iPhone MobileMe wipe, sync, location features planned by Microsoft, RIM

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Features similar to Apple's MobileMe service for iPhone users are now under development for RIM's BlackBerry and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 devices.



Apple introduced MobileMe back in 2008 as an enhanced version of its .Mac program. The revamped online service brought features familiar to enterprise environments to consumers, including the ability to remotely wipe a lost or stolen device; remote location, messaging and alarms for finding a misplaced device; sync and push messaging features including mail, calendar and contacts; and a Gallery service for uploading and sharing pictures and videos.



In the two years since, Microsoft announced its own SkyBox service for Windows Mobile which was later renamed My Phone.



That offering, based on software Microsoft acquired from a Portuguese developer, is now being eclipsed by a new product named Windows Phone Live, aimed at Windows Phone 7, which is expected to ship at the end of this year.



Unlike MobileMe, Microsoft plans to offer its messaging sync, cloud storage, and location/wipe service for free, according to the official Windows Phone blog.



There has been some speculation that Apple would also begin offering a free tier of its MobileMe service. A free competing service may help push Apple in that direction, if Microsoft is more successful in launching Windows Phone 7 than it was with its KIN fiasco, a partnership with Verizon Wireless that was canceled just weeks after its ostentatious launch.



RIM is also getting into the consumer remote management business with its new BlackBerry Protect service. It similarly offers backups, remote wipe and location services (but not push messaging or cloud storage) and is expected to free as well. The service is currently in beta.



Google added partial support in Android for corporate Exchange Server remote management, wipe and sync features, but has not announced any plans to offer a package of remote find/wipe, push messaging, and cloud storage features aimed at consumers for free or as a paid service.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    About time apple updated MobileMe, we can't spent that much money these days for such low storage and iDisk errors. Mm is a decent service but desperately needs an upgrade, which is not of course lumping 6 icons into one...
  • Reply 2 of 23
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    One thing about Microsoft, they copy from the best.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    damn_its_hotdamn_its_hot Posts: 1,209member
    I would expect nothing less from the great copiers up north.
  • Reply 4 of 23
    bonklersbonklers Posts: 54member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    I would expect nothing less from the great copiers up north.



    say what you will about MS, if they offered me a job, i'd take it in a heartbeat, sit back and take a paycheck paid by their windows monopoly.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    joe hsjoe hs Posts: 488member
    This is why apple needs to make MobileMe free ASAP
  • Reply 6 of 23
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bonklers View Post


    say what you will about MS, if they offered me a job, i'd take it in a heartbeat, sit back and take a paycheck paid by their windows monopoly.



    That's what Ballmer's been doing for the last decade.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joe hs View Post


    This is why apple needs to make MobileMe free ASAP



    If you're leading, you only need to go fast enough to win. If you're trailing, you need to go as fast as you can. And right now, Apple is leading many areas of the technology industry.



    Apple can take a wait-and-see approach to Microsoft and RIM (and eventually Google.) If MobileMe competitors start to somehow hurt Apple's business, Apple can make part of MobileMe free, and keep some deluxe features for paid subscribers.



    Another advantage to the wait-and-see approach is that the competitors are copying the existing MobileMe. Apple is no doubt working on a next-gen MobileMe, which they won't roll out until Microsoft, RIM, and Google have copied the old one. And just when those competitors start to brag about how good their MobileMe clone is, Apple can release a polished upgrade to the real MobileMe. It'll make the competition look obsolete.



    Better to wait for everyone else to make their mistakes in public. That's one reason why the iPad announcement came *after* CES. To keep the wannabes in the dark until they were forced to demo their own bad ideas for "slate computing."
  • Reply 8 of 23
    fuzz_ballfuzz_ball Posts: 390member
    MobileMe should be free. They don't really offer much in the way of "premium" content compared to other similar services (by similar, I'm talking primarily the storage/e-mail aspect as the "wipe my phone"/locator feature didn't exist prior to MobileMe becoming "MobileMe" along with it's yearly $100 charge).



    The ONLY, and I do mean only reason I've kept my MobileMe account for the past several years is because my wife didn't want to give up her "@mac.com" e-mail address. So I've paid $100 per year for that (yeah, no one to blame but myself...and my wife of course )



    Now however, she is finally giving it up for a gmail account. So buh-bye MobileMe...unless of course they finally make it free; kind of like all those various apps I've bought (TextWrangler anyone?) only for said apps to be made free months later \



    <sigh>Either way, I won't be paying for it anymore!
  • Reply 9 of 23
    walshbjwalshbj Posts: 864member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SockRolid View Post


    ...Better to wait for everyone else to make their mistakes in public. That's one reason why the iPad announcement came *after* CES. To keep the wannabes in the dark until they were forced to demo their own bad ideas for "slate computing."



