Apple gives MobileMe a makeover MobileMe didn't go free, despite the rumours, but it has got a new look and some improved features. Apple has renovated its cloud-based service with better email and faster performance, as well as a new iPhone application you can use to find your lost iPad. The layout improvements are mainly tweaks, but there is some meat in …
They are advertising and data mining operations. You are paying for them through a lack of privacy and a bombardment of ads. MobileMe might not be cheap, but at least you are not inundated by eyeball spam when using it.
There is no such thing as free, especially when it comes to Google and MS.
So, if an iPhone4 is $199, and MobileMe is $99 per year, then that 2 year contract means that an iPhone owner will pay as much for online service as he pays for the phone. And a total 2-year cost of ownership of more like $400.
Wow that's some serious spending. Then add on the cost of all those apps......
The iPhone really is a serious money-making machine for Apple.
It was free.
Not that it matters now.
Odd, to think about it, it probably stopped being free right around the time that the first iPhone was unveiled.
As far as other's spying on you, isn't that what encryption+steganography, etc are for?
I'll get my coat, with some banned cookbook in it's pocket, my work is done here.
If you are mental enough to pay for Mobileme then it can easily be picked up for £40 on ebay - but still, the question is why would you bother at those over inflated prices.
I did use it for a year but there are better alternatives for free and I didn't see the need to keep funding Steve's stylish outfit's.
When I decided to become homeless for a season and wander the world I took full advantage of iTools, then .Mac and the webmail was simple but worked beautifully wherever I went.
Then came MobileMe and the webmail interface was one giant FAIL. The damn thing would refresh at odd times and I lost more than one e-mail draft. People who used my iDisk reported random access problems and the whole thing looked pretty but insanely useless.
The stability improved over the past six months (though the Mail beta was tres buggy).
But this morning I'm happy to see the web-based MobileMe services rock-solid in Safari and Firefox. The interface is lovely, responsive and intelligently laid-out.
Huzzah!
MyPhone offers enough service for anyone, and you can opt-out of the advertising if you want. Likewise the OVI store stuff, and Blackberry is binging out Blackberry Shield at some point soonish.
All of the already released ones are free if you have the right handsets. Google I wouldn't use, because I prefer not to give them ALL of my information. Blackberry Haven't announced a price for their service yet, but it's unlikely to be expensive, if they even charge for it at all. Plus the features I personally am more concerned about are remote wipe, phone location and OTA backup anyway, these aren't charged for unless you're Apple.
Expensive phone, expensive contracts, vendor lock-in and even the OTA backup being charged? You're having a laugh! I like the iPhone as a media and browsing handset, there is NOTHING to touch it in those areas, but for e-mail and actually making calls on it leaves an awful lot to be desired.
It is better than free apps. Plus you can download all of your data that you put on it. In fact, that's pretty much where you start. The calendar and address book on your computer gets synced to the cloud and your phone. iDisk can do the same as well, you just need to tell it to. I'm not sure if the codes are country dependent, but you can pick up the US family pack on Ebay for about $70. The find my iPhone is especially good if you want to find out who your mate is rogering whilst you are at work.
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