You could set up Gmail as an exchange account and sync your contacts and calendars.
Matter of fact I've done it for customers who don't have computers (or more likely is not working because of a virus) sending iPhones away for repair, set up a gmail account from their iPhone, set it up as an Exchange account and synced their contacts.
When the replacement handset comes back, set up gmail again and all the contacts are synced back.
MobileMe provides ANOTHER option.
Right. But doesn't that erode the argument that Apple is way better at cloud services? It's not plug in your email and password and done.
Essentially, Apple does not do cloud services unless you pay for it or use non-Apple services. So how then can Daniel say that Apple does cloud integration better. Heck, he cited iTunes on your computer as proof. Yet, if you have no computer access, you have no cloud at all.
It's not just backing up your contacts or events. It backs up everything. All your apps, the data in your apps, the settings you have on your apps. Lose you iPhone or have to get a replacement? Plug it back in to your machine and everything expect passwords is restored. Absolutely painless. No one else comes close to offering such a painless backup and store as Apple does with the iPhone. Dan is right, that single feature will probably keep me with the iPhone until someone else offers the same thing. It's that good.
Except you have to pay for it [MobileMe]. And I don't care if it's $1 or $70, it's dollars. And that matters.
You're ignoring the fact that you pay for using Google services, as well. I'd rather pay cash for MobileMe than turn over my entire life to Google. YMMV.
I hate these stupid inflammatory posts which don't give any specifics.
How did that post NOT give specifics? It stated that the calendar shows the wrong times, that "Find my iPhone" wasn't working, and that it refused to sync for a day? How much more specific could they get? And how is any of that any worse than your anecdotal comments about MobileMe just working for you?
Right. But doesn't that erode the argument that Apple is way better at cloud services? It's not plug in your email and password and done.
Essentially, Apple does not do cloud services unless you pay for it or use non-Apple services. So how then can Daniel say that Apple does cloud integration better. Heck, he cited iTunes on your computer as proof. Yet, if you have no computer access, you have no cloud at all.
The subject under debate is Phone/iOS and its integration with cloud services.
The iPhone allows syncing with MobileMe. Plug in your email and password and done. But this costs money and not everyone has it, so...
The iPhone also allows syncing with arbitrary third party services (IMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV). This isn't quite as simple to set up, but the option is there.
So with the iPhone, I have the option of using Google's services. I can choose to pay for MobileMe if I prefer the feature set / lack of ads / etc. I can elect not to trust *any* cloud data provider with my data and do everything on a PC via iTunes. Or I can host my own Zimbra instance and have contacts, calendar and email synced wirelessly with my phone and all the same data available natively on my Macs without having to trust either Google or Apple with my personal data.
As for which cloud service is best, it doesn't really matter. It's likely that the decision about which cloud service you choose to use rests with more than your choice of phone (well, at least if you are an iPhone user). I'm not trying to claim that MobileMe is or isn't better than Google's cloud services - with the iPhone you are free to use either. Clearly the Google services have an advantage in that they are free at point of use, and they also have significantly more users which implies better support and reliability.
What are you claiming that Android does better in this area?
And as of FroYo, developers now have the option of enabling the backup of app data.
This would be the point where developers have to decide between using this new FroYo feature or making their app actually available to the majority of the Android user base (the non-existent fragmentation issue).
Quote:
Everytime you put in something into your phone it's synced to the cloud. And that's how a smartphone should be.
Unless it's in an app. In which case with iPhone you have to hope you've plugged your phone in recently, with Android you have to hope that the app developer takes care of you - which prior to FroYo means implementing their own backup strategy. On an app by app basis.
Quote:
I am not saying Android is flawless. There's lots of room to improve for them. And I do wish they'd come up with an iTunes style plug in to sync with a machine. But for stuff that really matters, like your contacts, events, emails, sms, etc. Google is better at keeping that repository current.
