So far I never regretted to have paid for this service. If it's free in future all the better.
I hope though that they have like entry accounts for free but premium accounts with faster download and upload speeds and of course more GB storage. I guess many of us would be willing to pay a couple of $ for a surplus on speed and space.
Neither have I.
fI think it will be free since arguably the best feature, Find My iPhone/iPad was made free last year and I know several people who were buying it mainly for that feature.
However, I'm afraid of the service if it does become free. I want accountability for the data I sync and save. I want the service to become faster, not degrade due to an excessive number of users on a free service. I don want ads, even though this migh be a good way for Apple to get their iAds out of apps and into webpages (they are HTML5/CSS3/JS, after all).
It would tie all Apple devices together, mobile and non-mobile, via the cloud? This would light a fire under Mac Sales. Buy, buy, buy! (AAPL, that is.)
If this rumor really has some truth, I Guess you will be right, there will be an avalanche of new mac users. This might put the new apple cloud center in NC into quite a strain soon after it starts its service. I guess we will see soon new construction sites for additional data centers.
Is this why Xoom is such a mind blowing success, and everybody stands in lines of hundreds to get one.
Those stupid Xoom commercials sure don't help... anyone over the age of 19 turns away when they come on the tube... they think it's just another add on to a gaming system... not that there is anything wrong with that...
Any extra service given away free by Apple is a big plus...
Apple devotees? Rewarded? you've bought Apple's products because you choose to, not because you were doing them a favour. You owe them nothing and they owe you nothing. It's a business transaction, nothing more. If MM is made free it's because they feel they can leverage the service to obtain and/or maintain HW purchasing customers, not to reward you for being so devoted.
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
Apple devotees? Rewarded? you've bought Apple's products because you choose to, not because you were doing them a favour. You owe them nothing and they owe you nothing. It's a business transaction, nothing more. If MM is made free it's because they feel they can leverage the service to obtain and/or maintain HW purchasing customers, not to reward you for being so devoted.
As anyone with an original mac.com account form the 1990´s will tell you, Apple might be trying to do a free offer for this service only to SCREW you down the line just like they did before with the Mac.com email address.
I for one will not fall for this, given how burdensome it is to move back and forth between email addresses, including having to notify all your contacts. What´s the point if in 2013 they will once again come up with the old "now we have to charge you because it has become to expensive to give away" argument.
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
trust me: it will NOT be free. Even if it is at first, they will find some lame argument to charge you once you are already on the bandwagon.
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
Free? You pay with your personal information and by viewing ads.
I agree, it will be free at first, then become paid again.
It will likely be free b/c apple loves to push things out the door so fast they have hardly had time to test it. We become the beta testers, and therefore nothing to complain about since we didn't pay for anything. It's.... magical!
Apple devotees? Rewarded? you've bought Apple's products because you choose to, not because you were doing them a favour. You owe them nothing and they owe you nothing. It's a business transaction, nothing more. If MM is made free it's because they feel they can leverage the service to obtain and/or maintain HW purchasing customers, not to reward you for being so devoted.
LOL...so true! You could be somone who has never laid a finger on an Apple product their entire lives, go buy a Mac the day after this service is activated and get the same "reward" as a devotee who has been bleeding Apple for 20 years!
Remember, at the last Apple Event (iPad 2), SJ spend a lot of time bragging about all the "accounts with credit cards" Apple has accumulated via iTunes. But how can Apple get you to use that credit card even more?
I suspect the syncing will be free becuase that supports owning multiple devices, so more hardware sales for Apple. Email will probably also be free, but many iTunes IDs are based on emails from other services, so I don't see this as a "must-be-free" feature (and I certainly would never make it my primary email address). There will be a social network web site based on Ping. Photo sharing will move from MobileMe's lame gallery to the Ping service to better compete with Facebook along with iCal and Address Book. iChat will move to Ping for the same reason. Ping will also become a portal for accessing Facetime (think Skype). All of these "free" (ie, iAd supported) services will be given away to get you to spend more time on Apple's vitual property. And once there this will be a portal to make it even easier to purchase music, movies, apps, online storage, etc. I could even see this portal as one day replacing iTunes for activating new iPads and iPhones so you don't need to own a computer to have one of Apple's iOS devices.
fI think it will be free since arguably the best feature, Find My iPhone/iPad was made free last year and I know several people who were buying it mainly for that feature.
However, I'm afraid of the service if it does become free. I want accountability for the data I sync and save. I want the service to become faster, not degrade due to an excessive number of users on a free service. I don want ads, even though this migh be a good way for Apple to get their iAds out of apps and into webpages (they are HTML5/CSS3/JS, after all).
I agree 100%.
I'm very comfortable paying a nominal $5 a month to have ad-free email (with aliases), synching, hosting, Web Gallery photo sharing and iDisk storage. Seems exceptionally reasonable to me.
Hopefully with a free MobileMe service, none of these features are lost but can we still expect the same level of service (or better) with no accountability on Apple's part? I'm hopeful but nervous.
