Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, iPhone, MobileMe
iPhone thief thwarted by MobileMe sync
To say that MobileMe hasn't made everyone happy may be a bit of an understatement. We don't generally hear from the satisfied customers, but we have received a fair amount of email from dissatisfied users of Apple's "cloud computing" solution. Given the barrage of negativity, it's nice to hear a positive take now and then. TUAW reader Rob had just the thing ...
While at the dry cleaner one day, Rob's iPhone was stolen. He immediately chalked it up as gone forever, and proceeded to purchase a brand new one that same evening. It was the next day when unfamiliar contacts began to appear on the new phone. The (not-too-bright) thief was unwittingly supplying him with names and phone numbers of his or her closest friends, via the magic of MobileMe synchronization from the stolen phone to the cloud and eventually to his new phone. "It didn't take long for me to realize that MobileMe was leading me right to the thief!" wrote Rob.
Thanks to the fact that he caught on to it before he'd had time to remotely disconnect his account, MobileMe provided the groundwork for a little social engineering. Rob made quick work of wrangling a name and phone number from the provided contacts, supplying the police with everything they needed to get Rob his phone back. By the end of the night, he had his original iPhone in his possession.
There you have it, a MobileMe success story! Sure, this doesn't make up for the problems which have plagued MobileMe, but it's a great story. The recovered phone is "pretty much brand new," according to Rob, and is currently up for auction on ebay.
Thanks for sending this in, Rob!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Gravesland said 9:41PM on 12-17-2008
NICE! I can't get my contacts to sync from MobileMe to my iPhone. Hope mine doesn't get stolen.
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iGO said 9:54PM on 12-17-2008
Here another Positive review. MobileMe has been nothing but exceptional here.
I use all of it...and it has always just worked.
Yes, a few months back during my trial period, there were a few outtages or delays. All in all, it syncs up my two iMacs and my iPhone, perfectly.
I also use the gallery, the Public folder and iWeb. All good.
One additional feature I would like to see:
Allow MobileMe to "sync" my selected folders on my two iMacs.
I've actually been using MS Live Mesh to do this. It works perfectly....and it's a free service. The exact feature I seek that Live Mesh provides, is to sync the actual folders on the machines, NOT up to the cloud and back.
MobileMe should add this feature.....and soon.
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Mark said 1:54AM on 12-18-2008
I take it you don't use iDisk then?
That for me has been the most unreliable part of Mobile Me. Almost every time I mount it and copy files, at some point in the upload the progress bar just stops, and it doesn't finish. I have to cancel it and most times relaunch the Finder.
Instead I've moved to DropBox (www.getdropbox.com) for my online storage as it syncs files between machines (Mac/Windows/Linux) flawlessly, keeping a local version on each machine. And it's free for the 2gb account. I suggest you check it out as an alternative to Live Mesh.
iGO said 8:34AM on 12-18-2008
@Mark
I don't use iDisk since I am not interested in syncing to the cloud. I did look at dropbox, and a few others, but here is what I don't like about those:
1) You HAVE TO sync to the cloud, in order to sync your local folders on each machine.
2) 2GB free, then $$$$
3) With others services, more machines, more $$$
With Live Mesh:
1) You are afforded 5GB free to the cloud, though again...No Interest in that feature here.
BUT
2) NO GB Limit if you are syncing folders across your machines.
3) No Machine limit....right now I have four.
4 ) With Live Mesh, you have a "Back To My Mac" or "LogMeIn" feature where you can access any of your machines, as if you were sitting right in front of them, remotely.
It Works Perfectly....Free.
So in my case, I sync 23GB FREE. No Cloud sync needed. And when I've made changes to any file, the changes appear in my three other machines within 2 to 3 minutes.
MobileMe should copy all this functionality, since it's a paid service........Apple??
Jeff said 11:04AM on 12-18-2008
Mobile Me has been fantastic for me as well. it had a little down time in the beginning of the transition (though less downtime than my Cable service has every few months) but had been perfect for me for a long time.