And iPhone is equally capable of syncing all that (with the exception of SMS) with Google, MobileMe, or a third party Exchange or IMAP/CalDAV/etc. provider.
In the context of Internet arguments about Google and iOS, it's quite strange to see people arguing that Android's lack of choice is an advantage. Usually it's the other way around...
Quote:
Apple needs to make MobileMe free or offer some free variant with a basic service. And then focus on weening the iPhone off iTunes.
I disagree with a lot of what you said, but I agree this is a good idea. More options are always good, and with Apple pitching their future where full-featured computers are "trucks" and most people are using cut down iOS-style devices they surely have a plan in place for this...
The iPhone also allows syncing with arbitrary third party services (IMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV). This isn't quite as simple to set up, but the option is there.
So with the iPhone, I have the option of using Google's services. I can choose to pay for MobileMe if I prefer the feature set / lack of ads / etc. I can elect not to trust *any* cloud data provider with my data and do everything on a PC via iTunes. Or I can host my own Zimbra instance and have contacts, calendar and email synced wirelessly with my phone and all the same data available natively on my Macs without having to trust either Google or Apple with my personal data.
As for which cloud service is best, it doesn't really matter. It's likely that the decision about which cloud service you choose to use rests with more than your choice of phone (well, at least if you are an iPhone user). I'm not trying to claim that MobileMe is or isn't better than Google's cloud services - with the iPhone you are free to use either. Clearly the Google services have an advantage in that they are free at point of use, and they also have significantly more users which implies better support and reliability.
What are you claiming that Android does better in this area?
.mac//mobile me sucks right now
apple is so under staffed in 5 or 6 area'a that updates show up yrs late
just look at file maker pro
the best biz SW company ever
yet apple barely even pays FM PRO attention. benito took 8 yrs to emerge. apple needs to hire about 200 to 600 top SW engineers to give all of apple's device area;s clean updates .
mobile me is way over priced for what it does
i own 5 working macs and the sync process is so convoluted >> yet all 6 macs are exactly the same in all ways to each other.
putting all it attention on ipads and iphones leaves other great area's lacking
apple should split into 3 companies or steve jobs should be fired
the great stuff apple does may wow all you wintel dudes but os 9.2 is still the best OS ever ..osx+ one day may be that rock solid ,,maybe
apple can do so much more ..again hire more people or fire jobs for mis management of resourses
today apple spends more time writing code for wintel machines that sync ipods / iphones ipads
that it does for pure play mac users
the weak mobile me and yes its getting even weaker
can be and should be for $99 yr after yr a true cloud service not just a way station for newbie pad pod iphone user's coming from the wintel world ..
I agree with every word you say and your friends experience. I've been in this club since day one (iTools anyone?) and still scratch my head at how slow it all is and where it's all going.
And yet I continue to pay the shilling because:
1, I like my email address
2, I'm scared s***less that the day I leave something really cool will happen with it
I feel the same way. Aspects of Mobile Me are great, but the implementation still has a ways to go.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the term "cloud" rubs me the wrong way.
How the hell did that term become the newest fad anyway? We've been using "cloud services" for decades and never referred to it as such until recently. Time to go tell my mainframe it has been renamed.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the term "cloud" rubs me the wrong way.
How the hell did that term become the newest fad anyway? We've been using "cloud services" for decades and never referred to it as such until recently. Time to go tell my mainframe it has been renamed.
You've got it right; the buzzword then was 'timeshare'.
Nothing but your privacy and control over your own data, until the inevitable "outage" occurs, in which case you lose everything at least temporarily, perhaps permanently.
As the article points out, with iOS, you have choices. You can depend entirely on your local iTunes backup, which costs you nothing, allows you to keep control of your data and protect your privacy, and is as reliable as you make it. You can use MobileMe if it's important to you to push your data through the cloud. And you can even use Google's services if you want to give your data to someone who will browse through it to learn all they can about you.
