Why I'm Leaving MobileMe (Hint: It's Not the Botched Launch)

If you paid any attention to the news in the past month, you know Apple rolled out a bunch of products and services a month ago and has been taking a beating in the press about how the launch didn't live up to Apple's rep. This is NOT what this article is about. Instead I want to tell you why I'm letting my .Mac/MobileMe account lapse this month.

Now to be be truthful, I suppose my reasons may have something to do with the botched launch. It could be that because the MobileMe folks at Apple were in such a crazed rush to launch the revamped service, they had to drop the parts I was looking forward to. And in typical Apple fashion, there was no public discussion about it.

This is odd coming from me because I usually dig everything Apple manages to do. But let's rewind to a year ago when I signed up for .Mac. The main reason I signed up for .Mac when I did was to be able to review it and respond to you, the MFM reader. I have web hosting service elsewhere, so that takes care of any need for email and website hosting. To me, email and hosting is the key value in MobileMe. But even for these services, it's not a good value. I admit I did go into it half heartedly.

But I was excited about trying the Groups service. In fact, I wanted to compare Google Groups to .Mac Groups with the class I taught using Google, and my kid's teams and classrooms using .Mac. As it turns out, .Mac groups was the slightly better service. But both were badly neglected in the way of improvements and upgrades.

.Mac Groups won on the ability to not look horribly U-G-L-Y and also for allowing a hierarchy of file storage. Google groups looks like Google usually does, in that it appears to be designed by the most artistic engineer on the team.

So I was really looking forward to Apple's team taking another run at improving Groups with the MobileMe roll out. I kept looking at the MobileMe site for indications of what will happen. No word. Finally after launch, it was acknowledged that Groups was being discontinued. Details fluctuated and some Groups were shut down without notice and then brought back from the dead. Now they are on life support with no new Groups being created and old groups can't grow.

So, I get that Groups doesn't fit into Apple's vision of MobileMe, but like the rest of the launch, it was handled poorly, with a total lack of communication. Can you imagine having an active .Mac group that went down without warning when the opportunity was there for months for Apple to tell their Groups customers what to expect? That type of customer service is even beneath Apple's competitors.

Next up: Syncing
Of course my disappointment here could be traced back to high expectations for Apple services. It's been widely acknowledged that .Mac syncing sucked. It didn't work for me just like the vocal detractors out there. I was planning on writing a How Do I…article on syncing, but then thought it would be out of date when MobileMe's syncing came out and fixed all the problems. Wrong.

It appears that the Mac to Mac syncing hasn't improved at all. It's the same old service with a new name. Now I get that emphasis had to be on getting the iPhone syncing right. But that doesn't mean you don't fix the broken Mac syncing.

It's too bad because if Apple nailed syncing multiple Macs and combined that with a working Back to My Mac service, that would be worth the whole cost of MobileMe right there. I think the rest of the MobileMe Services could be found elsewhere, often for FREE. However, syncing and Back to My Mac has the potential to be one of those Apple differentiators, something that only Apple can create.

Where's my file sharing?
Lastly, I never got to taste it, but I had my nose pressed against the window waiting for the large file sharing service that was to be part of MobileMe. This was the part where you could seemingly "attach" a large file to an email and have the recipient click the file to begin downloading it. My guess is that you were to put the file on your iDisk and the attachment was really a shortcut to the file on your hosted account along with whatever code was needed to make the file launch a browser and begin downloading the file.

It was even demoed when MobileMe was announced. It's now "Coming Soon".

As someone who regularly needs to send files from a few dozen MB to a few hundred MB, this service would have really come in handy AND had enough polish that I could use it professionally with clients. I think they would be so amazed that I would have looked good because of it. Now, I don't think I would sign up for MobileMe just to get this feature, but I'd pay someone $25 a year for it. Too bad no one else is offering this level of integration because I'd be a buyer.

