New navigation on Me.com
Now when you go to me.com you’ll see two persistent navigation features at the top of every page: a cloud icon on the left, and your name on the right. Clicking the cloud icon (or using the key combination of Shift-Esc) opens a new application switcher which lets you move to any other MobileMe web application from the one you’re currently using. Clicking your name on the right opens a menu you can use to visit your account settings, access help, or sign out.
New MobileMe Mail now available to all members
The all-new MobileMe Mail at me.com is now out of beta and available to all members.
Here’s a summary of what’s new in the Mail web application, including a couple of new features Apple has added since the beta went live:
• Widescreen and compact views. When reading your mail at me.com, the new widescreen view lets you see more of each message with less scrolling. Choose compact view to hide your folders or classic view to see more of your message list.
• Rules to keep your email organized everywhere. Mail rules help you reduce inbox clutter by automatically filing messages into folders you select ahead of time. Set them up at me.com, and your rules organize your incoming email on the web and everywhere else — on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC.
• Single-click archiving. Click the Archive button and the selected message is quickly filed into the Archive folder where it’s always available for future reference.
• Formatting toolbar. You can create great-looking email messages using formatting buttons to bold or italicize text, change font color, insert images, and more. You can even create formatted web links to hide long URLs.
• Faster performance. Mail at me.com loads your inbox and messages faster. And with interface refinements such as the ability to scroll through your entire inbox without having to manually click to load the next set of messages, you’ll be able to work more efficiently.
• Increased security with SSL. With MobileMe Mail, accessing your email on the web is more secure than ever. Your inbox is protected to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on your webmail. As always, you receive SSL protection when you use your MobileMe Mail account on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC.
• Support for external email addresses (new since the beta). Reading all your email in one place is easy with MobileMe Mail. You can receive email from another service by having the email forwarded to your me.com address.* And when you reply to a message using webmail, you can choose to send it from the address it was sent to, or from your MobileMe account.
• Improved junk mail filtering (new since the beta). MobileMe Mail places suspected spam messages directly in the Junk folder. If you see an email that you actually want, click the “Not Junk” button on me.com. MobileMe moves the message to your Inbox and makes sure that messages from that sender are not sent to your Junk folder again.
• To use the new MobileMe Mail, just sign in to your account at me.com.
Find My iPhone app now available
The Find My iPhone app is now available as a free download from the App Store.
If you lose your iPhone or iPad while on the go, simply install the Find My iPhone app on any other iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to find it. Sign in with your member name and password to locate your missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. You can even remotely lock the missing device to protect your privacy, or wipe it to permanently delete all of your data if you think that it won’t be returned. The app will automatically sign you out after 15 minutes of inactivity or you can manually sign out at any time.
In addition to the new app, the Find My iPhone web application on me.com now displays your device location on a full-screen map. Simply click the device on the map to reveal the full set of Find My iPhone actions.
To download the new Find My iPhone app for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, visit the App Store. To use Find My iPhone on your Mac or PC, go to me.com/find. As a reminder, be sure to set up MobileMe and Find My iPhone on all the devices you want to locate.
More info via Apple’s MobileMe News here.
[Attribution: The Register. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
I’m a subscriber, but I’d really rather that the service was free. I like the calendar syncing the most. I never use the email application, gmail is still so much better. These changes seem rather blah to me.
Apple just doesn’t seem able to compete with Google with web applications. I wish they’d do more in that regard.
Jim Lynch
Tech Analyst and Community Manager
http://jimlynch.com
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com
@Jim Lynch
I’m a mortgage holder, but I’d really rather that my house was free.
I’m a vehicle owner, but I’d really rather that my car was free.
Etc.
@JIm Lynch
Apple doesn’t pay for it’s service by placing ads on every one of it’s service’s web pages. That’s how the big Goog makes theirs free.
I agree that I’d rather pay $99/year than have ads.
MobileMe costs me (annually) about what twelve orders of a typical fast food lunch cost. I can handle that.
I’m an Apple investor and subscriber, I’d rather it remain a “paid” service thank you.
(sent from my {non-free} iPhone)
Still over priced. Still convinced a lower rate should exist for Apple hardware purchases. Say half off one or two years everytime you buy an iPhone.
@Yawn
You do save $30 when purchasing mobile me with an iPhone. I’m not currently a subscriber, but i will get mobile me (with the discount) when I pick up my iphone 4 on Thursday. The family plan is a great deal if you have 2 or more iPhones.
You can by mobileme packs from Amazon for $67 for single and $99 for Family from Amazon and use them to renew, saving $33 to $50, just activate the code in the box to extend your membership and save.
I just want push email, calendaring and contacts for my iPhone. Google and Yahoo let me have it for free; as soon as Apple does I’ll switch.
@Yawn
It’s only overpriced if you are unwilling to pay it. Many people do not think it’s overpriced.
It breaks down to about $8 per month
If you make a little effort sometimes you can find it for about $60 on sale.
Use Mobile Me to host my web site + synchronise Mac-iPod Touch-Web.
Just the hosting (20 Go + 300 Go/month) is cheapest than everything else here in Quebec for 109$/year.
Why would anyone pay for MobileMe, which isn’t very good, when Google provides a free service.
Apple will never make it free while there are people silly enough to pay for it.
Seriously guys, you don’t have to buy EVERYTHING apple sells.
@Jason
I’m agreed with you, except for web hosting and find my iPhone function.
Everything else, Google make it better, for free!
I’m betting that when Apple rolls out iAd they’ll make Mobile Me free or have a “free” version with ads.
As for the new mail features… I like the new view and wonder if we’ll have to wait for 10.7 to see a updated version of the Mail app?
I have been a subscriber for 3 years and find it to be much better then any Free offerings, it is well worth the cost and as others have posted you can pick it up yearly well bellow the $99.00 price.