With Android, you get to give your data to Google so they can do as they wish with it. If you want to back it up under your own control, you'll have to take extra steps, incur extra cost to do so.
The basic question is, do you want to be in control of your data and your privacy, iOS, or do you want to give up control of that to Google, Android, a company that has repeatedly shown that it respects no boundaries, no privacy, no law?
This issue takes us back to some of the reasons the "personal computer" was created in the first place: to give individuals the ability to decide for themselves when and how they used computing resources and give them privacy and personal control of that experience. Apple's strategy is entirely in line with that original purpose, a purpose which is even more relevant today than then. Google's strategy is to strip away that experience, to take away personal control of computing and privacy, to become the gatekeeper even of our own information.
It's because of his own individual usage, not the cloud services. I don't think I even reach 1gb a month
Except that almost nothing he uses on his phone actually exists on it. For instance, all of his photos he views over the cloud, which means every time he views a picture it's using data. He didn't use nearly so much when he had his iPhone. I can't believe individual usage changes THAT much just by getting a different phone. It's how Google handles data.
All this talk of the "cloud" seem to have value UNTIL you decide two things:
1. My data and software belong to ME and reside somewhere that I control.
2. If I purchase the software I need, and keep it on my computer/server I do not need to depend on an outside service that can either fail temporarily or lose all your data.
Think of the last time you tried to do online banking and discovered that some update in progress at the bank prevented you from using a service for an hour or so. Irritating, yes. Disaster? No. but now think of leaving your data (whatever is important to you...your new novel, your banking information, your music, photos of your loved ones, etc. You know, all the stuff you can't reasonably replace) and have an outside service lose it. They would certainly be sorry and apologize, but would that be enough for you?
Even if you backup to Time Machine, if you do not have a second, recent, backup outside your home in a fireproof vault, you are begging for trouble and heartache.
How often might this happen. Very rarely. How often does it have to happen to be a personal disaster? Only once. Remember that things never happen until they happen, and things that never happened before happen all the time.
Hey guys, remember that Dan is offering his insight into how things will work in the future, including what iPhones and Android phones can do over hosted sites, rather than discussing the problems of using iPhones or Android phones now. That is going to change soon. Remember that Apple is building out a billion-dollar server farm.
Let me guess, when that opens, one way or another it will offer services that are different and better than anything Apple, Google or Microsoft currently offers
Nothing but your privacy and control over your own data, until the inevitable "outage" occurs, in which case you lose everything at least temporarily, perhaps permanently?
Excellent post. Come on people, do you know what 'data mining' means?
Dan's article is informative but not complete. missing is info on the "cloud" productivity suites - Google Docs, etc. vs. iWork. here Google is much more advanced while iWorks is still a 'work in process'. that is important. also missing are the cloud 'sharing' services integrated into Android. MobileMe's Gallery is very nice for personal use, but Picasa is much more of a public thing as well. and then there are special Google services like Google Voice that have no analogue in Apple.
i wish Dan would update his charts after comments point out various items to add or clarify, but think he almost never does. it's really hard for anyone to get any chart like this 100% right/complete the first time. it's great that he tries, but he should finish it off.
A pair of Android apps written by security researcher Jon Oberheide to demonstrate a method of creating a "botnet" of hijacked Android phones. By cloaking an application capable of "fetching" new exploit code at will in a fake application offering preview pictures of the upcoming "Twilight Eclipse" film, he tricked more than 300 users into downloading the software. The lesson: a less friendly developer could have used that bait and switch to plant malware on users' devices.
Security researcher creates botnet for Android, tricks 300 users to download the app
if Oberheide hadn't presented his research at the SummerCon hacker conference there's no reason to believe that Google would have been aware of the darker side of these applications in the first place.
Comments
You could set up Gmail as an exchange account and sync your contacts and calendars.
