From .Mac to MobileMe, will iPhone users bite?

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief July 10, 2008 · 2 min read

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One of the other products/srvices that Apple announced but didn’t get much press time was the new MobileMe service. It’s basically a re-branding of .Mac that took a second lease on life because of the iPhone.

Mac users were starting to find their expensive .Mac account (a $99 subscription a year) of less use because most of its offerings can be found elsewhere for free. Because of the new iPhone 3G, it may have another chance of a good health yet again under a new name MobileMe.

mobileme

What do MobileMe subscribers get with their $99 a year premium?

* 20GB online storage (200GB transfers)
* Push Mail (hello Blackberry!) with free @me.com email
* Address Book (Push)
* Calendar (Push)
* Gallery (Public Photo)

All .Mac users will be migrated to this new system starting today but will have the option to retain the @mac.com email address. For some, a @mac.com address used to be a status symbol and was worth the $99 annual fee.

Still, most of these services can actually be had for free — unlimited storage from Yahoo!Mail with Push Email (first introduced with 1st gen iPhone), Flickr Mobile, Google Calendar, and tons of other free online storage services.

If Apple can convince people to pay for the premium, then they might just have another winner here. But will people bite?

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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24 Comments

bottle labels · 14 years ago

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Isreal Hynek · 16 years ago

This article is invaluable, I completely liked it, I will be back for much more!

Free Gadget · 17 years ago

Thanks for the info… RSS feed added

GetAFreeIphone · 17 years ago

It was interesting.

Jerome · 18 years ago

I have no choice, i already am a .Mac subscriber :)

But seriously though, anyone using a Mac will probably like the .Mac/MobileMe service. Apple isn’t really a great service provider if the track record of .Mac is to be considered, but nevertheless, the way they make the integration to the desktop (OS X) makes it quite compelling. Now if they can actually make iDisk faster….

DogFace · 18 years ago

@jeromea: If your corporation uses an Exchange server then they paid a lot of money to have it.
That = not free.

Also, I bet when you check your gmail on the phone, those messages still appear unread when you login to your gmail account.
That = freaking annoying.

Also, I bet you have to push some buttons at least to keep your various calendars in sync(which is a myth because they are only in sync for that one instant and are in need of syncing again as soon as you make any changes to any of them).

Oh yeah, and you can’t sync your contacts at all. Sounds like a lot of holes to plug up! Enjoy. Some of us have other stuff to do.

And the service isn’t about having these things all in one place…its about having ACCESS to vital info EVERY place. On every device you use. But, keep whipping out your stylus to write these little jabs at people who have a hundred dollars to spend!

jeromea · 18 years ago

I get my push mail using Nokia Mail for Exchange(for my corporate mail) and emoze(for gmail) on my N95 for free. I use CalSync to sync my calendar with Google calendar. I could use Goosync to sync my contacts with Google but I’m too cheap to shell out 20 pounds for the premium account. For photos I use Picasa and Flicker for these. So is it worth the $99 to have them all in one place? I don’t think so… unless your an Apple fanboy.

Lyle, RN · 18 years ago

To say that Mobileme services can be had using other 3rd party provider for free is somewhat misleading.

Here’s why:

Mobileme is an exchange service (PUSH e-mail, PUSH calendar, and PUSH contact) that will update all your devices (iPhone, mac, or PC laptop) all at the same time without manual syncing.

If you change one contact or appointment or address in one device (say your work computer), the change is reflected in all your other devices (like your phone) right there and then. No need for manual syncing.

I don’t think you can do that with free Yahoo mail (unless you have an iPhone) or Google calendar.

This service is useful for people who have or work with several devices.

As to the questions of whether I’ll bite (being an iPhone user):

I am not paying for this because I have no need for it. I can do with all the free web services minus the push feature, of course.

But I gotta say that the PUSH feature is really neat.

BrianB · 18 years ago

To make it into another iTunes, why not give incentives like free premium Apps for every subscription?

BigBird · 18 years ago

It will show resistance!

jhay · 18 years ago

Since some folks have qualms over the pricing of the iPhone 3G, it makes little sense to add another expense when there are a lot of free alternatives that either do the same thing or even better.