Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MobileMe to Become a Free Service?
- Thread starter bowlerman625
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why not? The Pros outweigh the cons.
Pros:
Ends developer confusion on the app store about whether to support MobileMe, Wifi or roll their own Cloud sync.
Benefits mainly Mac users (nice iLife tie in) but also benefits those running Windows and Outlook with Windows MobileMe Control Panel
Will clearly sell more iPhone/iPod Touch/iPads because consumers know their data will be in sync across the devices.
Cons:
Cost - free means a LOT more users which means a need to beef up infrastructure. Apple does have a new large data center being built.
Current members - do I get a refund or does Apple announce a free version of MobileMe and boosts the features of the paid account creating a Free/Paid tier?
There are certainly plusses and minuses about the strategy but make not bones about it people want Mobileme they just don't want to pay for it. A free "lite" version satiates those people.
Let's face it the popularity of Google stems from the fact that their tools are free to the end user.
First, it's the very nature of capitalism that provides you with the ability to pick and choose the best service/company that meets your needs.
Second, I'm not sure what you mean by "We're moving from this era where the expectation should be that Cloud services at a basic level should be incorporated into the product without the vendor resorting to advertisements." If you mean that we should get free Cloud services without ads then I think you're completely wrong and I'm most worried about sites that provide free services and have absolutely nothing but VC cash to pay for it. And if you mean we should have the option of paying for Cloud services to avoid ads, then fine, but you can do that with Gmail, so I don't see why you think MobileMe is any better than Gmail (from the privacy perspective).
Lastly, I wouldn't lump Google and Facebook together when it comes to privacy. Sergey Brin and Larry Page have made very strong statements about their respect for their users and they understand that without the users they'd have no company. Eric has made a lame-brained comment or two, and Google Buzz screwed up, but they fixed it (and at least when you signed into Gmail they had the option to opt out of it).
Facebook is a whole different story. Their whole exec branch seems to disregard privacy and they've been rolling out auto-opt-in feature after feature that removes your privacy.
I could see this happening. Online storage is getting so cheap. DropBox starts you out with 2GB but you get a max of 10 GB just from inviting people. I understand MobileMe gives you some added benefits but I'd say storage is the most expensive of the benefits.
I would LOVE for this to happen. I just want a XXX@me.com address
Oh, and the ability to have Logic Pro switch my hot keys automatically just by signing into my account. That rules.
I would LOVE for this to happen. I just want a XXX@me.com address
Oh, and the ability to have Logic Pro switch my hot keys automatically just by signing into my account. That rules.
Oh god NO
Free services are worth every cent you pay.
For those that whine about the price just try to get a legitimate IMAP email service for under $100 a year. Gmail and hotmail don't count, as by legitimate I mean that your address doesn't automatically make people think of SPAM. Free email equals source of SPAM.
Added all up and mix in its integration with Mac, Iphone and iApps Mobile me is a steal at less than $6 a month.
Oh and a two letter email address is priceless.
Now if they just made syncing and find my iPhone free with the full service as an paid upgrade. sort of a freemium model. that could work.
Free services are worth every cent you pay.
For those that whine about the price just try to get a legitimate IMAP email service for under $100 a year. Gmail and hotmail don't count, as by legitimate I mean that your address doesn't automatically make people think of SPAM. Free email equals source of SPAM.
Added all up and mix in its integration with Mac, Iphone and iApps Mobile me is a steal at less than $6 a month.
Oh and a two letter email address is priceless.
Now if they just made syncing and find my iPhone free with the full service as an paid upgrade. sort of a freemium model. that could work.
idisk vs dropbox
I've been a long time .mac/mobileme user - I would say I've been using their service for about 7 years. Only recently, I started using iDisk. I started using it for text documents, and it seems to work great. But recently, I have been hearing a lot about dropbox and its speed. Is dropbox that much better and what is this speed people are referring to? I played around with it a bit and its nice. It gives you a few more features, but these feature I wouldn't use. Is there any point to switch?
I'm thinking if Apple continues to push forward with MM, it will evolve and just get better and better. I think it might just be nice to stay with Apple.
I would like to see Apple offer both paid and free MM services as someone previously mentioned. Good idea!
