Apple Details MobileMe Enhancements Delivered by Latest Software Updates

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/11/apple-details-mobileme-enhancements-delivered-by-latest-software-updates/)

Apple has posted a support article (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3794) detailing a number of enhancements to its MobileMe service made possible by the launch of iPhone OS 3.1 (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/09/apple-releases-iphone-os-3-1-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/), Mac OS X Snow Leopard (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/28/mac-os-x-snow-leopard-officially-launched-today/), and MobileMe Control Panel for Windows 1.5 (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/09/apple-releases-iphone-configuration-utility-2-1-for-mac-and-windows-and-mobile-me-control-panel-for-windows/).

iPhone OS 3.1 brings enhancements to Find My iPhone (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/06/10/more-wwdc-tidbits-iphone-3g-s-oleophobic-screen-find-my-iphone-live/), which now allows users to remotely set a passcode lock to prevent others from accessing the device, plays device alerts at the loudest volume, and notifies users that the feature will not function if the device's data fetching option is set to Manual. The update also adds automatic syncing of subscribed iCal calendars and merging of bookmarks upon syncing on the iPhone and iPod touch. Finally, an issue with MobileMe Gallery image and video publication has been addressed.

Snow Leopard brings several improvements to MobileMe, including changes to Mac and iDisk syncing and support for Apple's new "Wake on Demand" feature (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/28/a-closer-look-at-snow-leopards-wake-on-demand-feature/) in conjunction with MobileMe's "Back to My Mac" remote access capabilities. Snow Leopard also now allows users to publish movies to their MobileMe Gallery directly from QuickTime Player.

Finally, Windows users will benefit from the update to MobileMe Control Panel, which adds support for Windows 7, allows users to set a MobileMe calendar as the default calendar for Outlook, and resolves issues related to incorrect ordering of bookmarks when syncing.

Article Link: Apple Details MobileMe Enhancements Delivered by Latest Software Updates (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/11/apple-details-mobileme-enhancements-delivered-by-latest-software-updates/)

[Grimace]

Tweaks, but nothing to make a case for $99. Now it's almost worth $49 :rolleyes:

[rockstarjoe]

Pretty neat! Too bad the update made duplicates out of every calendar event on my iPhone and deleted all of my Notes. Otherwise, cool beans.

[smileyborg]

Come on now, let's see the Find My iPhone feature somehow implemented without needing the SIM card.

Then it would actually be useful for tracking down a stolen phone.

(I mean, at the moment, you have to rely on the stupidity of the thieves (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,544880,00.html) to leave the phone on and the SIM in...this happened at my university!)

[decimortis]

It also duplicates all the contacts in your iPhones address book. Sweetnocity!
I've found a workaround, but still, why'd you have to poop in my Cornflakes this morning Apple?

[Sky Blue]

Tweaks, but nothing to make a case for $99. Now it's almost worth $49 :rolleyes:

Who pays $99 for Mobile Me? I get it for $45 - $55 every year on ebay.

[Eduardo1971]

Pretty neat! Too bad the update made duplicates out of every calendar event on my iPhone...


Boy howdy! I hate that too!!

[jdechko]

Still no bookmark syncing with Firefox. :(

[Wotan31]

I'm still waiting for MobilMe to use fully encrypted sessions. Right now, only your login is encrypted, but all your personal data that gets sent back and forth is not. :mad:

[wolfshades]

Remote password lock?

Sweet!

Now we need them to engineer a way to have the stolen (*cough* lost *cough*) iPhone to play "Never Gonna Give You Up" - at full volume, non-stop until the battery wears down.

[Bjohnson33]

Tweaks, but nothing to make a case for $99. Now it's almost worth $49 :rolleyes:

I agree. Even at $49 I'm not sure I'd be interested enough to buy.

[Bjohnson33]

Now we need them to engineer a way to have the stolen (*cough* lost *cough*) iPhone to play "Never Gonna Give You Up" - at full volume, non-stop until the battery wears down.

Does that constitute cruel and unusual punishment? ;)

[jdechko]

Now we need them to engineer a way to have the stolen (*cough* lost *cough*) iPhone to play "Never Gonna Give You Up" - at full volume, non-stop until the battery wears down.

