MobileMe: Reaching Extinction.
Apple has suffered a recent glitch in its MobileMe service and must be getting to a stage where it cannot wait to see the back of the somewhat flop of a brand.
Multiple users have complained that both the web and IMAP access are giving error messages but as always Apple have made the scale of the problem difficult to gauge.
You can’t expect Apple to get it right every time and MobileMe has certainly been an instance where it hasn’t.
As can be seen with its predecessors such as iTool and .Mac when an idea is not working it soon ends up on the scrap heap and MobileMe is no exception.
MobileMe features several elegant-looking applications including Mail, Contacts and Calendar in addition to offering corporate style sync compatibility to all users. Furthermore Apple offered 20GB of online storage, the ability to synchronise browser bookmarks, an online photo gallery and more. There was also the added functionality to act as a Web Host specifically operable with iWeb, another Apple service on its way out.
It seems that Jobs has never been a particular fan of the service stating “It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software as well as the App Store. We all had more than enough to do and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.”
In another statement he stated “The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates we have more to learn about internet services. And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to ensure it is a service we are all proud of by the end of the year.”
MobileMe looses out in certain technical aspects to its competitors according to Macworld “MobileMe still lags behind competitors such as Gmail and Yahoo! Mail in some respects. For example server-based rules are far more limited than what OS X Mail or Gmail offer.”
However perhaps the largest factor behind the lack of success the fact that it was too expensive. At $100 dollars for the year it simply was not competitive with other syncing products such as Dropbox, Gmail and Piscasa.
You have to appreciate Jobs’ honesty at the World Wide Development Conference (WWDC) earlier this year “It was not our finest hour but we learnt a lot. ”
The new launch of the iCloud in Autumn promised to deliver where MobileMe failed and Apple have promised to give clear instructions to MobileMe users regarding how to make the move.