It's just that the few people with problems are extra loud about it. (as with everything.)
Johnny said 11:33AM on 12-18-2008
MobileMe has been awesome for me and my wife. We sync our contacts and calendars together, share files in iDisk, photos in the gallery, etc. Everything is there no matter where I go.
As for iDisk, I do understand the complaint, but only in OS X Finder and it seems to be better since the 10.5.6 update. Before that, it would sometimes crash Finder to use the iDisk and loading me.com in Safari was faster than using the Finder.
jonk.. said 1:35PM on 12-18-2008
------I take it you don't use iDisk then?
That for me has been the most unreliable part of Mobile Me. Almost every time I mount it and copy files----------
i've used iDisk since it was a baby, long before mobileMe, and it is the best part, watching the progress bar is a big no no, it will finish if you don't screw around with it thinking it was finished, or thinking the "progress bar was stuck", it is just you thinking it was stuck, it needs the time to transfer.... and it all depends on your upload speed. large files will take forever, so if you try and click on it, move it, cancel it, close the disk, of course you are going to have problems.
don't rely on one report of some guy thinking he has a problem with iDisk because of the progress bar. that bar has no idea of what internet traffic is going to happen between the time of upload and the time of finish.
Johnny Thrash said 10:09PM on 12-17-2008
Great story!
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mrsteveman1 said 10:10PM on 12-17-2008
AT&T already knows the IMEI number and other info for the phone, knows it was yours, knows when it connects to the network again. They could find it anyway if they wanted to.
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David Rebello said 1:04PM on 12-18-2008
I agree that they can, but my wife just lost hers and both AT&T and Apple are unwilling to do ANYTHING.
jay said 10:25PM on 12-17-2008
Odd from what I see on AT&T forums how was he able to buy this second iPhone ? New 2 year contract or pay cash for it? If so what did it cost and how did you pull it off?
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Matt Scott said 12:11AM on 12-18-2008
He had to pay full price for the second phone.
diana said 10:27PM on 12-17-2008
Yes, AT&T does have that info, but they're not going to give it to you.
Go, MobileMe! Sure, it ate my calendar once, but it must have been hungry.
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Josh said 10:31PM on 12-17-2008
MobileMe has been nothing but phenomenal for me. Everything just works, and everything is always in sync.
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Ryan said 10:50PM on 12-17-2008
i think it'd be great if moblieme implemented a lock feature where you can lock your phone remotely when stolen, erase its data, and leave it locked on a screen where a message is left to the theif. In the case that it was lost, it'd be awesome if you could activate the GPS or cellular triangulation to find out where your phone is (or close to).
Just my thoughts.
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musicboy232 said 11:12PM on 12-17-2008
I wish i could track my iPhone which was stolen. I called AT&T and apple and they told me there was nothing they could do so I forked out the full amount for a new iPhone the next day.
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J.G. said 11:17PM on 12-17-2008
I've been using Mobile Me for years. It has had some kinks and I had syncing trouble with the first few releases of 10.5.x. But despite those I'm a very happy MobileMe user.
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Brett said 11:34PM on 12-17-2008
People who have issues with MobileMe are simply incompetent. MobileMe works amazing for me. The people who complain just need something to whine about.
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ianlive said 10:34AM on 12-18-2008
Brett's comment is the same narrow minded, moronic mindset that denies that other people in his country or around the world might be suffering or starving because he has a good job and food on his fridge.
Wake up dude.
Rob said 11:51PM on 12-17-2008
Hey guys... this has been fun to read everyone's comments. Jay, as for your question... you're right... AND wrong. I went to AT&T first. They told me they could not sell me a phone, even at the $499 price, because I had just bought my iPhone 4 months earlier. They said they pay Apple $569 per phone, so the $499 is still a subsidized price for them.
However, they let me use their phone to call an Apple Store, and Apple WILL sell you an iPhone for the $499 "unsubsidized" price. I assumed this to be because Apple is not paying $569 per phone like AT&T is.
If anyone else has questions or anything, I'll check back and answer them!
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