I've been a long time .mac/mobileme user - I would say I've been using their service for about 7 years. Only recently, I started using iDisk. I started using it for text documents, and it seems to work great. But recently, I have been hearing a lot about dropbox and its speed. Is dropbox that much better and what is this speed people are referring to? I played around with it a bit and its nice. It gives you a few more features, but these feature I wouldn't use. Is there any point to switch?
I'm thinking if Apple continues to push forward with MM, it will evolve and just get better and better. I think it might just be nice to stay with Apple.
I would like to see Apple offer both paid and free MM services as someone previously mentioned. Good idea!
Eric Schmidt's comments about privacy are disconcerting to me
Eric Schmidt said:
This is after the whole Google Buzz fiasco. There's money in trying to convince people to be open. Facebook and Google data mine consumer behavior to make money and consumers need to act like they got a good education and understand where they are being used.
The assumption that those that want privacy are doing something illegal is asinine.
Zuckerberg (Facebook) on privacy
Privacy is a lot like Laws. You give it up it's hard to get back.
Hey it's not a choice for everyone. I'm just at a point in my life where $6 and some change is going to put me out especially when my online data is not being mined for profit. I've been happier than I though I would with my MobileMe account. I'm on the west coast so i'm assuming my data center is in Cali and performance has been fine.
Better NOT!
Beter not be free or the SPAMMERS will get a new domain name to SPAM with. If Apple is going to do something is lower the price but NOT free.
My MobileMe experience has been great.
Beter not be free or the SPAMMERS will get a new domain name to SPAM with. If Apple is going to do something is lower the price but NOT free.
My MobileMe experience has been great.
It makes sense to turn it into a free service, considering that Apple now benefits from enough network effects to have MobileMe much more as a "driver" of content and interoperability between its devices than a standalone cash cow...it will probably happen soon.
Exchange support
I personally love MobileMe and use it to sync between my iPhone, iPad, iMac, and MacBook. Now if they would only get it to sync with a PC running Exchange, it would save me also having to pay for and use Plaxo's Premium service to keep my Windows PC updated.
Has anyone figured out a work-around for the Exchange issue? I still haven't found a reason why they don't allow calendar and contact sync'ing when using Outlook with Exchange.
I personally love MobileMe and use it to sync between my iPhone, iPad, iMac, and MacBook. Now if they would only get it to sync with a PC running Exchange, it would save me also having to pay for and use Plaxo's Premium service to keep my Windows PC updated.
Has anyone figured out a work-around for the Exchange issue? I still haven't found a reason why they don't allow calendar and contact sync'ing when using Outlook with Exchange.
Could Apple be tired of offering support for MobileMe? It must be an expensive pain in the butt costing more than they make from selling it. Maybe if it were free they would drop much or all of the support leaving it to an online manual or something. It could simplify things for Apple leaving them to concentrate on more profitable areas.
Exactly my thoughts, aside from the free web page/site. Over the years I've grown to appreciate the MobileMe/.Mac service as it offers a lot for $99/year, much more than most realize or utilize. Offering a "lite/free" version would attract more iPhone/iPad owners and would entice more to purchase the full version.
Ok in a nutshell here's why iDisk and Drop Box have speed differences.
iDisk:
You are creating a WebDAV tunnel to the storage server that must remain open and in sync with your Mac. You drop a file on the iDisk icon and it transfers that file to the server.
Drop Box
Drop Box sits on top of Amazon's S3 storage. What they've done is built up the front end so that when you drop a file on your Drop Box it caches the file locally and then syncs to the cloud "behind the scene". So when you open a file sitting in your Drop Box it feels like working on a local file because you "are" working on the local file. Any changes made from you or anyone the file has shared with will be sync'd in the background.
Most people don't understand the fundamental differences between iDisk and Drop Box. If Apple was to build a front end to iDisk that stored the file locally and then sync'd over WebDAV in the background they'd be able to offer the same performance.
Hope this helps.
Can it be free some time in the next...Week or so? They're about to charge my card, but I do want to keep using the service. $99 is a bit much but Find My iPhone is practically worth it alone.
Wow great information. I'm sure Apple will change MM's tech in such a way to give better speeds. I mean, this sever farm has be used for this sort of thing... I hope.