Nice. It could result in some great pranks too. :D

[iamse7en]

There really should be a feature that doesn't allow you to power the phone off. If it's stolen, thieves are just going to learn to turn it off so it can't be tracked.

[ikarl67]

I STILL cannot post to my MobileMe hosted Blog from my iPhone. Despite new iPhone OS (3.1) or iPhone iDisk app. When will this be possible ?

[quigleybc]

I just want it to keep me logged in for TWO WEEKS like it says it will!!

ARRGGHHH

[tbealmear]

Finally! I have wanted my iCal subscriptions on my iPhone forever. Bout damn time.

[czachorski]

Tweaks, but nothing to make a case for $99. Now it's almost worth $49 :rolleyes:

To me, it's always been a collection of services worth about $50, and seamless integration with OS X, iLife and my iPhone worth another $50. That's just me, though. I use the integration a lot.

[Chimpy]

It's a great idea, but it's just been too slow for me to be useful Uploading things to my iDisk takes FOREVER. I'm going to let it lapse when my year ends this month.

[jmccray]

For some reason my US Holiday subscription is syncing, but not my birthday one. Anyone else having this problem?

[barkomatic]

What does remotely setting device alerts at full volume do? You drop your iPhone on the ground and it belts out a burglar alarm if someone else picks it up or something?

[spencers]

Find My iPhone hasn't worked for me for weeks.. I've tried everything short of erasing the device and starting over.

[distortedloop]

Come on now, let's see the Find My iPhone feature somehow implemented without needing the SIM card.

Then it would actually be useful for tracking down a stolen phone.


Actually BOTH of my older iPhones that do not currently have a SIM card in them show up just fine in Find My iPhone, as long as they're connected to a WiFi network.

Pull your SIM and try it for yourself.

What does remotely setting device alerts at full volume do? You drop your iPhone on the ground and it belts out a burglar alarm if someone else picks it up or something?

I think the idea here is that even if you have it on silent mode or someone turns down the volume with the rocker switch the "give me back my iPhone" notices will still be accompanied with the loudest sound the phone will make.

[jaw04005]

What does remotely setting device alerts at full volume do? You drop your iPhone on the ground and it belts out a burglar alarm if someone else picks it up or something?

It's oddly worded in the article, but you can send an alert at full volume to your iPhone to help you locate it (stuck in the couch, lost outside, etc). It beeps constantly for two or so minutes.

[twoodcc]

i like the improvements. glad they are working to make find my iphone even better!

[pdjudd]

What does remotely setting device alerts at full volume do? You drop your iPhone on the ground and it belts out a burglar alarm if someone else picks it up or something?

No, its intended to alert an honest person who finds your phone and can determine who the owner is and how to contact them. The remote lock and remote wipe are for wiping a device that you are not going to get back.

[Lancetx]

To me, it's always been a collection of services worth about $50, and seamless integration with OS X, iLife and my iPhone worth another $50. That's just me, though. I use the integration a lot.

Same here. In my opinion it's well worth the $50-60 I actually pay for it each year (by finding bargains for it online).

[distortedloop]

Still no bookmark syncing with Firefox. :(

Is that Apple's fault or FireFox's? Is it even Apple's responsibility? I have multiple third party applications that sync their info with MobileMe: Transmit, TextExpander, 1Password (use to anyways), Entourage.

Maybe someone at FireFox just needs to add the code...?

[wizard]

I agree. Even at $49 I'm not sure I'd be interested enough to buy.

I've grown to like the service myself and signed up as a trial a little more than a year ago ( early 2008 ). Admittedly at first things where rough going but the service has grown on me. For instance one good quality is the E-Mail spam filtering which seems about just right. At least I don't get all the crap spam my Yahoo account gets. The integration with iPhone and my Mac though is very very nice and seems to get better every month. On top of that I use it for off site backups.

Now about the update and the duplicated entries problem. On my system only a few entries got "duplicated". Except that they where not really duplicates at all but look to be deletions that came back to life. So I URGE EVERYBODY to look closely at any "duplicate" contact you might erase as it may contain a lot of nil data.

As an aside one of the most useful features of iPhone / Mobile Me / Mac integration is the ability to set an event and an Alarm and have it automatically propogated everywhere. Thus I've almost totally eliminated the need for paper calendars.

