Apple to Focus on Streaming, Social and Geolocation Services With MobileMe Overhaul?

[zenio]

According to the report, the focus of the revamped MobileMe will be on a "dynamic webpage"

that is _constantly updated_

with the _user's latest activity_

with their iOS device,

from locations to photos and videos to music.With "Tokens", users would be able to tag GPS locations with photos, reviews, and other information that would be available to other MobileMe users visiting those locations.

Apple has become Sinister.

Apple has become Big Brother

Even worse, based on many of the responses here, forum members have no clue?

They're buying into this completely.

With not one wit of common sense about privacy, Apple will OWN YOU.

It was good while it lasted.

Apple has transformed into the organization it despised from day one. How incredibly sad.

 

[Full of Win]

I know it may sound crazy.... but how about getting right what it does currently. For example, I had to manually delete hundreds of contacts because the garbage can of a service duplicated all of them. To add further insult, there have no phone support, only live chat.

Its been a train wreck for YEARS.

Sadly, its the only way to do many things in the walled garden, and I use the .mac email as professional email, so I'm somewhat stuck in the dumpster of Apple Consumer Electronics. I would not mind paying the money if it did not suck so much.

 

[mcr]

first fix the slow conection in europe

the main problem with the mobileme accounts in europe it's the painfully slow connection with the servers of idisk.

 

[Popeye206]

Apple is on the verge of some really interesting integration. Look at how the iPhone, iPad and AppleTV all currently interact. This is what fascinates me about the platform. There is a huge potential for this to evolve in amazing ways over the next few years.

I haven't jumped on the Facebook/Twitter/FourSquare bandwagon but 100s of millions have. Many could care less but the times they are a changin'.

I believe that Apple "gets it" much better than any other single company out there today. I don't think they see the whole picture but they are closer than anybody. In the next few years the bonds between iOs, OS/X and the internet are only going to get tighter, the integration better.

They are poised to create something that is "truly magical" or crash and burn due to overly restrictive policies. The next few years will be interesting indeed.

+1

I agree... especially when you consider, Apple has a habit of doing things that others have tried and failed (like with the iPad) and yet manage to make it all work in such a simple way it takes off like wild fire.

Although Apple has yet to really prove itself in cloud computing or social networking, they have the customers, and means to really take it to the next level.

Maybe things such as Ping were an investment in learning and now they have a plan that will bring us what we never expected yet?

 

[marksman]

Neither am I. I don't care about the 160 million iOS users that could be MobileMe users. The fact is, and will remain, we're all using these services elsewhere with no incentive to switch to a new service.

Thus why nobody ever moved from myspace to facebook or twitter.

 

[CFreymarc]

its like apples very own facebook.

This is just the beginning. It is a slow build up and will cumulate to a mass exodue of users from Facebook in year.

Was told that Zuck refused to sell Facebook to Apple when him and Steve had that casual meeting a few months ago.

In time Zuck will either leave Facebook or become Vice President of Social Media when Apple eventually buys Facebook. Both would be a good stock buy before that happens.

 

[MarsDude]

I bet we see Steve come out to introduce this. MobileMe is becoming Apple's own long due Facebook competitor. This is potentially huge for Apple.

With an installed base of over 160 million iOS devices, they're going to get a real nice head start. Facebook is at 300 million.

If Apple makes Me.com a free service for every iOS user, then they're not only going to instantly compete at the level of Facebook but they're going to totally murder BBM. Everybody's going to want an iPhone so that they can become a member of Apple's social network.

I expect Apple to re-brand it to simply me.com. I mean, what is Facebook all about? It's your "Me" online. That's the best social network URL right there.

That would be exactly the problem.... the installed base of iOS devices. My mum hasn't got one, neither do a lot of my friends...

 

[rwilliams]

I LOVE foursquare! It's a ton of fun — it's more than just a way to let friends know where you are. It's great for restaurant reviews, getting special deals at businesses, and is just a fun game to play (unlocking achievements, getting points, and earning mayorships).

Try it.

Oh stop it. Don't you know that we're supposed to bash things like Foursquare and Twitter despite having used the service very little (or not at all)?

 

[ipedro]

Social Networking is a generational thing. It's not for everyone, but increasingly it's for more people.

Facebook nearly doubled its user base in the last year. It's not going to go away and Apple needs to get in on the game if they don't want to be left behind.

50 years ago, people were sitting on the beach covered almost from head to toe. Then girls started showing up in bikini's. I can imagine what the generation being left behind were saying:

These kids these days are so narcissistic. Do I really have to see that girls' stomach? Why is she showing off? Oh heavens (OMG today), you can see her behind! Can't she leave that to show at home? Nobody else has to see her except for her husband.

Most of the people complaining went on to become old and never did accept bikinis. Some of them did. All of them got left behind, like all of us will at some point too. Social networking is another one of those generational things that a lot of older generations will never understand, and some people will never accept. That's ok. The newer generation doesn't care what you think.