Matter of fact I've done it for customers who don't have computers (or more likely is not working because of a virus) sending iPhones away for repair, set up a gmail account from their iPhone, set it up as an Exchange account and synced their contacts.
When the replacement handset comes back, set up gmail again and all the contacts are synced back.
MobileMe provides ANOTHER option.
Right. But doesn't that erode the argument that Apple is way better at cloud services? It's not plug in your email and password and done.
Essentially, Apple does not do cloud services unless you pay for it or use non-Apple services. So how then can Daniel say that Apple does cloud integration better. Heck, he cited iTunes on your computer as proof. Yet, if you have no computer access, you have no cloud at all.
It's not just backing up your contacts or events. It backs up everything. All your apps, the data in your apps, the settings you have on your apps. Lose you iPhone or have to get a replacement? Plug it back in to your machine and everything expect passwords is restored. Absolutely painless. No one else comes close to offering such a painless backup and store as Apple does with the iPhone. Dan is right, that single feature will probably keep me with the iPhone until someone else offers the same thing. It's that good.
Agree whole heartedly.
Right. But doesn't that erode the argument that Apple is way better at cloud services? It's not plug in your email and password and done.
I am not quite sure what you are inferring here.
I won't be getting the new iPhone till next month, but that's all I had to do on my iPad a few weeks ago.
Except you have to pay for it [MobileMe]. And I don't care if it's $1 or $70, it's dollars. And that matters.
You're ignoring the fact that you pay for using Google services, as well. I'd rather pay cash for MobileMe than turn over my entire life to Google. YMMV.
I hate these stupid inflammatory posts which don't give any specifics.
How did that post NOT give specifics? It stated that the calendar shows the wrong times, that "Find my iPhone" wasn't working, and that it refused to sync for a day? How much more specific could they get? And how is any of that any worse than your anecdotal comments about MobileMe just working for you?
Right. But doesn't that erode the argument that Apple is way better at cloud services? It's not plug in your email and password and done.
Essentially, Apple does not do cloud services unless you pay for it or use non-Apple services. So how then can Daniel say that Apple does cloud integration better. Heck, he cited iTunes on your computer as proof. Yet, if you have no computer access, you have no cloud at all.
The subject under debate is Phone/iOS and its integration with cloud services.
The iPhone allows syncing with MobileMe. Plug in your email and password and done. But this costs money and not everyone has it, so...
The iPhone allows syncing with Google's services. Plug in your email and password and done (OK, so there are a couple of extra steps, see http://www.google.com/support/mobile...40&topic=14252).
The iPhone also allows syncing with arbitrary third party services (IMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV). This isn't quite as simple to set up, but the option is there.
So with the iPhone, I have the option of using Google's services. I can choose to pay for MobileMe if I prefer the feature set / lack of ads / etc. I can elect not to trust *any* cloud data provider with my data and do everything on a PC via iTunes. Or I can host my own Zimbra instance and have contacts, calendar and email synced wirelessly with my phone and all the same data available natively on my Macs without having to trust either Google or Apple with my personal data.
As for which cloud service is best, it doesn't really matter. It's likely that the decision about which cloud service you choose to use rests with more than your choice of phone (well, at least if you are an iPhone user). I'm not trying to claim that MobileMe is or isn't better than Google's cloud services - with the iPhone you are free to use either. Clearly the Google services have an advantage in that they are free at point of use, and they also have significantly more users which implies better support and reliability.
What are you claiming that Android does better in this area?
And as of FroYo, developers now have the option of enabling the backup of app data.
This would be the point where developers have to decide between using this new FroYo feature or making their app actually available to the majority of the Android user base (the non-existent fragmentation issue).
Everytime you put in something into your phone it's synced to the cloud. And that's how a smartphone should be.
Unless it's in an app. In which case with iPhone you have to hope you've plugged your phone in recently, with Android you have to hope that the app developer takes care of you - which prior to FroYo means implementing their own backup strategy. On an app by app basis.