It is funny but over the years I've purchased a number of electronic address books, PDAs and the like. Everyone of those devices ended up in a drawer someplace with a dead battery. Not my iPhone though and I give a lot of credit to Mobile Me and the sound and easy syncing. Even older cell phones never where used to manage contacts the way my iPhone has been. I think the key there is the word "contact" as more than the phone number is being managed.

In summation I guess if I actually use it it must be worth something.


Dave

[seedster2]

Tweaks, but nothing to make a case for $99. Now it's almost worth $49 :rolleyes:

I would consider it at 29. Even the people at the apple store trying to push it can't say it works seamlessly yet.

[wizard]

Is that Apple's fault or FireFox's? Is it even Apple's responsibility? I have multiple third party applications that sync their info with MobileMe: Transmit, TextExpander, 1Password (use to anyways), Entourage.

Maybe someone at FireFox just needs to add the code...?

Either the Firefox or the Thunderbird team is working on better Mac integration. At least I saw a blurb sometime ago about that. It may very well have been the Thunderbird team integrating with contacts on Mac.

Anyways your point stands in that somebody needs to write the software. It is open sourced so anybody really concerned can do it themselves.

Dave

[wizard]

I would consider it at 29. Even the people at the apple store trying to push it can't say it works seamlessly yet.

What I will say though with a great deal of confidence is that it has gotten far better and more worthwhile over the last year and a half. It is now worth more than a couple of bucks a month to me. Now a hundred a year is a different question, personally I think $5 a month is about right.

However the last thing I want is another advertising supported service so I hope Apple can keep things reasonable, pay for their data center needs and make a profit.


Dave

[seedster2]

What I will say though with a great deal of confidence is that it has gotten far better and more worthwhile over the last year and a half. It is now worth more than a couple of bucks a month to me. Now a hundred a year is a different question, personally I think $5 a month is about right.

However the last thing I want is another advertising supported service so I hope Apple can keep things reasonable, pay for their data center needs and make a profit.


Dave

$5/month seems fair.

The inauspicious start can be forgiven but I still hear horror stories. They are enough to make it too risky for me. I'm glad your service is coming along though.

[WhySoSerious]

come ON apple....can you just fix this annoyance already? i have 5 freakin' alias accounts and i can't send email from them using my iphone because why.....???? :rolleyes:

fix it :rolleyes:

[jacg]

come ON apple....can you just fix this annoyance already? i have 5 freakin' alias accounts and i can't send email from them using my iphone because why.....???? :rolleyes:

fix it :rolleyes:

And the irritating workaround I'm using to send from my alias address requires me to turn off push, so find my iPhone doesn't work I don't think. I know how you feel!

[WhySoSerious]

And the irritating workaround I'm using to send from my alias address requires me to turn off push, so find my iPhone doesn't work I don't think. I know how you feel!

really? I use a work-around that lets me keep using push, the only downside is I can only use 1 alias instead of my 5.

[lssmit02]

really? I use a work-around that lets me keep using push
How do you that? Info or link would be much appreciated.

[Chris Blount]

Tweaks, but nothing to make a case for $99. Now it's almost worth $49 :rolleyes:I'm having a hard time believing that anyone can honestly think that MobileMe is not worth $50 a year. That's a little more that $5 a month. Is it because it's payed in lump sum? People throw $5 a month at GoDaddy without thinking about it and that's just web hosting.

With MobileMe you get a lot more.

[distortedloop]

I'm having a hard time believing that anyone can honestly think that MobileMe is not worth $50 a year. That's a little more that $5 a month. Is it because it's payed in lump sum? People throw $5 a month at GoDaddy without thinking about it and that's just web hosting.

With MobileMe you get a lot more.

Perceived value is relative to many things, not the least of which is income and availability of less expensive services that do the same thing with varying levels of difficulty.

Personally I find MobileMe well worth the money just because I don't want to hassle with the alternate methods, plus I like having my old .mac email addresses.

[fletch33]

i auto renew my family membership every year and think it is worth the $150 year.