    That was a good move. The Microsoft-HP-Slate thing was a massive pie in Ballmer's face.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    clexmanclexman Posts: 208member
    Copy? Blackberry has had these options for a decade! Their new service for consumers blows MobileMe out of the water! Apple will be the one playing catch up. (Especially after they send out 2 million bumpers for the iPhone 4)







    http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/...berry-protect/
  • Reply 11 of 23
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Microsoft plans to offer its messaging sync, cloud storage, and location/wipe service for free, according to the official Windows Phone blog.



    Squirt wipe™.
  • Reply 12 of 23
    str1f3str1f3 Posts: 573member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fuzz_ball View Post


    The ONLY, and I do mean only reason I've kept my MobileMe account for the past several years is because my wife didn't want to give up her "@mac.com" e-mail address. So I've paid $100 per year for that (yeah, no one to blame but myself...and my wife of course )



    Now however, she is finally giving it up for a gmail account. So buh-bye MobileMe...unless of course they finally make it free; kind of like all those various apps I've bought (TextWrangler anyone?) only for said apps to be made free months later \



    <sigh>Either way, I won't be paying for it anymore!



    This is the same reason why I dumped MobileMe. I'm not going to have my email held hostage for $100/year if I don't want the service anymore. It's a good service but should be free.
  • Reply 13 of 23
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by myapplelove View Post


    About time apple updated MobileMe, we can't spent that much money these days for such low storage and iDisk errors. Mm is a decent service but desperately needs an upgrade, which is not of course lumping 6 icons into one...



    About time you started getting with the groove. Apple has been transparently upgrading and updating MobileMe consistently over the past several months. With such web-based services, updates can be pushed up without any visible differences to the end users. Just recently, they introduced a brand new and wicked UI for MobileMe, and a Calendar beta is currently underway.
  • Reply 14 of 23
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    I can't believe some posts in this thread! Talk about cheap-skates. I agree that the cost of MobileMe should be built into their product purchases, but no way should it be just given away for free to anybody that comes along.



    Google's suite of tools is supported by ads, as are many other "free" services. MobileMe doesn't infect my workspace with ads. I'm happy to pay the annual fee.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    str1f3str1f3 Posts: 573member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post


    I can't believe some posts in this thread! Talk about cheap-skates. I agree that the cost of MobileMe should be built into their product purchases, but no way should it be just given away for free to anybody that comes along.



    Google's suite of tools is supported by ads, as are many other "free" services. MobileMe doesn't infect my workspace with ads. I'm happy to pay the annual fee.



    If I was to buy every little thing I wanted it would start to add up and I would have no money to do things I really want to do. It's not being cheap but being wise.



    In regards to ads, I never see them. I use Mail.app and Mail on the iPhone which has no ads.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by clexman View Post


    Copy? Blackberry has had these options for a decade! Their new service for consumers blows MobileMe out of the water! Apple will be the one playing catch up. (Especially after they send out 2 million bumpers for the iPhone 4)







    http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/...berry-protect/





    Do you have the link touting those options a decade ago? I just want to compare what they had back in 2000 with the Consumer "BlackBerry Protect" 'just announced'.... \



    "Find a nearby misplaced BlackBerry smartphone by remotely activating a loud ringer." My ten year old land line phone at home has this feature too...
  • Reply 17 of 23
    icyfogicyfog Posts: 338member
    Wow, imagine Apple leading the way again.
  • Reply 18 of 23
    Good Mme is getting some competition



    Still, can't wait to se the first virus/trojan/exploit that starts remote wiping brand new winPhone 7's en masse.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    firefly7475firefly7475 Posts: 1,502member
    It doesn't surprise me that Microsoft is including this. I'd actully be amazed if Microsoft doesn't eventually put their full range of enterprise management functionality into WP7. I expect them to add the ability to add/remove/upgrade apps, modify user privileges and policies, remote wipe and generally configure anything you could locally on the phone. Enterprise is their thing after all.



    It also doesn't surprise me that they are giving this access to consumers or that they are giving it away for free. The goal they have been aiming for seems to be for consumers to have Microsoft products as a front end using the cloud for data synchronization and services (as opposed to Google who want all applications to exist in the cloud and Apple who just want you to buy their hardware) and they have (at least to my knowledge!) the most free cloud space available to consumers of any service.



    What would surprise me is if they are able to put a UI in front of this that makes it easy to use and accessible for non-tech customers. I can just imagine someones mum going into her Windows Phone Live account to find the backup of a photo she deleted by mistake only to remote wipe her entire phone



    In any case this will at least prod Apple to push forward plans for their iDevice cloud services. Everyone knows they are sitting on something, it's just a matter of when they decide to reveal it!
  • Reply 20 of 23
    timgriff84timgriff84 Posts: 912member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    I would expect nothing less from the great copiers up north.



    It's a bit of a week copy argument. They haven't made any new actual technology as they predate apple at doing this with their enterprise clients. Putting it all on one public website is a copy but that's such a small part of it it makes it meaningless.
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