Apple Details MobileMe-to-iCloud Transition

[Peter-P]

Totally Agree ... a REFUND for LOYALTY?

I think by extending MobileMe to June of next year, Apple are setting the expectation that anyone who has paid for it is getting the full term of service. It just so happens that iCloud comes along before that term is potentially up and replaces a lot of that functionality for free.
... would more than happy to take a partial refund!

Whilst I still have NINE MONTHS of MobileME (and I've subscribed since the start!) it seems harsh to offer a mere free extension, when iCLOUD will offer me all I wanted FREE from this 'Fall'!! So much for respecting my loyalty - come on Apple!!

 

[Orng]

I feel like I should say something to offset the complaining: MY MobileMe account was up for renewal at the end of June, so I get 12 months free, and I'm as happy as Larry!

 

[iRobby]

Whilst I still have NINE MONTHS of MobileME (and I've subscribed since the start!) it seems harsh to offer a mere free extension, when iCLOUD will offer me all I wanted FREE from this 'Fall'!! So much for respecting my loyalty - come on Apple!!

Apple Will Refund Some Money to MobileMe Users

 

[Thermonuclear]

A quick check of the Dropbox web site says that the application works with OS/X 10.4, hence it's PPC compatible as well. So it's all good.

I have verified that Dropbox does work with OS/X 10.4 running on a G3 PPC notebook.

Dropbox is now automatically moving files between my Ubuntu Linux boxes and the Mac horde, something that Mobile Me could never do.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I have verified that Dropbox does work with OS/X 10.4 running on a G3 PPC notebook.

Dropbox is now automatically moving files between my Ubuntu Linux boxes and the Mac horde, something that Mobile Me could never do.

Glad its working for you.

 

[KamuiVII]

Here's what I've gathered from my thread on Apple support and from what I've read here.

1. Current MM users will have access to the current MM way of doing things till 30 June 2012. Meaning everything you have now will still work till then. Galleries, iWeb, Find my iPhone, iDisk. After that you lose them. So find alternatives and back up now!

2. I believe if you are to renew from now till Fall you Don't have to pay. For those who've already paid and are within the 45 day cancellation period, contact Apple. I believe they refund you the money and still give you the 30 June date. No one has confirmed this yet, but its a step in getting your money back. But if you do get your money back please post that you did so other users can get theres too. Those beyond the 45 days, your out of luck, but think of it as your getting extra months(6+) of the current MMM abilities for free.

3. Find my iphone is now Find my Mac, which is a part of Lion. So those new users signing up for iCloud won't have this ability unless they have Lion, PC users are at the time out of luck. Lucky for the current MM users, its part of our package so we'll have it till 30 June.

 

[Eric S.]

The late, great MobileMe. I'm probably one of the few people who was really happy with the service right from the start. Now it becomes a victim of Apple's tendency to reinvent themselves every few years. I'll be looking for a different online storage service to transfer my iDisk files to, then I'll basically be opting out of the Apple ecosystem. The glorified syncing app called iCloud holds no interest for me. Personally I don't want the "hub of my computing experience moved into the cloud," nor do I want my PC to be "demoted."

 

[thisrocks]

iCloud Premium

Can NO-ONE conceptualise a massively potential earner for Apple in iCloud Premium...They have a WORKING BUSINESS MODEL in MobileMe, and all the infrastructure ready to host it,all the web apps to hook into the mail services...it's all still there, it's just the capacity to deliver data has improved...

Sorry for the capitals, but why has this not been brought to attention sooner?
They had a couple of hours to announce the major features of 3 major releases. Cuts had to be made to details, and perhaps they didn't anticipate the lack of faith in their product and service offering, from a supposedly more "sophisticated" user group.

 

[Eric S.]

Can NO-ONE conceptualise a massively potential earner for Apple in iCloud Premium...They have a WORKING BUSINESS MODEL in MobileMe, and all the infrastructure ready to host it,all the web apps to hook into the mail services...it's all still there, it's just the capacity to deliver data has improved...

Sorry for the capitals, but why has this not been brought to attention sooner?
They had a couple of hours to announce the major features of 3 major releases. Cuts had to be made to details, and perhaps they didn't anticipate the lack of faith in their product and service offering, from a supposedly more "sophisticated" user group.

Well Steve said (paraphrasing), "MobileMe was not our finest hour, but we learned a lot." Obviously he wants to run far and fast from anything that looks like MM. The unstated subtext, it seems to me, is "we found out we haven't been able to do web apps as well as Google, so we're going to say that's not important and hey! we found a much better use for all this cloud stuff."

 

[thisrocks]

Well Steve said (paraphrasing), "MobileMe was not our finest hour, but we learned a lot." Obviously he wants to run far and fast from anything that looks like MM. The unstated subtext, it seems to me, is "we found out we haven't been able to do web apps as well as Google, so we're going to say that's not important and hey! we found a much better use for all this cloud stuff."