1. the syncing of bookmarks, contacts, keychain, address book, etc... i get with having 4 macs and 2 iphones i use regularly is great.
2. i host my website with it
3. i have 20 GB online storage and the other 4 members in my pack have 5GB each
4. combined with the Apple router accessing my attached storage files as well as screen sharing my other macs could not be easier. all my macs and my external drive connected to my Apple router are always right there in finder under shared for me to access files or screen share wherever i go

i am sure there are other things i am forgetting to mention but those alone are worth it to me.

[FreeState]

Its too bad that Apple removed the listed feature of iTunes 9 and Back to My Mac:

"With Back to My Mac, you can access your iTunes library wherever you are. On your Mac at home, turn on sharing in iTunes preferences and enable Back to My Mac in System Preferences. Then, on any Mac, sign in to MobileMe. Your library will appear in iTunes under Shared, and you can play your music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and more."

See: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=783758


This was the killer feature I have been wanting for years. :(

[bedifferent]

I'm really surprised that some believe "MobileMe" isn't worth the $99/year. I've been a .Mac member for years, and every year it seems to get better and better.

Simply pushing/syncing via the cloud to my Mac Pro and iPhone is a huge help. Granted I wish their web hosting would allow for MySEQ and PHP, although I've built sites through Dreamweaver and FPT'd them to MobileMe's servers for some clients who have a simple site and don't want to dish out more $$$. Photo/video hosting/sharing, "Back to my Mac", iDisk (makes a great virtual USB drive), Screen Sharing, etc. are all basic IT concepts that have been broken down for basic computer users to understand. It's a great service for the money. :)

[WhySoSerious]

How do you that? Info or link would be much appreciated.

will do once i get home. check back in this thread around 6pm CST.

[swindmill]

Tweaks, but nothing to make a case for $99. Now it's almost worth $49 :rolleyes:

This is obviously subjective. It will never be worth it to everyone, which is why Apple doesn't expect everyone to purchase it.

[WhySoSerious]

I'm really surprised that some believe "MobileMe" isn't worth the $99/year. I've been a .Mac member for years, and every year it seems to get better and better.

Simply pushing/syncing via the cloud to my Mac Pro and iPhone is a huge help. Granted I wish their web hosting would allow for MySEQ and PHP, although I've built sites through Dreamweaver and FPT'd them to MobileMe's servers for some clients who have a simple site and don't want to dish out more $$$. Photo/video hosting/sharing, "Back to my Mac", iDisk (makes a great virtual USB drive), Screen Sharing, etc. are all basic IT concepts that have been broken down for basic computer users to understand. It's a great service for the money. :)

MM is worth the full cost. People just complain because they don't like the fact you have to pay $99 + tax UPFRONT. It's only $0.27 a day. If someone here can honestly provide a realistic claim that they can't afford $0.27 a day for the features MM provides, please post.

It's just the upfront cost that some people can't handle. I see how dropping $99 + tax in one lump sum can cause you to scoff at any product, but really, break it down and it's not much for a years service that works very well.

[Anuba]

The one thing I like about MobileMe (I've had it for a few months) is synchronization of bookmarks... the only other useful function IMO is calendar sync, but it's horribly buggy. I tried using it for sync'ing an iPhone, iCal on my MBP and Outlook in Win7/BootCamp on my MBP... it totally trashed all my calendar entries. I had entered people's birthdays as recurring all-day events in Outlook. When MobileMe got hold of these they were somehow shifted one hour back when they were created as duplicate events on the iPhone and in iCal. Then MobileMe saw those and said "hey, Outlook doesn't have these so let's copy them there". After this feedback loop had been allowed to continue for a while, each birthday had like 25 duplicate events for each recurring instance. It broke some other stuff as well, can't remember what it was but ultimately I had to cut Outlook out of the MobileMe loop. I don't think I'll be renewing the subscription. DropBox serves me better than iDisk, and syncing the three or so bookmarks that change every month just isn't worth a hundred bucks a year.

[wizard]

$5/month seems fair.

The inauspicious start can be forgiven but I still hear horror stories. They are enough to make it too risky for me. I'm glad your service is coming along though.

When I first go my iPhone I was ready to pitch it at the wall but I stuck it out and today I really like the little computer. So when I say I understand you concern i really do. However for me Mobile Me was never as bad as some of the reports seen on the web. Yeah it had serious issues at the start but a quick web search resolved them.

