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MobileMe problems continue, upset customers

updated 09:55 am EDT, Fri July 11, 2008

MobileMe launch problems

Despite its formal activation yesterday, users have been experiencing persistent problems trying to access Apple's MobileMe service, reports say. Problems began when the company shifted its scheduled downtime for the .Mac/MobileMe transition, moving the end of it to 2AM Thursday. A lack of access continued throughout the day for many customers, however, and as of Friday morning in the US the service is still not fully functional.

Apple has acknowledged the problems by posting a status update, which says that while the "transition is underway," it is "taking longer than expected." Functions such as Sync, iDisk and Back to My Mac are said to be working properly, but issues remain with mail, and web applications are missing entirely.

The service is not yet open to new users.

by MacNN Staff

(40)

TAGS :

troubleshooting, networking, MobileMe, Apple

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magicbumone
Junior Member

Joined: May 2007

+3

07/11, 10:18am | report spam | (2 replies) close Reply |
rushed

Kinda sounds like MobileMe got rushed a little! O well going to be awesome when it does start to work. Now off to buy a iPhone 3G!!

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+2

07/11, 10:23am | report spam | close Reply |
man

They take down .Mac for a whole day and still having issues? Haven't they ever heard of testing, staging, etc?

Will53
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

+6

07/11, 10:24am | report spam | close Reply |
Oh well

It worked for a while here, which is Norway, just so I saw that I have 20 giga storage now, but it seems to be down again. This was the message I got when trying to log in again:

MobileMe sign up is coming soon.
New member sign up is not yet available. Please check back later. In the meantime, learn more about MobileMe.

Well, I am not a new member and I must say that during the time it was up, it was just as slow as dot Mac has been here in Europe all the time. I am not sold on web application so far. Maybe such creatures work fast in the US, but so far I prefer to have my apps on my hard drive, thanks you.

Let us hope this situation will pass, though. Good thing I am not dependent on these services, at least not right now.

cblackmo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

07/11, 10:25am | report spam | close Reply |
Microsoft party

They must be throwing a huge party at Redmond right now!! I can here them now, chanting "Welcome to the club of sloppy technology roll-out Apple."

nativeNYer
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

+5

07/11, 10:31am | report spam | close Reply |
disappointing

This is a very disappointing rollout, and, I'm sorry, but it reeks of poor planning. I normally don't agree with Testudo, but he's right in this case. Did they do no staging and formal tests to see if this would actually work when it went live? Granted, even with the best staging plan its impossible to know every variable. But this is really unacceptable that it's been so dysfunctional for this amount of time. It makes me think that its a Good Thing that Apple doesn't have much higher market share, Apparently they can't handle the load of a large number of customers.

BelugaShark
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2007

+3

07/11, 10:35am | report spam | close Reply |
whats going on?

Apple used to be the best when it came to Quality Control. Lately Apple has been s******* up most updates including OSX Leopard, OSX Server, slow Mac introductions etc.

iDoctor
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2001

+1

07/11, 10:36am | report spam | close Reply |
If you we all stop ..

I think one of Apple's problem is the 3 million users who are to eager to find how the new service look like .. stop hitting the refresh and the service will work .. I guess the servers can't take the load of ALL customers trying to check their mail at the same time (an unusual situation ) .. relax and give it time ..

cblackmo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

+5

07/11, 10:41am | report spam | close Reply |
.Mac as usual

Also adding to the fiasco, .Mac has always had problems with server reliability and access. That was one of the bigger problems that was perceived to be part of it's lack of popularity - which this whole re-branding MobileMe exercise was supposed to squelch. Apple's thinking probably was "roll it out at the same time as this great new iPhone and hopefully it will find a new life."

Unfortunately, it seems that both have ended up falling on their faces right out the gate. Like stumbling babies, that instead should be sure-footed young adults by now.

In defense of Apple, this amount of failure is very uncharacteristic of Apple. In criticism of Apple, today you suck.

Thunderbird
Senior User

Joined: Dec 1999

+2

07/11, 10:41am | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
iWeb Blog messed up

I'm patiently hoping that my it's just a temporary glitch, but somehow the iWeb site that I post to .Mac is now all messed up. The pages don't look right, and there are missing images. Anybody else noticing problems with iWeb pages?