That definitely has to be taken into account when making predictions, but I feel that was more presentation language, and what better way to prop up your new offering than by admitting your last attempt wasn't that good, despite users here clearly stating otherwise (re: the public outcry for features that we can assume will not be available on iCloud)

That said, there isn't a single company today that I can imagine would stop offering a premium paid service where there is an existing customer and internal resource base, and especially when their biggest competitor is offering said service.

No, I don't see much of the MobileMe stuff disappearing for too long. I could of course be wrong...but to lose all those customers to Google...seems pretty odd.

 

[Eric S.]

I really disagree. I think Steve Jobs, and therefore Apple, sees it this way: MobileMe is a black mark on Apple's "can do no wrong" reputation; dump it and move on. Apple's core business is selling consumer devices, not software services; the new iCloud model is expected to specifically boost those sales. That's why it has to be free, otherwise many people wouldn't sign up and wouldn't get locked in to Apple's "ecosystem." (There has to be a charge for iTunes Match because the record companies would never agree unless they were compensated.)

Finally there is always the Steve Jobs Doctrine: Don't Confuse Your Customers With Too Many Choices. Apple wants to tout this as a free service that's just there for all Apple customers, and not have it look like a come-on to a premium service.

 

[BornAgainMac]

But I don't know offhand if Dropbox is compatible with OS/X 10.4 & 10.5 (both PPC). There are many, many 10.4 and 10.5 users with significant investments in iMac G5 and PowerMac G5 machines who can't upgrade to Lion (actually, they can't run 10.6 either). If Apple abandons these users then Apple shouldn't be surprise when users start abandoning them.

Technically, people with G4/G5 machines already abandoned Apple years ago by not purchasing anything new. The lost revenue from those folks is almost zero anyways. Of course, I'll be pissed if Apple moves from Intel to ARM and continue to use 6 year old hardware. Apple shouldn't be surprised when users start abandoning them during the Intel to ARM transition.

 

[Thermonuclear]

Glad its working for you.

Also, I can now verify that Dropbox sharing also works with Windows NT, something that iCloud just won't do.

 

[Thermonuclear]

Technically, people with G4/G5 machines already abandoned Apple years ago by not purchasing anything new. The lost revenue from those folks is almost zero anyways. Of course, I'll be pissed if Apple moves from Intel to ARM and continue to use 6 year old hardware. Apple shouldn't be surprised when users start abandoning them during the Intel to ARM transition.

Certainly Apple has no problem abandoning those using relatively recent iPhone/iPod Touch hipster gadgets when it comes to iOS updates. If your iToy is more than two years old, then Apple is not your friend.

A five year old well-configured PowerMac G5 Dual is still more capable than some new Apple offerings (Mini, MacBook) in certain respects. But you're right; Apple makes little money from their owners. What Apple doesn't yet understand is eventually the non-support of not-quite-new hardware is going to bite them in the behind. In fact, this has already started and the effects will become more pronounced with the passing of time.

I have a Mac Pro Dual Xeon CPU, 4 core machine from 2006. I've expanded it quite a bit with memory, drives, etc., and it should be good for another year. But I'm not going to upgrade it to OS/X 10.7, nor am I going to add any more hardware. Instead of buying a new 8 core Mac Pro for about US$3,500 next year, I'll be getting a much more capable generic Linux box for the same money, load it with 64 bit Ubuntu, and use it as my main machine. All of the important iCloud functionality will be present and for a price less than what Apple will charge or storage and mail.

 

[thisrocks]

I really disagree. I think Steve Jobs, and therefore Apple, sees it this way: MobileMe is a black mark on Apple's "can do no wrong" reputation; dump it and move on. Apple's core business is selling consumer devices, not software services; the new iCloud model is expected to specifically boost those sales. That's why it has to be free, otherwise many people wouldn't sign up and wouldn't get locked in to Apple's "ecosystem." (There has to be a charge for iTunes Match because the record companies would never agree unless they were compensated.)

Finally there is always the Steve Jobs Doctrine: Don't Confuse Your Customers With Too Many Choices. Apple wants to tout this as a free service that's just there for all Apple customers, and not have it look like a come-on to a premium service.

So they are already offering premium services for iCloud in terms of iTunes match, to limit it there... *head asplode* Apple offer 3 different notebooks, 3 different iOS devices, and some portable non iOS devices. Their store is setup for customising everything, but offering other premium iCloud services next to iTunes match is suddenly confusing?

I think all consumers are very much aware of and comfortable with free standard offerings with premium pay for features. We've all been exposed to that in one form or another, whether that's through pay-tv, or free apps that require in-app purchases for premium features.

All in all, we can both clearly speculate till the cows come home, and as fun as that could be, it would also be pointless as in the upcoming weeks we shall find out in black and white.