More than a year later and it is an entirely different ball game. I use my mail account daily, and the contacts feature to a slightly lesser extent. It is really the first PDA/web service/computer combo that has really worked well for me and literally gets better as time goes on. That continuous improvement is really worth something these days.


Dave

[wizard]

MM is worth the full cost. People just complain because they don't like the fact you have to pay $99 + tax UPFRONT. It's only $0.27 a day. If someone here can honestly provide a realistic claim that they can't afford $0.27 a day for the features MM provides, please post.

I can't claim that I have that problem today but I can relate that I've known people that do or have had such problems. You shouldn't assume that people are always employed (especially these day) or that they come to this country with buckets of cash.

Get out a bit and make contact with some people who have come here as refugees, many arriving with little more than the cloths on their backs. it takes them awhile to get their lives in order and something as simple as an e-mail account and a device to connect to it can be seen as an unobtainable luxury.


It's just the upfront cost that some people can't handle. I see how dropping $99 + tax in one lump sum can cause you to scoff at any product, but really, break it down and it's not much for a years service that works very well.

The value in the current pricing can only be judged by the alternatives. Frankly I don't think there are a lot of alternatives but that is me. But it is relatively stiff but not unacceptably so.

Dave

[LurchNC]

For some reason my US Holiday subscription is syncing, but not my birthday one. Anyone else having this problem?

I'm having the same problem. Seems like this would be an easy calendar to create because the data is already on the phone. O well.

[MorphingDragon]

Will it wake me up and make me coffee and breakfast yet for $199NZ???

[wolfshades]

The one thing I like about MobileMe (I've had it for a few months) is synchronization of bookmarks... the only other useful function IMO is calendar sync, but it's horribly buggy. I tried using it for sync'ing an iPhone, iCal on my MBP and Outlook in Win7/BootCamp on my MBP... it totally trashed all my calendar entries. I had entered people's birthdays as recurring all-day events in Outlook. When MobileMe got hold of these they were somehow shifted one hour back when they were created as duplicate events on the iPhone and in iCal. Then MobileMe saw those and said "hey, Outlook doesn't have these so let's copy them there". After this feedback loop had been allowed to continue for a while, each birthday had like 25 duplicate events for each recurring instance. It broke some other stuff as well, can't remember what it was but ultimately I had to cut Outlook out of the MobileMe loop. I don't think I'll be renewing the subscription. DropBox serves me better than iDisk, and syncing the three or so bookmarks that change every month just isn't worth a hundred bucks a year.

*nods* I know what you mean. Seems really weird that iCal and MobileMe has so many hiccups. Some of us (raises hand) are cludging our calendars to make it work as best we can. For ex: I have Exchange at work, and it's locked down tight such that the only way to sync with everything else I own (including a Windows Vista notebook at home with Outlook on it) is to use a separate PDA. In my case, a Palm T|X. So, fine, I'll sync to the notebook and MobileMe will then grab it and sync to my iMac and iPhone. Somewhere along the way, the entries looks different to someone and so I end up with duplicates.

Only seems to happen with birthdays for some strange reason. I gave up trying to figure it out, and just downloaded an iPhone app called "Occasions" - and use that as a birthday reminder. For $.99 it's a pretty sweet product actually, and utilizes the contacts list and gives you an on-screen countdown/reminder.

(And no, I don't own this product, nor work for whoever it is who designed it - it's just a good product and I don't mind saying so. You know, like Shazam)

[WhySoSerious]

How do you that? Info or link would be much appreciated.

here's what i did (but i can only get it to work for 1 alias):

1.Set up your main mobile me account on iphone as normal.

2.Then set up an additional email account using the "other" option. enter in your alias and master mobile me password and alias name you want. Once this is entered you need to enter incoming server (mail.me.com) and outgoing smtp server (smtp.me.com). also fill in your outgoing smtp user name and password (master user name and master password). You have to use your main account name in usrname in the server sections, or it will not work.

3. You will now have the main account and the alias set up as seperate accounts. Set your aliases to push. This way your mobile me will receive all mail as push, even the alias. TEST NOW: send an email to your alias account and you should receive it TWICE on your phone (once for the master and once for the alias). If so, it's working so far.

