've ever made. We've all heard the essentially confirmed rumors about a major hardware transition coming this fall. What about their acquisition of PA Semi, which will be creating custom system-on-chip and supporting chips for Macs that will widen the gap between them and the competition in ways Dell, HP, etc. won't be able to easily replicate? And Snow Leopard promises to take advantage of Intel's processors (and whatever PA Semi puts out), natively supporting push services and overall optimizations that will make the operating system's footprint smaller.
What Apple learns from the iPhone, they will use to improve Macs and vice versa. These platforms aren't going off in different, disconnected directions, but advancing together to create a more and more seamless experience.
While Apple is fixing its mistakes and bugs, now would be a good time to restore customer goodwill by reinstating terminated services that DID work.
BRING BACK APPLE iCARDS!
http://homepage.mac.com/mac.zooks/.Pictures/bryn.png
Petitions:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/06291970/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/ic110608/petition.html
Adding a MobileMe category to Apple's feedback page would be a nice touch, too, by the way.
I agree, wholeheartedly, with your suggestion to reinstate iCards. It was a small, but frequently used, service...used by more folks than Apple probably realizes.
As for MobileMe, if the problem-ridden launch of MobileMe serves to humble an amazing company a bit, well, then, that may be a good thing. As well, it was probably unrealistic for early adopters of MobileMe to expect that everything would be hitting on all cylinders, from the open bell. We hope, but most of us know better.
At the end of the day...Apple--think of your customer more often than you think of profit margin. Apple product users--we're here because we know, when all is said and done, Apple builds exciting products. Celebrate, today, what works well, and, while holding Apple accountable to their marketing promises, exercise some patience as they work out through the challenges. And, if you want seamless performance, then wait until a service has been up and running for a period of time, before you surrender your hard-earned money.
For those of us already with .Mac, it's all about patience and feedback.
Something like this: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/status/ or this :http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/
or this: http://discussions.apple.com/categor...categoryID=116 or this:http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/ww/ or this: http://www.apple.com/ca/support/mobi...s_history.html or this: http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/mailchat/
Except for the Chat Support, most of these links are for one-way communications from Apple to the customer, not feedback channels. The chat support people, by the way, didn't know that iCards were gone, either.
I'm talking about the usual page for feedback, where customers normally tell Apple what's on their minds:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/
Where the .Mac form has been removed, understandably, but where's the MobileMe icon which, if it were there, would pop up a feedback FORM (not forum) like the feedback forms for the other products??
Meanwhile, the Discussions forums have been heavily censored. One thread after another about this topic was taken down by the moderators... and that after each comment was chopped up by editing. They fudged the view numbers while they were at it, too, dropping the numbers from one day to the next.
Somehow, one thread escaped the moderator's notice... It had over 280 posts before they deleted it. More people have been angered by this than you realize. And who can blame them, when they go to the previous iCards location, expecting to send an iCard for someone they care about on a day they care about, and all they get is a MobileMe error page!?? (Hard to believe, but not everyone lives in these forums and checks for Apple news every half hour.)
Apple just put up this page, almost a whole month after they took down the service:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2665
It just showed up in a Google search for the first time for me.
The advice to use Apple's Stationery is not sufficient. I'm running Tiger, but posts which got deleted said the stationery in Leopard was nowhere near what iCards used to be. And the advice to go to other greeting cards services is an insulting slap in the face. If there were eCard services elsewhere which were any better than Apple's, we'd already be using them. We use Macs because they're superior to any other computer. Likewise, we sent iCards, because they were superior to anything other eCard service on the web.
But hold it. They forgot to include iCards! Or did they? Perhaps Apple did it intentionally.
Of course Apple did this intentionally. Almost everything Apple does is deliberate.
That little baby's picture was 366 KB. Imagine getting a slew of those every day in your mail and or worse, on your iPhone.
You just proved my point about the superiority of iCards, because that card I made with my grandbaby's photo was NOT an iCard. It's a homemade card using PostCard. iCards, on the other hand, were much lighter files. The entire email with the embedded iCard image averaged around 60 KB, no problem for an average iPhone that can load entire real webpages.
WELL NO SHIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You just proved my point about the superiority of iCards, because that card I made with my grandbaby's photo was NOT an iCard. It's a homemade card using PostCard. iCards, on the other hand, were much lighter files. The entire email with the embedded iCard image averaged around 60 KB, no problem for an average iPhone that can load entire real webpages.
I just retrieved an iCard that I got a couple of years ago and it was 228 KB.
However, you are right that it is not a problem for an average iPhone that can load entire real webpages.
However, remember that you could make custom iCards. As such, they can be quite large depending on the image type and size.
My point was it wasn't the size of the file, but the effect of what millions of such files could have on the servers. Remember that with the exception of a few other countries, the US is virtually the only one providing unlimited data (for now).
I do know that in the beginning, (I signed up on Jan 6, 2000) there were a slew of complaints that chastized iCards because of the problems PCrs had opening their emails. I used it early in the game, however, I got more complaints than accolades. Simply put, people, particularly in business were getting too much junk mail as it was and this just created excessive delay and unnecessary fluff.
Apple, for whatever reason, removed iCards. They have every right to do so as the legal policies in the contractual agreement on purchase stipulates. And you have every right to ask why. I would think that if the demand was great enough it would be brought back. However, if there was one reason why not to, it may be for the same issues that surrounds text messaging. Again not the size of the file but the astonishing numbers of them, and the consequential demand on carriers to store, manage and distribute the massive bulk.
I just retrieved an iCard that I got a couple of years ago and it was 228 KB.
I see your experience goes back to the early days of iTools. Evidently Apple fixed the problem of large files crashing the system and file compatibility with Windows. It's too bad you didn't check back on iCards all these years. You missed out on a splendid and enjoyable service.
I bought my iMac and joined .Mac in 2002. (Click for story.) I sent my very first iCard 11/21/2002, and the entire email is a whopping 32.2 KB.
This is a custom icard made with my own photo of a female mallard duck which did not survive an encounter with a red fox:
The iCard itself is 44.7 KB. Apple converted the image when making the iCard.
My point was it wasn't the size of the file, but the effect of what millions of such files could have on the servers.
Apple didn't need iCards to bring down the MobileMe system. That's exactly what Steve's made-to-be-leaked email reveals. A million new customers crashed the mail system, most of whom knew little about iCards in the first place, all the while Apple was rolling out too much too soon.
I do know that in the beginning, (I signed up on Jan 6, 2000) there were a slew of complaints that chastized iCards because of the problems PCrs had opening their emails. I used it early in the game, however, I got more complaints than accolades.
Sorry there was trouble in the early days. My experience has been the exact opposite. ALL ACCOLADES, and ZERO complaints. Most of my recipients have been Windows PC users. They loved getting iCards.
As far as corporate policies, the battle has been with virus-infected attachments, malicious HTML mail, and links to malware. iCards merely got lost in the shuffle of corporate IT clamp-downs. They were never the direct cause.
Apple, for whatever reason, removed iCards. They have every right to do... And you have every right to ask why.
AMEN!