Also Apple has made it known that the @mac.com address will be making way for the newer @me.com extension at some point, but they original extension is still active. I'd hate to loose that. Is it realistic to expect free email (including aliases) from Apple with no ads?
Apple is not going to give up $100/ year from x millions of current subscribers. Sure they'll give something away for free, but they aren't giving up what they already.
Nothing is free and if there is a free service I would expect there to be a premium service as well. The other possibility is that all of this is going to be partially iAd based. I would hope there's a premium ad free option.
The rumor also makes it sound like Apple is going to strand it's current MM users and ditch the current service all together? Way to alienate loyal subscribers. Again, I don't think Apple would ditch mail and calendars etc.
Using your home server as the "storage" for the cloud? Didn't we already come to the conclusion this won't work either?
I don't see any of these things happening. We will probably see a free MM with a mixture of components and features and the paid version will offer another mix.
My account renewed 7 days ago. I got no notice from Apple as per the students rumored above. I've been using the service since the very beginning with itools, then dot mac etc.
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
Well you might not have given those companies money but you are giving them access to your personal information and online activity which they sell for profit. Many are comfortable with that set up, but I'm not.
If MobileMe goes free what happens to all the sites Apple hosts through iWeb publication? Something tells me it will no longer be a feature of MobileMe and people will have to pay someone else to host their sites.
Personally, my online life is very much tied to MobileMe. It's something I use daily so any changes to the service will affect me greatly.
Well you might not have given those companies money but you are giving them access to your personal information and online activity which they sell for profit. Many are comfortable with that set up, but I'm not.
If MobileMe goes free what happens to all the sites Apple hosts through iWeb publication? Something tells me it will no longer be a feature of MobileMe and people will have to pay someone else to host their sites.
Personally, my online life is very much tied to MobileMe. It's something I use daily so any changes to the service will affect me greatly.
This is all rumor anyway. If there is any truth to it, Apple should have two versions of it: the premium and secure version for payers, and the free version for non payers.
Free? You pay with your personal information and by viewing ads.
You probably think TV is free too.
We will still pay with our personal information whether this service is free or not. Why pay them money when they are still going to sell my personal information? And should I stop watching TV simply because they show advertisements? This is capitalism. This is what keeps the economy going.
I've felt like an idiot paying $99 for the last few years just to get the syncing capability. It should have be much cheaper all along. I do wish they'd do more for us long loyal customers though.
Ditto. They better take good care of us idiots. I enjoy this service. They better not lame it out, like Google's suites, with a bunch of ads and crap.
I've felt like an idiot paying $99 for the last few years just to get the syncing capability. It should have be much cheaper all along. I do wish they'd do more for us long loyal customers though.
Agreed. That said, I hope they screw up my syncing somehow. I'm assuming I'll at least be able to continue the only thing I really do: sync my calendars.
Comments
So far I never regretted to have paid for this service. If it's free in future all the better.
I hope though that they have like entry accounts for free but premium accounts with faster download and upload speeds and of course more GB storage. I guess many of us would be willing to pay a couple of $ for a surplus on speed and space.
Neither have I.
fI think it will be free since arguably the best feature, Find My iPhone/iPad was made free last year and I know several people who were buying it mainly for that feature.
However, I'm afraid of the service if it does become free. I want accountability for the data I sync and save. I want the service to become faster, not degrade due to an excessive number of users on a free service. I don want ads, even though this migh be a good way for Apple to get their iAds out of apps and into webpages (they are HTML5/CSS3/JS, after all).
It would tie all Apple devices together, mobile and non-mobile, via the cloud? This would light a fire under Mac Sales. Buy, buy, buy! (AAPL, that is.)
If this rumor really has some truth, I Guess you will be right, there will be an avalanche of new mac users. This might put the new apple cloud center in NC into quite a strain soon after it starts its service. I guess we will see soon new construction sites for additional data centers.
Is this why Xoom is such a mind blowing success, and everybody stands in lines of hundreds to get one.
Those stupid Xoom commercials sure don't help... anyone over the age of 19 turns away when they come on the tube... they think it's just another add on to a gaming system... not that there is anything wrong with that...
Any extra service given away free by Apple is a big plus...
Apple devotees?
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
Apple devotees?
As anyone with an original mac.com account form the 1990´s will tell you, Apple might be trying to do a free offer for this service only to SCREW you down the line just like they did before with the Mac.com email address.
I for one will not fall for this, given how burdensome it is to move back and forth between email addresses, including having to notify all your contacts. What´s the point if in 2013 they will once again come up with the old "now we have to charge you because it has become to expensive to give away" argument.
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
trust me: it will NOT be free. Even if it is at first, they will find some lame argument to charge you once you are already on the bandwagon.
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
Free? You pay with your personal information and by viewing ads.
You probably think TV is free too.
It will likely be free b/c apple loves to push things out the door so fast they have hardly had time to test it. We become the beta testers, and therefore nothing to complain about since we didn't pay for anything. It's.... magical!
Apple devotees?
LOL...so true! You could be somone who has never laid a finger on an Apple product their entire lives, go buy a Mac the day after this service is activated and get the same "reward" as a devotee who has been bleeding Apple for 20 years!
