Apple gives another 60-day free extension for MobileMe
Apple has offered an additional two month free extension for all MobileMe subscribers with active accounts as of August 19, 2008, on top of the original 30-day extension granted a month ago, shortly after the MobileMe launch.
In an email to subscribers, Apple said "We have already made many improvements to MobileMe, but we still have many more to make. We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe's launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around."
"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped." Apple notes on its MobileMe website. "While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards. We are extending subscriptions 60-days free of charge to express appreciation for our members? patience as we continue to improve the service."
The 60-day extension also applies to any purchased upgrades, such as additional storage or a Family Pack upgrade.
In an email to subscribers, Apple said "We have already made many improvements to MobileMe, but we still have many more to make. We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe's launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around."
"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped." Apple notes on its MobileMe website. "While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards. We are extending subscriptions 60-days free of charge to express appreciation for our members? patience as we continue to improve the service."
The 60-day extension also applies to any purchased upgrades, such as additional storage or a Family Pack upgrade.
Comments
I just hope Apple is refunding customers who request it?with more than just an extension of (what is still) their troubled online service.
I agree that Apple should be making refunds for those who request such.
I think this announcement suggests that Eddy Cue has had the opportunity to assess the situation with MobileMe and has determined that it will be closer to 90 days before we see MobileMe working as advertised. From what has been said about Mr. Cue, this is very much his style - no quick fixes but a systematic approach that will deliver on Apple's promises.
However, even 90 days of added service can't mask the fact that this product should never have made it out the door in the state it did.
I don't think they are trying to. They are stepping up and apologizing and giving some of us as many as 90 days of additional service free. If they were masking the fact it has had some problems, they would not be full fledged admitting it on their website and giving out MM extensions like candy.
To charge $100 for a service that promises certain things, and then fails to deliver...
"..." what about the trying to make it right part??? So far, if people signed up for MM on launch day they will most likely get their year of great service and promises. However, it will come after 90 days, or maybe 120, etc. But you can bet Apple will make this right. I have not seen anything up to this point that says otherwise.
I don't think they are trying to. They are stepping up and apologizing and giving some of us as many as 90 days of additional service free. If they were masking the fact it has had some problems, they would not be full fledged admitting it on their website and giving out MM extensions like candy.
"..." what about the trying to make it right part??? So far, if people signed up for MM on launch day they will most likely get their year of great service and promises. However, it will come after 90 days, or maybe 120, etc. But you can bet Apple will make this right. I have not seen anything up to this point that says otherwise.
What about all the people who already had .Mac accounts and got something screwy instead of what they had subscribed originally to and had.
Shouldn't they get a refund as well- if not more?
However, even 90 days of added service can't mask the fact that this product should never have made it out the door in the state it did. To charge $100 for a service that promises certain things, and then fails to deliver...
I agree. It is a terrible service. It has been incredibly frustrating to get even the email to work, esp. in the web mode. It is slow and clunky, hangs a lot, has a non-intuitive mail user interface, has a messy spell-check, things don't get sent when one hits 'send,' and when one thinks it's finally sent, it does not show up in the 'sent msgs' folder, etc.
Really, a shame. I have stopped using my Mac mail, and even my kids (for whom I had obtained Mac.com addresses) have now switched to Gmail.
All I want is my .Mac working as it was. I don't have an iPhone- why should I have to suffer for Apple being stretched too thin because of the iPhone?
I'm not using MobileMe with an iPhone, but the service was been working fine for syncing and e-mail with my two Macs and iPod Touch. Back to My Mac has worked well, too.
Wow good for you.
I've had a MobileMe account (it was complimentary), though I've never made much use of it, even before the MobileMe launch.
I like that Apple has accepted responsibility for the MobileMe problems, and that they've compensated customers with some added service. However, even 90 days of added service can't mask the fact that this product should never have made it out the door in the state it did. To charge $100 for a service that promises certain things, and then fails to deliver...
I just hope Apple is refunding customers who request it—with more than just an extension of (what is still) their troubled online service.
I agree that MobileMe should have been delayed as a number of its problems were caused by the iPhone 3G launch hysteria that downed Apple's servers. But most new MobileMe users likely didn't pay $100. They probably signed up for the free trial, allowing them to try out the new service while also delaying the cost and commitment. Also, MobileMe's service, while still buggy and missing a few features like links to iDisk attachments, are pretty much firing on all cylinders.
What about all the people who already had .Mac accounts and got something screwy instead of what they had subscribed originally to and had.
Shouldn't they get a refund as well- if not more?
They still have many of the same services intact - web email, Back to my Mac, Web Gallery, iDisk, syncing of desktop apps among multiple Macs (including bookmarks), and iWeb web hosting with 1-click publishing - in addition to the new, desktop-like SproutCore-powered web apps interface, and push email, contacts, and calendars, the latter two are new services.
ANd I was all ready to finally renew tonight and now this- I really don't know how long to wait? My account expired June 25th.