I am not saying Android is flawless. There's lots of room to improve for them. And I do wish they'd come up with an iTunes style plug in to sync with a machine. But for stuff that really matters, like your contacts, events, emails, sms, etc. Google is better at keeping that repository current.
And iPhone is equally capable of syncing all that (with the exception of SMS) with Google, MobileMe, or a third party Exchange or IMAP/CalDAV/etc. provider.
In the context of Internet arguments about Google and iOS, it's quite strange to see people arguing that Android's lack of choice is an advantage. Usually it's the other way around...
Apple needs to make MobileMe free or offer some free variant with a basic service. And then focus on weening the iPhone off iTunes.
I disagree with a lot of what you said, but I agree this is a good idea. More options are always good, and with Apple pitching their future where full-featured computers are "trucks" and most people are using cut down iOS-style devices they surely have a plan in place for this...
The subject under debate is Phone/iOS and its integration with cloud services.
The iPhone allows syncing with MobileMe. Plug in your email and password and done. But this costs money and not everyone has it, so...
The iPhone allows syncing with Google's services. Plug in your email and password and done (OK, so there are a couple of extra steps, see http://www.google.com/support/mobile...40&topic=14252).
The iPhone also allows syncing with arbitrary third party services (IMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV). This isn't quite as simple to set up, but the option is there.
So with the iPhone, I have the option of using Google's services. I can choose to pay for MobileMe if I prefer the feature set / lack of ads / etc. I can elect not to trust *any* cloud data provider with my data and do everything on a PC via iTunes. Or I can host my own Zimbra instance and have contacts, calendar and email synced wirelessly with my phone and all the same data available natively on my Macs without having to trust either Google or Apple with my personal data.
As for which cloud service is best, it doesn't really matter. It's likely that the decision about which cloud service you choose to use rests with more than your choice of phone (well, at least if you are an iPhone user). I'm not trying to claim that MobileMe is or isn't better than Google's cloud services - with the iPhone you are free to use either. Clearly the Google services have an advantage in that they are free at point of use, and they also have significantly more users which implies better support and reliability.
What are you claiming that Android does better in this area?
.mac//mobile me sucks right now
apple is so under staffed in 5 or 6 area'a that updates show up yrs late
just look at file maker pro
the best biz SW company ever
yet apple barely even pays FM PRO attention. benito took 8 yrs to emerge. apple needs to hire about 200 to 600 top SW engineers to give all of apple's device area;s clean updates .
mobile me is way over priced for what it does
i own 5 working macs and the sync process is so convoluted >> yet all 6 macs are exactly the same in all ways to each other.
putting all it attention on ipads and iphones leaves other great area's lacking
apple should split into 3 companies or steve jobs should be fired
the great stuff apple does may wow all you wintel dudes but os 9.2 is still the best OS ever ..osx+ one day may be that rock solid ,,maybe
apple can do so much more ..again hire more people or fire jobs for mis management of resourses
today apple spends more time writing code for wintel machines that sync ipods / iphones ipads
that it does for pure play mac users
the weak mobile me and yes its getting even weaker
can be and should be for $99 yr after yr a true cloud service not just a way station for newbie pad pod iphone user's coming from the wintel world ..
whew
9
sorry no caps folks
this is the internet not a writing class
I agree with every word you say and your friends experience. I've been in this club since day one (iTools anyone?) and still scratch my head at how slow it all is and where it's all going.
And yet I continue to pay the shilling because:
1, I like my email address
2, I'm scared s***less that the day I leave something really cool will happen with it
I feel the same way. Aspects of Mobile Me are great, but the implementation still has a ways to go.
How the hell did that term become the newest fad anyway? We've been using "cloud services" for decades and never referred to it as such until recently. Time to go tell my mainframe it has been renamed.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the term "cloud" rubs me the wrong way.
How the hell did that term become the newest fad anyway? We've been using "cloud services" for decades and never referred to it as such until recently. Time to go tell my mainframe it has been renamed.