ViktorCode
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

+1

07/11, 11:00am | report spam | close Reply |
sad

In the end Mobile Me will be judged not by the today outage, but by how fast Apple will be able to sort out issues. No doubt Steve is kicking some poor bugger's a** right now back at Cupertino...

ViktorCode
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

0

07/11, 11:02am | report spam | close Reply |
sad

In the end Mobile Me will be judged not by the today outage, but by how fast Apple will be able to sort out the issues. No doubt Steve is kicking some poor bugger's butt right now back at Cupertino...

cblackmo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

+1

07/11, 11:16am | report spam | close Reply |
first-impressions

While I agree the majority of this will be a distant memory to most tech-savvy Apple enthusiasts by Monday - first impressions are huge when dealing with the rest of the mainstream consumer market.

Basically, tens of thousands of fresh newbies - who have no prior reasons to be forgiving of Apple - checked out the Apple website after hearing about all the iPhone 3G buzz from the NYTimes, their Yahoo! and Google homepages, USA Today, or wherever, and may have decided to check out this new MobileMe thingy and only found a "Temporarily Unavailable" message. Or even worse, had to wait almost a minute watching a blank window (like it did for me earlier), and they just gave up and said "See ya - it's not even working on opening day??" And they snapped back to their Yahoo! or Google homepages, which feed millions more people day in and day out tons of web-based functionality without a hiccup.

Steve was definitely kicking some butt this morning. And since he's on Pacific Time, he was up early too. Not a happy camper I'm sure.

Mrjinglesusa
Professional Poster

Joined: Feb 2002

+1

07/11, 11:29am | report spam | close Reply |
It's STEVE'S Fault...

...for thinking he was God and could release an entirely new online service, major iPhone software upgrade, iPhone app store, and a new 3G iPhone ALL IN THE SPAN OF 2 DAYS! Give me break, there was no way this was going to run smoothly. To many things going on that are all interconnected.

jhuke
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2006

+1

07/11, 11:30am | report spam | close Reply |
working

it was a bit spotty yesterday but today it seems to be working fine for me. it wasn't the smoothest deployment but i for one have a little patience and if you put this in the lens of Vista deployment, a few hours of spotty isn't much...

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

+3

07/11, 11:44am | report spam | close Reply |
EPIC FAIL

UNSAT, Apple. Totally unsat. The MObileME project manager should be FIRED immediately, as well as everyone who worked on the project.

This is something you'd expect from Micro$oft, not Apple.

WORST product rollout in Apple history. They should be ASHAMED.

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

+1

07/11, 11:57am | report spam | close Reply |
worked for a minute

while it's saying "no new members" now, I managed to get the page loaded earlier and signed up for a 60 day free trial with completely new membership details.

haven't been able to use it since, but at least I got a great email @me.com while they were still available! they better pick up on handling the server load, I'm willing to wait a few days for uninterrupted acces, but I'll be expecting a very fast and reliable service to keep the �60/year account after the trial expires.

MattJeff
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Aug 2006

-1

07/11, 12:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
fanboys blow

I hate fanboys. "oh no someone said something bad about apple! Mark their comment down!"

This is totally like a Microsoft release, its horrible. Site is up then down then up and nothing works or works painfully slow. Don't burn the 1st bridge(.mac) before the new one is here. Test your products before you release them apple!

cdoubleu
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

+4

07/11, 12:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
Cancelling My Service

I've decided to cancel my service. I just spoke to a mobileme representative and asked that they credit my account for the two days of service that I paid for but didn't receive. This seemed to be a reasonable request but I was told this was not possible. I wasn't satisfied with that answer so I'm not going to renew my account.