Now, go back into your alias settings and sabotage your incoming settings (just change the user name to something random like "asdfojvew") You can then enter a wrong password in incoming server settings or not, it doesn't matter....and the acct is setup.

4.When you want to send you just have to click on the from section twice to get the rolltop looking menu with which email to send from.

TEST NOW:
send yourself an email to the master mobile me account....you should get 1 email. now send another email to your alias account....you should get 1 email. now try sending from your alias account.

The only screwy thing is, if you send an email from your alias via the iphone, it will not save a copy on the "in the air" MM servers. it's only kept on the iphone.

[FreeState]

For some reason my US Holiday subscription is syncing, but not my birthday one. Anyone else having this problem?

Heres how I got mine to work.

In iCal select the birthday calendar on the left - control click and select publish and follow the prompts to publish it.

Select Calendar from the top menu bar and select "Send Publish Email" from that menu.

Send the email to yourself. On your iPhone click on the link it sent and it will subscribe to it.

[barefootman]

Finally! I have wanted my iCal subscriptions on my iPhone forever. Bout damn time.

I've got subscribed calendars in iCal but they are not appearing in my iPhone's calendar. 10.6.1 and 3.1 here with MobileMe on and set to push.

It just doesn't work!

[barefootman]

Heres how I got mine to work.

In iCal select the birthday calendar on the left - control click and select publish and follow the prompts to publish it.

Select Calendar from the top menu bar and select "Send Publish Email" from that menu.

Send the email to yourself. On your iPhone click on the link it sent and it will subscribe to it.

That's how I had it BEFORE 3.1. That's not automatic syncing of subscribed calendars via MobileMe.

[alent1234]

I'm still waiting for MobilMe to use fully encrypted sessions. Right now, only your login is encrypted, but all your personal data that gets sent back and forth is not. :mad:



Unlike google, apple was too cheap to license activesync for it's cloud service

[jdechko]

Is that Apple's fault or FireFox's? Is it even Apple's responsibility? I have multiple third party applications that sync their info with MobileMe: Transmit, TextExpander, 1Password (use to anyways), Entourage.

Maybe someone at FireFox just needs to add the code...?

I'm blaming Apple, as it's their software, and if they want me to keep using it (not that I'm going to stop anyway), they need to add features for it. For reference, I'm on Windows and am using the Mobile Me control panel.

The Control Panel supports both IE and Safari for Bookmark syncing. The bookmarks are synced in a standard html file, the same as Firefox. I just don't see what the reason is for not supporting the second most popular browser (on both Mac and Windows) in the world (I know why safari is supported).

[gibstros]

In addition to the changes announced, did Apple do something different to the Passcode lock in 3.1? I downloaded the update and my phone still only allows 4 characters for passcode lock. However, my secretary got a new phone today under warranty, direct from Apple. It has 3.1 software, but it allows for a long character string as passcode lock. In addition, while mine simply requires 4 characters and then it unlocks, hers requires that the user manually press an "ok" key to unlock the screen. I have looked and looked though, and I can't seem to find how to enable this feature.

[kansai-pj]

I don't get why, after making all these minor tweaks, Apple still cannot manage to do something as simple as enabling using aliases on the iPhone. Use of my aliases is critical for my professional and personal life. Come on Apple !

[WhySoSerious]

I don't get why, after making all these minor tweaks, Apple still cannot manage to do something as simple as enabling using aliases on the iPhone. Use of my aliases is critical for my professional and personal life. Come on Apple !

i agree :(

[PBF]

Mail rules and filters, Apple, rules and filters!!!!!!!! Can you hear me, Apple??????? :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[djchuckc27]

i just spent 52 dollars on groceries that are only going to last me a week...

i think i'll keep paying 99 bucks a year for this GREAT service.

[jacg]

The only screwy thing is, if you send an email from your alias via the iphone, it will not save a copy on the "in the air" MM servers. it's only kept on the iphone.

Thank you for sharing - it's a crafty way to avoid the double message irritation. But it seems there is always a compromise with every workaround and, if I've understood correctly, your method means that mail sent from the iPhone won't appear in the sent folder on my laptop.