Remember, at the last Apple Event (iPad 2), SJ spend a lot of time bragging about all the "accounts with credit cards" Apple has accumulated via iTunes. But how can Apple get you to use that credit card even more?
I suspect the syncing will be free becuase that supports owning multiple devices, so more hardware sales for Apple. Email will probably also be free, but many iTunes IDs are based on emails from other services, so I don't see this as a "must-be-free" feature (and I certainly would never make it my primary email address). There will be a social network web site based on Ping. Photo sharing will move from MobileMe's lame gallery to the Ping service to better compete with Facebook along with iCal and Address Book. iChat will move to Ping for the same reason. Ping will also become a portal for accessing Facetime (think Skype). All of these "free" (ie, iAd supported) services will be given away to get you to spend more time on Apple's vitual property. And once there this will be a portal to make it even easier to purchase music, movies, apps, online storage, etc. I could even see this portal as one day replacing iTunes for activating new iPads and iPhones so you don't need to own a computer to have one of Apple's iOS devices.
Neither have I.
fI think it will be free since arguably the best feature, Find My iPhone/iPad was made free last year and I know several people who were buying it mainly for that feature.
However, I'm afraid of the service if it does become free. I want accountability for the data I sync and save. I want the service to become faster, not degrade due to an excessive number of users on a free service. I don want ads, even though this migh be a good way for Apple to get their iAds out of apps and into webpages (they are HTML5/CSS3/JS, after all).
I agree 100%.
I'm very comfortable paying a nominal $5 a month to have ad-free email (with aliases), synching, hosting, Web Gallery photo sharing and iDisk storage. Seems exceptionally reasonable to me.
Hopefully with a free MobileMe service, none of these features are lost but can we still expect the same level of service (or better) with no accountability on Apple's part? I'm hopeful but nervous.
Also Apple has made it known that the @mac.com address will be making way for the newer @me.com extension at some point, but they original extension is still active. I'd hate to loose that. Is it realistic to expect free email (including aliases) from Apple with no ads?
Apple is not going to give up $100/ year from x millions of current subscribers. Sure they'll give something away for free, but they aren't giving up what they already.
Nothing is free and if there is a free service I would expect there to be a premium service as well. The other possibility is that all of this is going to be partially iAd based. I would hope there's a premium ad free option.
The rumor also makes it sound like Apple is going to strand it's current MM users and ditch the current service all together? Way to alienate loyal subscribers. Again, I don't think Apple would ditch mail and calendars etc.
Using your home server as the "storage" for the cloud? Didn't we already come to the conclusion this won't work either?
I don't see any of these things happening. We will probably see a free MM with a mixture of components and features and the paid version will offer another mix.
My account renewed 7 days ago. I got no notice from Apple as per the students rumored above. I've been using the service since the very beginning with itools, then dot mac etc.
A little free something Apple doesn't hurt. Yahoo, Google, Hotmail(Microsoft), Facebook etc. are all free. We purchased nothing from these. We owe them nothing and they owe us nothing. It is business as usual.
Well you might not have given those companies money but you are giving them access to your personal information and online activity which they sell for profit. Many are comfortable with that set up, but I'm not.
If MobileMe goes free what happens to all the sites Apple hosts through iWeb publication? Something tells me it will no longer be a feature of MobileMe and people will have to pay someone else to host their sites.
Personally, my online life is very much tied to MobileMe. It's something I use daily so any changes to the service will affect me greatly.
Well you might not have given those companies money but you are giving them access to your personal information and online activity which they sell for profit. Many are comfortable with that set up, but I'm not.
If MobileMe goes free what happens to all the sites Apple hosts through iWeb publication? Something tells me it will no longer be a feature of MobileMe and people will have to pay someone else to host their sites.
Personally, my online life is very much tied to MobileMe. It's something I use daily so any changes to the service will affect me greatly.
This is all rumor anyway. If there is any truth to it, Apple should have two versions of it: the premium and secure version for payers, and the free version for non payers.
Free? You pay with your personal information and by viewing ads.
You probably think TV is free too.
We will still pay with our personal information whether this service is free or not. Why pay them money when they are still going to sell my personal information? And should I stop watching TV simply because they show advertisements? This is capitalism. This is what keeps the economy going.
trust me: it will NOT be free. Even if it is at first, they will find some lame argument to charge you once you are already on the bandwagon.
You are probably right. But this is Apple. They will find a way to make it fair and favorable for everyone.
It's about time.
I've felt like an idiot paying $99 for the last few years just to get the syncing capability. It should have be much cheaper all along. I do wish they'd do more for us long loyal customers though.
Ditto. They better take good care of us idiots. I enjoy this service. They better not lame it out, like Google's suites, with a bunch of ads and crap.
It's about time.
I've felt like an idiot paying $99 for the last few years just to get the syncing capability. It should have be much cheaper all along. I do wish they'd do more for us long loyal customers though.
Agreed. That said, I hope they screw up my syncing somehow. I'm assuming I'll at least be able to continue the only thing I really do: sync my calendars.