In the interest of winding this down (and allowing this thread to get back on track
I'll concede that Google has made more concerning statements about privacy than Apple (and as you note, information is much more directly related to their bottom line than it is to Apple's). However, I think these are only our perceptions about the situation. I think the reality is that regardless of whether you go with Google's for-pay or Apple's for-pay cloud services you're putting yourself in another companies hands. And I think the differences between how these large companies treat their users vs. how that relates to their income is extremely small. I think it's splitting hairs to differentiate between the privacy of their Cloud offerings (Facebook being an exception). If you want real privacy there are better ways to obtain it. I use GnuPG when I want more privacy and less convenience, otherwise anything that's unencrypted that I send out or store on the Internet I treat (somewhat) as out of my hands. Obviously I have different expectations for Gmail vs my Tweets, but I still understand the hazards of storing any unencrypted information with any company, Google or Apple.
http://www.dilbert.com/dyn/str_stri...0/000000/70000/4000/100/74150/74150.strip.gif
Thanks. IMHO this should be the future of cloud computing. Working locally is always and will always be faster. When they work, Dropbox type services give one the power of local storage and local computer resources (compared to web apps) with immediate backup and access everywhere.
MobileMe will make the "most" sense to you in your greatest time of need.
For me it was getting hacked and my iPhone wiped. Since I keep my OS X Address Book, Contacts and Bookmarks up to date I was back to normal in about an hour. All contacts, documents and bookmarks just like I had left them. That's when I knew the money was well spent.
I've got to give kudos to MobileMe support. I couldn't talk on the phone but I was able to chat with a live representative and she helped me get reset. I understand why companies like to chat instead of use the phone because people tend to be more terse over chat as opposed to gabby on the phone.
The sync features are the reason for MobileMe. They will save your ass someday if use them.
For me it was getting hacked and my iPhone wiped. Since I keep my OS X Address Book, Contacts and Bookmarks up to date I was back to normal in about an hour. All contacts, documents and bookmarks just like I had left them. That's when I knew the money was well spent.
I've got to give kudos to MobileMe support. I couldn't talk on the phone but I was able to chat with a live representative and she helped me get reset. I understand why companies like to chat instead of use the phone because people tend to be more terse over chat as opposed to gabby on the phone.
The sync features are the reason for MobileMe. They will save your ass someday if use them.
Exactly, if Mobile me was a free service, it would be severely limited to what is currently on offer, and I doubt Apple would even begin to offer all the features for free, they'd still want people to pay a premium.
I joined Mobile Me (.Mac) in 2003 and haven't looked back.
What I like:
1. Amazing SPAM filtering (less than 25 SPAM emails since 2003)
2. Keychain sync between my 3 Macs
3. Calendar sync between my iPhone / Mac
4. Bookmark sync between my iPhone / Mac
5. Preferences sync between my 3 Macs
6. Secure iChats
7. Disposable email aliases
8. Find my iPhone / Remote wipe (could be very handy)
What I don't like:
1. iDisk whenever I have used is painfully slow and unreliable
2. iPhoto album publish is slow and unreliable
3. Price
Just my opinion and I intend to pay again this year if it's not free, if it is free I hope they maintain the good points and improve the bad points.
What I like:
1. Amazing SPAM filtering (less than 25 SPAM emails since 2003)
2. Keychain sync between my 3 Macs
3. Calendar sync between my iPhone / Mac
4. Bookmark sync between my iPhone / Mac
5. Preferences sync between my 3 Macs
6. Secure iChats
7. Disposable email aliases
8. Find my iPhone / Remote wipe (could be very handy)
What I don't like:
1. iDisk whenever I have used is painfully slow and unreliable
2. iPhoto album publish is slow and unreliable
3. Price
Just my opinion and I intend to pay again this year if it's not free, if it is free I hope they maintain the good points and improve the bad points.
Prefrences > mobile me > iDisk ...Set iDisk syncing on and a local cache of your iDisk is created and synced automatically. Just like dropbox.
Dude you are f****ing great. I've only been a member since Feb and this is the first i've heard about it. Thank you kindly.
Its a little late for you but as other have mentioned you can pretty much always buy MM from amazon for around $70 then just enter the code to renew.