So where does that leave me?
The feature I most appreciate out of the existing services is MobileMe Gallery, but it's not worth that kind of money to me. Not when Flickr is free and there are so many other good services out there. I have some family pages created with it, but I think I'll just convert those to iWeb pages and put them on my server.

As for Groups, I think I'll try one of my classes on Shutterfly's new beta service. It looks to have a lot of the parts I find useful and have some design polish to boot. The only thing it appears to be lacking is the hierarchical file storage. Plus, the ability to move sections around on the page looks great. I can't understand why Apple doesn't compete here. It's such a great outreach opportunity for them.

So for now, I'm going to let my membership lapse. I believe my ID remains in case they improve the service and make it worth paying for again. For now I'll wait and see.

UPDATE: Apple has offered MobileMe subscribers and extra 2 months for free. That's a step in the right direction. Perhaps that will buy some time to fix some of the issues and have members like me take a second look.

Where does that leave you?
How about you? Are you satisfied with the MobileMe offering? Bitter about the mismanaged launch? Let us know what you think in the Comments section below!

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Thanks for the tip, I'll file that away incase I ever need it. My point on this blog was simply to point out that MobileMe is working amazingly well for many of it's users. And that the service (if working properly is of great value). The message is that unless something is very wrong. MobileMe is an incredible service that people should be flocking toward not trying to leave. IMHO

I'd love to know if the author tried these things before throwing out a service that he has an obvious use for? The bottom line is that this is a very complicated thing that Apple has made very easy for most users but things can go wrong and there are solutions. Give them a try!

 Doug Petrosky
 08/17/2008  at  05:55 AM

Doug, yes, I tried the global reset. A few times. It was the same under .Mac. I was looking forward to a fix with MobileMe because it would be a natural opportunity for Apple to fix their issues without calling attention to it.

Yes, MobileMe syncing works for some, but it doesn't work for an unacceptably high number of users and the work arounds are unacceptably complicated.

Stan, don't all the users have to pay for Backpack? If so, that would be too much of a burden.

 Chris Kerins
 08/17/2008  at  11:37 AM

As a .Mac subscriber since 2003....

The real issue is that Apple has moved to a much more centrist approach with MobileMe. In their rush to provide a service that is more accessible to iPhone owners who use a platform other than Mac OS X, they've left the Mac faithful with the short end of the stick. The arrogance of attempting a full migration of all .Mac users at the same time as the iPhone 3G launch was unbelievable. They should have performed a staged migration, or a some type of public beta launch, so that problems could be ironed out along the way for those who chose to be guinea pigs.

Aside from the initial 12 days that I wasn't able to access MobileMe, and the periodic inability to send mail from the web interface, I'm relatively happy with the services that remain. I do mourn the demise of iCards, have never been very happy with the iDisk capabilities, and can't understand why they would offer the domain hosting feature without fully customizable DNS records.

To add insult to injury, the communication regarding the new features in MobileMe, the removal of existing services, and the level of support provided in the wake of this disaster, has been horrible. The rename also achieves their goal of removing the Mac focus, which might have limited the new, non-Mac subscriber base they are looking for.

 DontTazeMeBro
 08/18/2008  at  09:57 AM

I'm sorry but computers don't work that way. The service ether works or it doesn't. The nature of computers demands it. That is not to say that it can't be confused or broken by additional applications or some user actions. It is not even to say that some action on Apple's part might not take the service down for some or all subscribers for periods of time. I'm just saying that it is now stable and you absolutely can get the service working without some sort of crazy work around. This means, contacts, calendars, and email sync'd between multiple computers and devices. Access to 20GB of online storage through both WebDAV and web interfaces. Easy publishing of media rich web pages, etc. This is working today for the VAST majority of people with minimal effort so you should know that if you want to work with the service that it can work for you.

As for Taze. I'm sorry if you don't feel special anymore, but I have seen no evidence that Apple is leaving the mac users behind. We are all being given all of these new sync tools and if we work with other OS's/devices we are now getting the ability to use this service with those devices too. Yes, in hindsight even Steve agrees with you that a beta period or staged roll out would have been better, but it is over now and things seem OK. I'm looking forward to it becoming even better in the coming months.

