Filed under: MobileMe
Apple extends MobileMe subscriptions by 30 days
Apple has extended every MobileMe subscription by a month, due to the exceptionally ornery transition this past week.
"The .Mac to MobileMe transition was a lot rockier than we had hoped," Apple spokesman Bill Evans told Macworld. "We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge."
An email sent to subscribers noted that "we have worked through those problems, and the web apps are now up and running," but several pages of comments from our readers suggest otherwise. TUAW staff with MobileMe accounts agreed yesterday that the service is mostly working, but still quirky.
Also in the email, the MobileMe team has promised to stop using the word "push" to describe some aspects of MobileMe's functionality "until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too." This might suggest they're closing the loop on MobileMe's push technology for all connected devices.
Hopefully this goes a long way to assuage the burning, burning rage that MobileMe users have been feeling recently.
(You can read the full letter, after the jump.)
Thanks, Rick, Frank, Mark, Chuck and James for the tip!
MobileMe services are now available.
We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.
Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.
Another snag we have run into is our use of the word "push" in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe "cloud," changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word "push" until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.
We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.
We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.
Thank you,
The MobileMe Team
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Steve said 10:23AM on 7-16-2008
Yes!
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Matt G said 12:57PM on 7-16-2008
It's still not working for me, I can't log into me.com...
Brandon said 10:31AM on 7-16-2008
Apple always seems willing to apologize for its mistakes- It always seems to pay to be an Apple customer (unless of course you paid twice for the iPod touch updates)...
But seriously, when was the last time Microsoft added free time to a service because it was buggy?
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Jeff said 5:09PM on 7-16-2008
i was just going to ask that: did MS give free service for all those xbox Live outages?
Paul Rogers said 10:33AM on 7-16-2008
Will they extend again once they fix the fact that Exchange based Outlook Calendars will not sync at all?
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Big John said 11:44AM on 7-16-2008
Not at all? I'm confused. Do you mean an Outlook calendar that doesn't talk to an Exchange server?
Paul Rogers said 12:04PM on 7-16-2008
If a calendar in Outlook resides on an Exchange server, that Outlook calendar will not sync with MobileMe. I think the root cause is that MobileMe will work with .pst and not .ost files (which was an early problem with iTunes Outlook sync).
Fozzy Bear said 12:55PM on 7-16-2008
this doesn't help if you use a PC... but mac users with entourage on an exchange server sync their exchange calendar with iCal with iCal syncing to MobileMe.
Works good for me so far except for those nasty 15 min* delays.
* On average, 15 minutes varies between 1-5 hours.
Josh said 10:39AM on 7-16-2008
hmmm, no email and no free month. what gives apple?
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Calvin said 10:54AM on 7-16-2008
Same thing here. NO email, NO 30 days and MobileMe is still not working properly. I still have the same issues as before:
- billing page keeps saying my credit card has a problem
- no way to use Contacts to address an email using Webmail App
- even though I selected "keep me logged in for 2 weeks" I still have to login every single time I close the browser (I'm using Safari)
It's nice they're acknowledging and apologizing to some. I wish I had received an email as well. I wrote a couple of emails to them and all I got were automated replies or "standard" replies that didn't address any of my issues.
I'm still not pleased: no email and no extension of my services.
Bad Apple!
Rich UK said 11:14AM on 7-16-2008
Jeez chill out guys they've only just sent the damn email.. these things take time. You can't criticise apple for reimbursing us a whole a month for a few days of trouble to the service, surely?!
I'm in the same situation but i'm sure my email will arrive soon.
Big John said 11:48AM on 7-16-2008
I got the e-mail at 10:15 EST this morning. The 30 days isn't reflected yet and, let's be honest, probably won't be instant. Why are you so rabid about it, anyway?
KF said 1:16PM on 7-16-2008
If you actually read the email that's quoted above, you'll notice it says that the free 30 days will show up "in the next few weeks".
Zoli said 10:41AM on 7-16-2008
How about upgrading a single to a family account!? Still no way to do it!
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7612423#7612423
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Victor Agreda Jr said 10:56AM on 7-16-2008
Good point Zoli, that's a real pain.
Not sure how this rewards us faithful iTools/.Mac/MobileMe users, since I won't realize this "gift" until I choose to cancel some day, if ever. And by then they can change their minds!
SubGenius said 11:33AM on 7-16-2008
Victor,
I started with iTools in 2001 and have been a paying customer since .Mac started in 2003. This free month does not benefit users in any tangible way.
I also noticed that since MobileMe is geared towards Mac and PC users, they have eliminated the free software downloads that used to be part of dotMac. The only piece of software still available is the deprecated "Backup" app.
On a positive note, MobileMe doesn't ask me to keep logging in every time I use it.
Mike.Lev said 12:42PM on 7-16-2008
I haven't gotten an email yet. However every time I go to MobileMe it asks me to sign in even though I've checked the box.
Dan said 2:55PM on 7-16-2008
Here's a tip: don't sign out. Signing out overrides the check-box and resets your logon info. Just close the browser window or tab instead and you won't need to re-logon.
sterling said 10:42AM on 7-16-2008
"Hopefully this goes a long way to assuage the burning, burning rage that MobileMe users have been feeling recently."
How about the burning rage that SOME MobileMe users have been feeling. TUAW does this all the time. You refer to groups collectively as a whole. The rantings of the forum users on Apple's site do not constitute the entirety of the MobileMe user base.
You have done the same thing recently when talking about iPhone developers. When referring to feelings expressed by some members of a group through there Twitter postings don't assume they are speaking for the other few thousand developers out there.
Reply
Robert Palmer said 10:59AM on 7-16-2008
I love this comment, because "TUAW does this all the time" is TOTALLY NOT a blanket statement of the ilk he despises.