The MobileMe email aliases are crippled and should no longer be advertised as a feature for a service that integrates your computer with a mobile device. Or Apple should fix this preferably. I take it everyone has sent feedback? It does seem to help.

[rj713]

Hi, I only have a prepaid cell phone that is only turned on occasionally. I frequently turn off the sound on my landline. Having stated this my only use for MM is email and its not worth $99. I would pay $25 for just email but that is not an option. I've had mac mail since the early days when it was free. Now it is more and more dedicated to iphone--I can understand that as its Apples future. But for me, this is the year I quit--I just let my account expire. Ralph

[distortedloop]

I'm blaming Apple, as it's their software, and if they want me to keep using it (not that I'm going to stop anyway), they need to add features for it. For reference, I'm on Windows and am using the Mobile Me control panel.

The Control Panel supports both IE and Safari for Bookmark syncing. The bookmarks are synced in a standard html file, the same as Firefox. I just don't see what the reason is for not supporting the second most popular browser (on both Mac and Windows) in the world (I know why safari is supported).

IE is the built-in default browser tied to all versions of the Windows operating system. Safari is the built-in browser tied to all versions of OS X operating system. Firefox, while popular, is not installed on every Windows or Mac computer. On top of that, Firefox is open sourced with constant changes and stability issues, especially on the Mac.

I think you're being unreasonable to expect Apple to provide syncing services automatically for a competitor's product (see footnote) when Apple has provided the tools to do so for any programmer to add it to their software. Instead of bashing a service and using this one lack of feature as an excuse to diss a product many find very useful, why not spend the same effort asking Firefox developers to add a plug-in to Firefox to allow MobileMe syncing. The same logic applies, if Firefox wants you to keep using their product, they should keep adding features (like bookmark syncing through MobileMe).

As I mentioned, I have four different third party apps, some of them freeware, that sync with MobileMe, so it's not hard to do.

There are plenty of easy workarounds for this I am sure anyways. Google search brings up several, including how to use an iDisk folder to sync.

Footnote from above: Safari and Firefox are monetary competitors. Remember it's big money for any browser from Google to have people use their search feature from the search bar. That's how Firefox makes money to pay a huge multi-six-figure-salary to its CEO.

[neurobound]

MM is worth the full cost. People just complain because they don't like the fact you have to pay $99 + tax UPFRONT. It's only $0.27 a day. If someone here can honestly provide a realistic claim that they can't afford $0.27 a day for the features MM provides, please post.

It's just the upfront cost that some people can't handle. I see how dropping $99 + tax in one lump sum can cause you to scoff at any product, but really, break it down and it's not much for a years service that works very well.

It isn't that people can't afford it, it's a matter of relative worth. You can email//webhosting/ftp services - with more bandwidth and space, for half the price. With that, they'll often throw in a custom domain name for your email (who wants an @me.com address? I don't)

It IS a cool service, but it is not the quality product and service I expect from apple, and hardly justifies the $9 or so a month it costs. I tried to synch from my PC last night, a 220mb file, it failed about 4 times before I finally gave up for the night. No auto resume, so it had to restart from scratch each time. My network connectivity is solid, nothing else was interrupted.

Today, I try it on my macbook air - figuring perhaps the native software would be more robust. Well, I started the synch a couple hours ago, the progress shows roughly 15%. There's no data I/O or speed display, so you start to wonder if it's even doing anything.

Looking at a network monitor, I discovered that it was xfering at roughly 52kbps. Thats really sad, considering I have 250kbps+ of upload bandwidth readily available.

What I REALLY like about mobileme though, is the synching of contacts, bookmarks, etc. That's awesome.

Will I renew? Unlikely - unless they radically improve the software across the board. Allow me to use my own domain for email (I think you can for your website) Bring the xfer speed up to the 21st century, I'll be onboard - yeah, even at $99 a year. Add a robust file synching system that can actually AUTOMATICALLY RESUME if a network failure occurs.

Apple bothers me here also because they cut out other software vendors from providing a similar service. The SDK doesn't allow access to the contacts/bookmarks, so competition to mobileme will likely never exist - hence the $99 apple demands for inferior bandwidth/connectivity.

$0.27 a day... you can eat an elephant, if you take small enough bites.