 Doug Petrosky
 08/18/2008  at  11:48 AM

As for Doug: What's wrong with wanting to feel special! Seriously though, I used to be a total Apple fanboy, and would extol the virtues of Apple without hesitation, regardless of reality. But when their time arrived (again), courtesy of the iPod, they started to shift their business model towards a bigger market. It's not just about the Mac experience anymore, but also the iPhone / iTunes / iPod experience.

The rollout of MobileMe is a perfect example of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. The problems currently plaguing MobileMe and the iPhone 3G are going largely unaddressed by Apple. "Yes, there are problems. How about a free month of MobileMe" or simply saying nothing. They had no answer or explanation for my sister, who completely lost a ton of mail, and her .Mac address book during the cutover. She only uses the web interface (yes, I know...why didn't she sync it to her Mac...it was the first thing I asked her) and there's no recovery for that. The bottom line is that Apple, of all people, should have known better, and rather than step up and address people's concerns openly, they choose to remain silent. That's just their way. Doesn't mean it's the right way.

Personally, I have had very minimal issues with MobileMe. I'm just addressing the issue on a theoretical level.

They could have done better.

 DontTazeMeBro
 08/18/2008  at  06:38 PM

This is a step in the right direction - I just got this email from Apple:

MobileMe Update


We have already made many improvements to MobileMe, but we still have many more to make. To recognize our users' patience, we are giving every MobileMe subscriber as of today a free 60 day extension. This is in addition to the one month extension most subscribers have already received. We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe's launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around. Read this article for more details.

The MobileMe Team

 DontTazeMeBro
 08/18/2008  at  07:31 PM

> ...... they've left the Mac faithful with the short end of the stick.

That is what Apple has ALWAYS done anyway.

 Steve K.
 08/18/2008  at  08:19 PM

100% agree... I got a XP PC at work and mac at home and thought Mobile me would be the perfect bridge for calendars and contact... WRONG!!!

I had written a post on my weblog (http://fitman.wordpress.com) - in French, sorry...

(btw still looking for a solution )

It's incredible that apple's been so lousy...

 JF
 08/19/2008  at  06:15 AM

Well, I guess I just feel special because the tools I choose to use work and I'm happy for other people when they join in. Also, working in the real world I can't totally avoid Windows (as much as I would like to) so I appreciate that Apple is making their tools that much more valuable to me and many other mac users who live in a windows world (at least for now).

I feel for your sister but, there is a big difference between Apple making a mistake and apple turning it's back on it's users. I think this is an example of things going wrong. Oh and by the way apple sent out numerous warnings telling people to sync their data before the update.

As for the additional 60 days, personally that says more than a hundred press releases. There were issues and Apple is not yet happy with the quality of the service. They are doing everything they can to get things right.

Steve, sorry to hear the Mobileme is not working well for you. I'm not sure what programs you are trying to use but my understanding is that under XP outlook is really the only game in town for MobileMe and many people (Including Paul Thurrott) have used it very effectively. I've tested contacts syncing with Vista and think that Apple should enhance calendar sync to work with Vista Calendar soon. I'd also like to see Apple allow for sync of subscribed calendars soon.

 Doug Petrosky
 08/19/2008  at  10:42 AM

Well, I like Mobile Me. I love the Back to My Mac feature. Just recently I saw an article how to SSH into a Mac on Back to My Mac. I also like the ability to Sync to my iphone, imac at work, Mini at home and laptop at home. I sync my bookmarks, calendar and contacts. I never had any downtime when the transfer went from .Mac to Mobileme. I like the web gallery and it is simple. I know there are free ones, but I rather not bother. Also, I know there is VNC and other methods to remote in to a system but requires opening firewall ports. Of course there is Hamachi but it doesn't look pretty on the Mac and it isn't completely free. However, I did do the family pack and share it with my family.

 willgonz
 08/19/2008  at  06:02 PM

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