KenNsf
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2008

-3

07/11, 12:24pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Give it a rest guys

You all know Apple. They will get it right. How often has something not worked out with them. Hmmmm....zero. The only unforgivable (for now) would be lack of email. Email works. Have a cup of coffee and chill!

wgoulart
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2008

+2

07/11, 12:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
Emotions and Apple

Part of what makes Apple products and services so appealing is that they are designed and intended to elicit an emotional response for users. This is why there is such a high loyalty to Apple products and services. The iPhone, for instance, is cool to look at and it gives one a distinct feeling of pleasure due to its functionality. MobileMe is intended to be cool as well. But, out of the gate this week, MobileMe has produced other kinds of emotional responses in people--frustration and anger.

wgoulart
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2008

0

07/11, 12:33pm | report spam | close Reply |
Emotions and Apple

Part of what makes Apple products and services so appealing is that they are designed and intended to elicit an emotional response for users. This is why there is such a high loyalty to Apple products and services. The iPhone, for instance, is cool to look at and it gives one a distinct feeling of pleasure due to its functionality. MobileMe is intended to be cool as well. But, out of the gate this week, MobileMe has produced other kinds of emotional responses in people--frustration and anger.

Mihkel
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2003

+1

07/11, 01:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
iDisk feature missing

I've waited for MM so impatiently just to find out that some of the advertised features are missing. Am I the only one who's unable to locate the "share file" button under idisk? And boy, is the whole thing slow here in Europe. Any faster overseas?

bradpdx
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2007

-3

07/11, 01:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
Too much whining, y'all

Mobile Me is a more extensive roll-out of a web-based service than any I have ever seen, with more potential issues related to syncing, massive quantities of data and endless links. I don't think it is totally fair to flame at Apple about this, there really isn't a lot to which you can compare. Microsoft has never build a web service of this scale, what they offer is simple by comparison.

Mobile Me isn't working 100% for me yet, either - but I'm not worried that it won't. I am sure lots of testing occurred, but public roll-outs on this scale are damn hard to simulate.

dynsight
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2005

+4

07/11, 01:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
Not Acceptable

I do understand those of you showing compassion and patience, but it is unacceptable. Completely.

Apple is a large company, and can certainly afford QA Testing and stress analysis tools. One cannot complain of "surprise," since testing software can simulate various production scenarios.

Currently, the service is spotty and slow. When you accept mediocrity for a paid service, you become complicit in the uninspiring result.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

-1

07/11, 01:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: give it a rest

You all know Apple. They will get it right. How often has something not worked out with them. Hmmmm....zero.

That's completely the wrong attitude to take, and why apple gets away with stuff like this. The fans do the "it'll all work out" routine and gives apple a pass.

How long before you grant them to 'get it right'? Because .Mac has never been 'right' to a lot of people.

Oh, and as to "not worked out", how about iBook G3s and G4s and mobo issues and PowerMac G5 power supply and mobo issues. Owners of these computers would argue with your "they'll get it right" argument. (And I didn't even count the computers Apple has needed to do extended repair plans on).

They don't always get it right.

fischej
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2001

+3

07/11, 02:44pm | report spam | close Reply |
finally in

Mail finally lit up for me (Los Angeles area). Seems about the same speed as .Mac, perhaps a bit slower. I agree that this roll-out has been a fiasco. This is a paid service for Pete's sake. Given the scope and duration of the outage, I'm betting Apple will have to issue one of their rare "mea culpa"s and extend everyone's account by a week, or something like that. I'm disappointed with the outage, but the things that really tick me off are Apple's downplaying of the severity in their status message ("lying" would be a harsher, but perhaps more accurate description), and lack of any advance warning or caveat that there may be issues. By reversing the age-old maxim "under-promise and over-deliver", they end up looking like arrogant incompetents.

ender
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 1999

+1

07/11, 03:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
more missing

There is more missing from MobileMe than Apple previously let on. They only said the online bookmarks and iCards would be gone. But so is the ability to create group web sites (it appears you can still use the ones you previously created, but no new ones). There may also be an issue with HomePage, but MobileMe went down before I could check into it more. I'd check now except they've dropped support for IE6, the only browser I can use at work. (Which also makes MobileMe USELESS for me! The whole reason for getting .Mac was to access contacts and calendars while at work. So how do I get my money back since Apple can't deliver the 12 months of service I paid for?)

mcLovinmymac
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2008

+1

07/11, 06:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
Frustrated

This is extremely frustrating.... I'm a huge Apple fan. I own 5 Apple machines (all less than 3 years old) 4 Ipods, Time Capsule, etc.... But there is no excuse for this at all. I feel sorry for the poor SOB's in Cupertino right now having to pull the shoe out of their asses (and deservedly so). There are thousands of current iPhone users with Bricks, new G3 users with a useless phone, .mac users who can't sync c***(who didn't have access to the service for 2 days), yet this isn't the initial rollout of the product. This is the second generation of both the iphone and the online service. I hate to say this, but I hope they pull some miraculous comeback to renew consumer faith in their product launches because they've f'd up the last 2. Come on Apple, walk the talk if you want to be considered a player with the Big Boys (and take off your I'm a Mac commercials for a bit and save face).