All I want is my .Mac working as it was. I don't have an iPhone- why should I have to suffer for Apple being stretched too thin because of the iPhone?
Where's the smily with the tears?
Shoot, what about all the paying home and small business subscribers depending on Google's web apps and online storage, who've had three major outages in the past week? Google hasn't done anything but apologize on their blog.
And is this gadget supposed to forward all the mail from my apple mail account, even though that's on a different server system? Or only to show messages addressed to this account? Couldn't find any info on the apple pages except for those telling how "amazing" the program is.
They're doing the right thing, of course, but what a major loss of face. The problems will eventually be resolved, but how many have moved on to Gmail, Yahoo e-mail or MSN already out of anger and frustration?
It's the year 2008. I think most people already had an email account before MobileMe, so they're likely not "moving on" to alternatives, but falling back on the web mail service they've been using for years, while seeing how MobileMe pans out. You're also simply comparing web mail services to the entirety of MobileMe, which offers quite a bit more.
You were joking with MSN, though, right?
MobileMe will be out of beta in 60 days. That's a weird beta program. Apple obviously needs beta programs for such services. Use Google's example of beta programs. Once out of beta give people 90 day trials.
MobileMe hasn't been in, nor will it be going into beta. When it launched, it was certainly beta-quality, but now most of the major kinks have been worked out. Of course, most of their consumer base wouldn't know what beta meant anyway.
Gmail's been out for how many years now? Yet Google hasn't removed the BETA stamp, probably to avoid flack from customers during outages like the major ones that occurred this past week. That stamp doesn't help fix anything of course.
What about all the people who already had .Mac accounts and got something screwy instead of what they had subscribed originally to and had.
Shouldn't they get a refund as well- if not more?
What in your .Mac account is screwy?
I have a .Mac acconut that expired on July 15. It's still alive and kicking, apparently it will continue to do so for another 60 days. It just won't die! I wanted it dead so people would get the message once and for all that it's dead and start using my new MobileMe e-mail instead.
People just don't listen, I keep telling them that I have a new e-mail account and they're still sending it to the .mac one. Now I have to monitor it for another 60 days... Damn it! How can i kill this thing?
On a serious note: Kudos to Apple for giving us MobileMe subscribers an additional two month free extension. I'm happy with that. Thank you Apple.
I agree. It is a terrible service. It has been incredibly frustrating to get even the email to work, esp. in the web mode. It is slow and clunky, hangs a lot, has a non-intuitive mail user interface, has a messy spell-check, things don't get sent when one hits 'send,' and when one thinks it's finally sent, it does not show up in the 'sent msgs' folder, etc.
Really, a shame. I have stopped using my Mac mail, and even my kids (for whom I had obtained Mac.com addresses) have now switched to Gmail.
Terrible? OMG in what cave are you living. You haven't seen Horrible Service.
Apple spoils us too much and we get so picky.
I have a .Mac acconut that expired on July 15. It's still alive and kicking, apparently it will continue to do so for another 60 days. It just won't die! I wanted it dead so people would get the message once and for all that it's dead and start using my new MobileMe e-mail instead.
People just don't listen, I keep telling them that I have a new e-mail account and they're still sending it to the .mac one. Now I have to monitor it for another 60 days... Damn it! How can i kill this thing?
I do realize you're joking, but I'm just making sure: you do get that your .mac account will survive past the 60 days... right? both .mac and .me will work. turns out you can't kill it.
can't even kill the .mac aliases! it makes you kill both!
I do realize you're joking, but I'm just making sure: you do get that your .mac account will survive past the 60 days... right? both .mac and .me will work. turns out you can't kill it.
can't even kill the .mac aliases! it makes you kill both!
No, no, no... I do realize that current .mac subscribers have the option to use either .mac or .me. That is not my case. My .mac account will die eventually, I hope, because I purposely let it expire. I didn't renew it. I opened a new account when I purchased my MacBook Pro. I did that because I was getting too much spam on that old .mac.
I even upgraded to a family account last week which cost me £1.55 as I only had a few weeks left before renewal. Now I have ended up with a free service for 90 days before it renews which is excellent.
I use Mobile me on my iMac and iPhone. My son uses mobile me on his PC and iPhone and my wife uses Mobile me on her windows laptop.
It all works as expected and I have had no issues with syncing as I read the instructions and set it up correctly the first time !
Terrible? OMG in what cave are you living. You haven't seen Horrible Service.
Apple spoils us too much and we get so picky.
Dito, the UI is works great even has DnD. He must be using it with IE.
No, no, no... I do realize that current .mac subscribers have the option to use either .mac or .me. That is not my case. My .mac account will die eventually, I hope, because I purposely let it expire. I didn't renew it. I opened a new account when I purchased my MacBook Pro. I did that because I was getting too much spam on that old .mac.
You know you could have just created a .mac alias email address. Then changed your current email account to get mail from the alias email address.