Apple apologizes for MobileMe fiasco, offers 30-days
updated 03:30 pm EDT, Wed July 16, 2008
MobileMe compensation
Apple is now offering limited compensation in the wake of the difficult MobileMe launch, according to announcement. The company admits that the transition from .Mac was "a lot rockier than we [Apple] had hoped," and notes that "within the next few weeks," it will extend select MobileMe subscriptions by 30 days. At present several important MobileMe functions are non-functional, including groups, webmail, and the HomePage website creation utility.
To be eligible for the extension, people must either have had a .Mac subscription as of July 9th, or created a MobileMe account on or before July 15th at 7PM PDT. Apple is reminding these groups to ignore any e-mails suggesting an imminent renewal deadline; extensions will be applied before accounts expire, and even people whose accounts expired between the 9th and the 15th will be given reactivated subscriptions. If a person is in the middle of a MobileMe trial, the trial period will be lengthened.
Update: An official notice from Apple adds an apology for the company's flagrant use of the term "Push" to describe all of its services, confirming that, while iPhone users have access to MobileMe's Push synching, Mac and PC users will need to wait approximately 15 minutes before changes are confirmed. Apple said it would re-instate the Push moniker after wait times have been reduced to near-instantaneous.
Nice gesture, but
07/16, 02:14pm reply
It sure would be nice for them to fix the alias issues. Not only can users not send email from the iPhone using an alias (yes, I know there's a workaround by setting up MobileMe as an IMAP account), but email sent from Mail.app or the MobileMe web interface using an alias come across as "mobilemeID@mac.com on behalf of MyName".
I don't recall it looking like that when sending emails from an alias when .Mac was still live.
djpluv
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2004
Where the fanboys NOW?
07/16, 02:48pm (2 replies) reply
Funny how all the Kool-Aid drinking fanboys were defending Apple up and down last week, the day after MobileFAIL was supposed to have been operational.
Where are the fanboys NOW??? This is a big TOLD YOU SO to all those Kool-Aid drinkers who blindly defended Apple up and down.
Egg on YOUR faces, fanboys. I love my Apple products (Mac Pro, 12" Powerbook), but I HATE it when fanboys defend Apple to the nth degree when they s**** up
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
Yeppers
07/16, 03:18pm reply
Normally, I drink the cool-aid, but not on this launch. I guess it remains to be seen if my G4 works when I get home tonight, until then, MobileMe works on the MBP, but not on the G4/466, it tanked Mail and Address Book applications.
x user
Mac Elite
Joined: Dec 2000
Still not working
07/16, 03:23pm reply
I never got the email, my subscription hasn't been extended and things are still not working properly.
- billing doesn't work
- webapp mail has tons of bugs: can't use the contacts button to select adresses, error when emailing certain addresses, emails sent from the iPhone do not get synced with the web apps
I was going to give MobileMe as a gift to a friend, but not anymore. Apple should never have released the service as buggy as it is. This is not the kind of quality you expect from their products.
Very frustrated after emailing their support about my problems I didn't even get the email apologizing for their big s**** up. Very sad and I'm not impressed. Being a paying customer and having multiple Apple products you would expect they would care a bit more, but no, they don't.
Thank you Apple for taking my money and giving me a crappy product in return.
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
IWeb Fails Again
07/16, 03:39pm reply
I fought through the transition from IWeb 1.0 to 2.0. It finally required rebuilding my sites. O goodness it is happening again. Please sort it out on the Apple side.
starwarrior
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2006
A month for free?
07/16, 03:52pm reply
Thank you!
The only troubles I had with MobileMe transition is service downtimes and inability to sign in on first few days. But if Apple insists that I should accept free month of subscription I will be very glad to do just that.
ViktorCode
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
An apology!
07/16, 04:18pm reply
That's all I wanted to hear.
I'll take the explanation as a bonus...
Ted L. Nancy
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: May 2008
Fail Me
07/16, 04:43pm reply
http://failmeismorelikeit.com
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
but
07/16, 05:18pm reply
still no Tiger MobileMe update like they mention on their web page.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
expected
07/16, 05:38pm reply
This was expected. It was either offer up people extended time, or be sued by several disgruntled users over the loss of a paid service (most likely seeking class-action status and filed in southwest TX).
And I guess they reconcile the lost features of the switch with something in the EULA that says "Services may be added/deleted during the subscription period, so don't get too attached to them".
But I wonder how they can basically shut out Panther users who've already paid for the service.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001