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+1

07/12, 10:13am | report spam | close Reply |
still down

Saturday 10am, .Mac online still down. Getting past the "Well, everyone was hitting it, it was bound to crash" reasoning, no one's hitting it now.

Apple, maybe if you did MobileMe as a new service, got it up and running, and then moved the .Mac over when MobileMe was working, you wouldn't have irritated two different groups of people.

techietype
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2008

+2

07/12, 04:49pm | report spam | close Reply |
MobileMe = Disaster

Apple was clearly not ready to reveal MobileMe quite so soon. The me.com site is extremely slow, if it works at all! Also, the automatic sync feature which lets you use the push email/calendar/contacts in conjunction with iCal, Mail, and Address Book on your mac "isn't ready yet" according to Apple... Whats the point of push email/contacts/calendar if you can only use it all on one device (the phone its self). Not to mention, Apple only has chat support for MobileMe. Who do they think they are? Dell?

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

07/18, 05:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
Alpha Software

MobileMe is just so bad -- what were these people thinking. I've been going through the Help pages on video tutorials trying to figure out how to do simple stuff, and time after time I'm finding that basic issues are either undocumented, or that the documentation refers to non-existent interface elements. This premature roll-out accomplishes nothing other than to undermine Apple's credibility and alienate existing users. Now that their market share is becoming more significant are they taking a page from the way MS has traditionally operated? This simply stinks

anogee
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2007

0

07/26, 02:23am | report spam | close Reply |
Poor, very poor

I purchased it three days ago and entered my serial number to activate it before I realized I could try it free for 60 days. Of course I wasn't credited with the 60 extra days they should have given me!!

Anyway, if you don't have it yet, stay away. I can go into detail with the problems, but there are just too many. Its broken, crashes my Macs, etc. I can't believe they released this thing.

Yesturday I called Apple and demanded my money back. They said I'd get an e-mail in 3-4 hours to confirm. A day later, no e-mail. The Apple rep laughed when he told me that I wasn't alone in wanting my money back.

Welcome to the NEW Apple. It seems like its starting to look more like Microsoft everyday.

anogee
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2007

0

07/26, 02:23am | report spam | close Reply |
Poor, very poor

I purchased it three days ago and entered my serial number to activate it before I realized I could try it free for 60 days. Of course I wasn't credited with the 60 extra days they should have given me!!

Anyway, if you don't have it yet, stay away. I can go into detail with the problems, but there are just too many. Its broken, crashes my Macs, etc. I can't believe they released this thing.

Yesturday I called Apple and demanded my money back. They said I'd get an e-mail in 3-4 hours to confirm. A day later, no e-mail. The Apple rep laughed when he told me that I wasn't alone in wanting my money back.

Welcome to the NEW Apple. It seems like its starting to look more like Microsoft everyday.

Nadia
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2010

0

02/21, 10:40am | report spam | close Reply |
What's behind the mess up

MobileMe is promising one thing and delivery another. I didn't know why I couldn't back up to iDisk as I'd been told I could. Read this:

http://mobilemeissues.blogspot.com/

Nadia
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2010

0

02/21, 10:41am | report spam | close Reply |
What's behind the mess up

MobileMe is promising one thing and delivering another. I didn't know why I couldn't back up to iDisk as I'd been told I could. Read this:

http://mobilemeissues.blogspot.com/

Nadia
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2010

0

02/21, 10:43am | report spam | close Reply |
MobileMe lies, that's what's behind the problems

Read this:
http://mobilemeissues.blogspot.com/

Now I know why I can't use iDisk for backup.

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MobileMe problems continue, upset customers

updated 09:55 am EDT, Fri July 11, 2008

MobileMe launch problems

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