Looks like it. You can't access the main MobileMe page. Apple says this on their MobileMe support page:" MobileMe members are intermittently unable to access MobileMe services. Mail is available via a desktop email application, or Mail on iPhone or iPod touch. Normal service will be restored ASAP. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Well, at least that page is up. Seems like MobileMe has had a rough couple of weeks with issues concerning mail, Back to my Mac, and syncing.

The MobileMe service had a rocky start and has had a variety of issues over the last year or so. Let's hope Apple gets things back on an even keel soon. So far this morning, MobileMe is MobileGone.

UPDATE: Some of us are able to log in, but it has been up or down for various people throughout the morning. The status page still says the issue is intermittent as of 3:15pm ET.

UPDATE #2: Looks like everything is back to normal. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Despite the server-side updates Apple detailed last week, the company's beleaguered Mobile Me service is still problematic for many users. Yesterday, we received a number of e-mails complaining that Apple's Me.com domain was reporting 404 errors. Today, the fine folks at Pingdom.com (which monitors website uptime), posted some details about what was going on.

It appears that there was an issue with the Me.com redirect. If a user directly typed in http://me.com/mail, he or she could successfully access the server. Trying to access the Me.com domain, however, led 404 HTTP error response with the words "Not Found: Resource does not exist," appearing on the page. This outage lasted nearly seven hours, from 2:29 AM EST - 9:25 AM EST on November 3, 2008. Because the outage occurred at night in the continental United States, most affected users were from Europe, where the outage lasted for most of the work day.

If this was a simple redirect error (which it appears to be), why did it take seven hours to fix? My guess is that no one at Apple was alerted to the problem until someone came into work at 6:00 AM PST and started seeing error request e-mails or had problems accessing the domain.

This is a problem. If Apple is truly dedicated to making Mobile Me a service it can be "proud of by the end of this year," the company should really consider having either dedicated 24-hour Mobile Me IT support (or more support) or figure out a way to resolve errors like this in a more timely matter. Redirect errors or glitches are not uncommon, but any company trying to run an international communications service needs to get on the ball.

Despite my vocal misgivings about the service, before it even launched, I signed up for a 60-day trial in early July -- so I could "eat my own dogfood" -- as they say. And even though my service was extended for free until December, I canceled in September. Why? Because the service proved it wasn't reliable enough for any sort of e-mail communication, its calendar syncing was complete junk, and it seemed like every time I tried to access the service, it was either slow as all get out or unavailable. Free or not, that just isn't worth the hassle. At least with Google, it apologizes when it has an outage and if you pay $50 a year, you get actual phone support that doesn't just go to a random Apple Care person with no knowledge or information about the issue.

Are you still a Mobile Me subscriber? Sound off in the comments!

What's up with MobileMe email? In recent days we've been hearing from a lot of very unhappy MobileMe subscribers. They're unhappy because their email accounts have been inaccessible.

David told us: "Some MobileMe mail users have been without mail access for four days straight now."

At the time of writing, the MobileMe status report says: "1% of MobileMe members cannot access MobileMe Mail. We apologize for any inconvenience."

But TUAW reader Drew told us: "Just got off the phone with AppleCare and they tell me MobileMe email is going to be down for 2-3 days, and that it's the whole system, not just the 1% as noted on the support site. Those of us that use .me as a work address are hosed. Normally I wouldn't care but I have 2 photoshoots to coordinate Sunday. Is it me, or does this feel like a M$ launch?"

Well, readers, you tell us. How has MobileMe mail been for you over the weekend?

Thanks to everyone who contacted us about this issue.

Joining in on the conversation about tonight's .Mac outage, reader Chad sent us a link to a page he discovered on .Mac. He said that while trying to access his .Mac service on his iPhone, he was redirected to a MobileMe browser requirements page. One of the suspicious things on the page is the fact that "calendar" is spelled wrong (i.e. "calender"). You can see a screen grab of the page after the break.

Some readers are reporting that they cannot login to their .Mac service. Apple is currently reporting that the Web Pages are down at mac.com.

"Members cannot access the www.mac.com website. It will be restored ASAP. Read more for interim solutions," Apple notes on the support website.

Could this mean that Apple is working on transitioning over to their MobileMe service? Well, time will tell. Be sure to stay tuned to TUAW for updates on the .Mac outage. If you spot any new changes with your .Mac service, be sure to leave a comment or send us a tip!


Update (7:05p EST): Some users are reporting that while .Mac is taking longer than normal, they are now able to login. Apple has yet to post any additional updates on their support website. The Web Page down status has not been removed.

Update (7:44p EST): Apple has updated the status page. The status currently reads, "Members cannot access the .Mac Welcome page. It will be restored ASAP." Stay tuned to TUAW for the latest about the .Mac outage.

We've gotten several reports this morning that sections of the .Mac service, including web galleries, webmail and the www.mac.com page, are offline today. Email to the .Mac domain appears to be flowing but there's no ETA on restoration of the services and no clear picture of exactly what is affected.

This is not entirely a surprising development considering the wholesale migration of .Mac to MobileMe, but it's a little discouraging. Perhaps we should all send "get well soon" iCards... oh, wait, nevermind.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Looks like all .Mac services are going to be down for four hours this evening, from 7 pm till 11 pm PST. Does this get anyone else's gears turning? I'm not usually one to help churn up rumors, but with 10.4.3 being recently seeded to developers, as well as iChat and .Mac upgrade speculation flying around, I can't help but get at least a little fired up. I mean: how often is it that all services are taken down? Usually it's one or the other, and rarely (at least in my two years of experience) is email actually down, let alone for 4 hours.

Hopefully, this is an answer to at least some of the complaints and feature requests from .Mac members everywhere. Just in case it isn't though: you don't get to yell at me, for I am just a fellow Mac geek, hoping for the best.