You've got it right; the buzzword then was 'timeshare'.
... With Google, you lose nothing. ...
Nothing but your privacy and control over your own data, until the inevitable "outage" occurs, in which case you lose everything at least temporarily, perhaps permanently.
As the article points out, with iOS, you have choices. You can depend entirely on your local iTunes backup, which costs you nothing, allows you to keep control of your data and protect your privacy, and is as reliable as you make it. You can use MobileMe if it's important to you to push your data through the cloud. And you can even use Google's services if you want to give your data to someone who will browse through it to learn all they can about you.
With Android, you get to give your data to Google so they can do as they wish with it. If you want to back it up under your own control, you'll have to take extra steps, incur extra cost to do so.
The basic question is, do you want to be in control of your data and your privacy, iOS, or do you want to give up control of that to Google, Android, a company that has repeatedly shown that it respects no boundaries, no privacy, no law?
This issue takes us back to some of the reasons the "personal computer" was created in the first place: to give individuals the ability to decide for themselves when and how they used computing resources and give them privacy and personal control of that experience. Apple's strategy is entirely in line with that original purpose, a purpose which is even more relevant today than then. Google's strategy is to strip away that experience, to take away personal control of computing and privacy, to become the gatekeeper even of our own information.
It's because of his own individual usage, not the cloud services. I don't think I even reach 1gb a month
Except that almost nothing he uses on his phone actually exists on it. For instance, all of his photos he views over the cloud, which means every time he views a picture it's using data. He didn't use nearly so much when he had his iPhone. I can't believe individual usage changes THAT much just by getting a different phone. It's how Google handles data.
1. My data and software belong to ME and reside somewhere that I control.
2. If I purchase the software I need, and keep it on my computer/server I do not need to depend on an outside service that can either fail temporarily or lose all your data.
Think of the last time you tried to do online banking and discovered that some update in progress at the bank prevented you from using a service for an hour or so. Irritating, yes. Disaster? No. but now think of leaving your data (whatever is important to you...your new novel, your banking information, your music, photos of your loved ones, etc. You know, all the stuff you can't reasonably replace) and have an outside service lose it. They would certainly be sorry and apologize, but would that be enough for you?
Even if you backup to Time Machine, if you do not have a second, recent, backup outside your home in a fireproof vault, you are begging for trouble and heartache.
How often might this happen. Very rarely. How often does it have to happen to be a personal disaster? Only once. Remember that things never happen until they happen, and things that never happened before happen all the time.
What a weird, back-handed compliment for a good service!
Thank you. I take it you don't agree?
Let me guess, when that opens, one way or another it will offer services that are different and better than anything Apple, Google or Microsoft currently offers
Nothing but your privacy and control over your own data, until the inevitable "outage" occurs, in which case you lose everything at least temporarily, perhaps permanently?
Excellent post. Come on people, do you know what 'data mining' means?
i wish Dan would update his charts after comments point out various items to add or clarify, but think he almost never does. it's really hard for anyone to get any chart like this 100% right/complete the first time. it's great that he tries, but he should finish it off.
Sigh... Another post that isn't Apple announcing an iPhone 4 recall and redesign. :<
Way to stay on topic.
A pair of Android apps written by security researcher Jon Oberheide to demonstrate a method of creating a "botnet" of hijacked Android phones. By cloaking an application capable of "fetching" new exploit code at will in a fake application offering preview pictures of the upcoming "Twilight Eclipse" film, he tricked more than 300 users into downloading the software. The lesson: a less friendly developer could have used that bait and switch to plant malware on users' devices.
http://blogs.forbes.com/firewall/201...-android-apps/
Security researcher creates botnet for Android, tricks 300 users to download the app
if Oberheide hadn't presented his research at the SummerCon hacker conference there's no reason to believe that Google would have been aware of the darker side of these applications in the first place.