... and by the way, I'm 31, nowhere near that new generation. But I understand that social networking has a huge role to play in their lives and has a role in mine as well as a way to connect with friends and family, as a professional tool (90% of my clients discover me on Facebook), as a source of news and as a tool for social organizing. Egyptians sure found an amazing use for it.

Me.com will be big and Apple will sell tons of iOS devices because of it. Get on the train or watch it go by.

 

[rwilliams]

This is just the beginning. It is a slow build up and will cumulate to a mass exodue of users from Facebook in year.

Was told that Zuck refused to sell Facebook to Apple when him and Steve had that casual meeting a few months ago.

In time Zuck will either leave Facebook or become Vice President of Social Media when Apple eventually buys Facebook. Both would be a good stock buy before that happens.

I can't tell if you're serious or not. I'm gonna say no.

 

[Illusion986]

Well if its true i hope they pull it off...with all MobileMe features free for IOS users and just social network part for everyone else. I never liked Facebook layout or how it works.

 

[nonameowns]

awesm

 

[ipedro]

That would be exactly the problem.... the installed base of iOS devices. My mum hasn't got one, neither do a lot of my friends...

Exactly. They will.

In my professional and social circle, a lot of my friends have a hard time giving up their Blackberries because of BBM. It's an exclusivity thing. Many of them love the iPhone but can't give up their Blackberry Messenger. Apple doesn't have that kind of anchor.

Fast forward to this time next year. Me.com launched and with every new iPhone, you're greeted with a prompt to create a free Me.com account so you can sync your mail/contacts/calendar. You can also share your photos, play your entire music library from anywhere, and tag your favourite Safari bookmarks. And oh look, you can see your friends' photos and videos and check out what music they're listening to and what sits they think are cool.

...but Timmy has a Blackberry. He's not on here. He's left out of this social network. boo hoo hoo. Timmy's gonna want in so he goes out and buys a shiny new iPhone 5.

Apple is going to sell iOS devices because of Me.com. Not the other way around.

 

[H00513R]

I wish apple would stop with the social network stuff. Leave that to Facebook and the likes. I especially am not a fan of letting people know where I am at all times.

+1 A lot of this new geolocation tagging freaks me out. I can't believe people also tag their houses. Seems like an invite for someone to rob them when they check into McDonald's.

 

[JAQ]

One one hand, it makes good sense to add features to this beyond the current ones (which can mostly be duplicated by free services from other sources), to make it worth paying for (still? again?). The only current feature that's made me pause to cancel is Find My iPhone, which I can now get for free.

On the other hand, these are the kinds of features I am not at all interested in, so it'll make canceling my MMe subscription in a few months just as easy.

 

[ciTiger]

If it gives this much I find hard to believe it will be for free...

 

[zenio]

I am sure you will be able to turn of the location services though.

I REALLY wish you were right & it could be turned off.

However I know Apple all too well. There are two possibilities.

1) An option to turn it off will be present.

2) No option will be given.

In the case of number one, it's going to be a very well hidden deception, a total lie.

Just like many other statements Apple AND the government tell us to conceal the truth.

Don't believe it?

Don't be naive people.

To Apple, we are just a credit card number.

 

[iMikeT]

....And within 8 months of the MobileMe overhaul, it will become self-aware and officially call itself Skynet. The rest is, or will become, history.

 

[ILikeTurtles]

To me there's absolutely no value in this service. I just don't get it. Do people really live such interesting lives, that others need to know where they are at any given moment in time, and look at their stupid photos?

Wow - I'm old. lol

 

[koobcamuk]

Sounds horrible. This is the kind of thing I am trying to get away from and avoid at every opportunity.

 

[Full of Win]

....And within 8 months of the MobileMe overhaul, it will become self-aware and officially call itself Skynet. The rest is, or will become, history.

The NC data center, this story and the Liquid Metal IP....its all coming together nicely.

Its just a matter of time gentlemen.

 

[2992]

err.. FoC?

if it's free, I'll go for it. If not, well, then I'll stay with those free services I'm using now (for example, the one in my signature).

 

[Tailpike1153]

Perhaps we've got it all wrong. Why must Apple compete against FaceBook? Until the deal fell apart, Ping was supposed to have FaceBook integration. Perhaps Apple is gearing its service to behave as semi-autonomous extension of social networking. If you want the FaceBook integration you flip the "on switch" and if you're content with MobileMe, you just leave it alone.

 

[theelysium]

Word

This is Dope! I like my MobileMe..... only other upgrade I want is an intelligent API added to address book that warns you of duplicates or the possible creation of duplicate contacts.

 

[Tailpike1153]

The NC data center, this story and the Liquid Metal IP....its all coming together nicely.

Its just a matter of time gentlemen.

Has anyone been watching Jeopardy? That Jeopardy playing toaster known as Watson kicked the snot out of Jennings and the other human. Toasters aren't getting me. Maybe Six or Athena. Definitely not Boomer or Tory. Those b*tches are coldblooded.