Last year I purchased the renewal for $51.00 on Newegg, this year I purchased the renewal for $42.99 on Amazon. If you look around you can always get it close to half off. And you can buy at anytime since its just a renewal code, so you have a whole year to look for the best deal.
I was gonna buy some lint, but I had some in my pocket already.
I was gonna buy some dust but I found some on the floor.
I was gonna buy some oxygen but I was already breathing.
I was gonna buy MobileMe but I have an iPhone and some patience.
MobileMeh?
Hmm… New webpage doesn’t like my password. I know for sure that the info is correct. Mail app on Mac iPad and iPhone work just fine with same password.
I like MobileMe okay, except for the name, which I think is so ghey it’s not even funny. I like the online storage but have found it to be slow and paltry. Hopefully it will be faster and eventually more capacious. Maybe someday I can have all my music in the cloud.
You need Mobile me so you can have Find My iPhone when it’s stolen or lost. That’s a pretty important reason that Google and Yahoo can’t do.
Glitch encountered already: When mail folders are nested, the web interface does not display a rolled-up number of unread messages next to the top folder.
Of all the things to improve with MobileMe they choose mail? Are notes ever going to sync with MM?
@jason
I will purchase what the hell I want and buy who I want & when I want.
I don’t need some knee slapping idiot to tell me what is good and bad in a product.
Just because some of us purchase MobileMe for the Value added extras it’s to bad Apple might not make it free to the “I want it free Cheap Crowd”
You see at least i can Trust my email and information on Apples site, and now the added extra protection that google doesn’t offer.
I have received “0” spam related messages and garbage emails with my MobileMe account, With My other gmail account i have more then what we have time to go into.
So adding on Free Web Page Hosting ( Google Doesn’t Offer) on top of being able to use idisk to read my pdf’s and all the extra Security and Peace of mind that is offered is worth it, and millions of other subscribers think so also.
Going to underscore part of Scot B.’s post: you can find MM at way lower prices with a few single clicks. Thus far I’ve only paid Apple’s price once; subsequently eBay, Amazon, and a couple local shops have offered me great prices.
Has anyone noticed how much more snappy the MobileMe web interface is with the update? Especially Mail. It’s finally up to a speed that I can deal with in my Safari Web Browser.
I with you guys. I would rather pay. I hate ads and MobileMe lets me create iWeb pages and host pictures in a beautiful ad free way. If it didn’t do what I wanted I wouldn’t pay for it an I would start designing a program that did the things I wanted that weren’t in MobileMe. I’m satisfied and I like the new layout, looks sharp.
None of these updates mean much unless the uploading to mobile me is as fast as Dropbox… or faster.
If you shop both Amazon and eBay, you can get it for close to half price.
My last renewal only cost me $52!
Does anybody know, if Mail in MobileMe is still powered by Suns Massaging Server or if Apple has changed the “technology in the cloud” to their own Mail server software in Snow Leopard?
Currently I have my email domain forwarded to Gmail, which automatically archives everything and then forwards it to my Mobile Me Inbox. Gmail acts as my spam filter and a backup for my email and MobileMe is what I do my day to day emailing from. Personally I like MobileMe because it allows me to sync all my settings across multiple Macs, as well as the other elements that sync, plus it’s easy for my family as well.
I like the rules thing, but I wish it could be tied in with Mail.app and rules synced across all services. When I played with the beta I couldn’t implement all my custom rules either, which made it a little useless. That may have changed now though.
Been a member since 2001, well worth the money in my opinion.
iDisk is incredibly slow here in the UK using Finder, but it is VERY fast using a client like CyberDuck or Transmit.
Tech support for MobileMe is first class. Every time I’ve had a problem I’ve managed to talk to an expert online and had the problem fixed.
Calendar/Contact/Notes (iOS 4) syncing is brilliant, never failed me.
I think it’s worth every penny.
I just want more web storage. The 20 gb isn’t enough for all the photos and movies I like to share with the family.
I’m still upset at Apple promising .mac email would always remain free and then not only charging for it, but not grandfathering in existing accounts.
Meanwhile, most of the services MobileMe offers can be found for free, and in some cases, better elsewhere.
The only feature I really want now is the Find my iPhone feature, but $99 a year is too much for that.
Are we supposed to be able to access Me.com thru our iPads? I always get the page that asks me to set up an account. Funny thing is….it’s been set up for awhile. Same happens with my iPhone. Never really been able to access MM on either device. Any thoughts? What should my settings be on the iPad and/or iPhone? I thought i had everything correct and it was on Apples side……
I have been a subscriber since 2003 and have always been very pleased with customer service when I had an issue or two. I’m with the others no spam ever, no ads and for $99.00 or less wherever you purchase it I find it a good value. I like Apple, their products and equally their exceptional customer service which to me is priceless.
People just love things FREEEEEEE!
They really don’t mind having their privacy BUTTRAPED DAILY…
as long ad it’s FREE
@Harper101,
You can only access Find my iPhone/iPad through Safari on an iPad or iPhone, the idea being you setup the Mail, Contacts and Calendar Apps on your iDevice (in Settings/Mail, Contacts, Calendars) to access the features on the web interface.
You guys who say you’d rather pay for this service are crazy. MobileMe is not worth 99 dollars…not even 50 with a discount. Comparing paying MobileMe to a house or car? Childish. The service is terrible for 99. Get over it.
Here’s a sure way to reduce the price of Apple products:
STOP BUYING THEM.
Guaranteed the prices will drop.
My favorite example is when housewives thought the price of ground beef was too high in the 60’s/70’s and all American housewives stopped buying beef. Guess what. Prices came back down.
I love capitalism – it’s magical.
Now I WOULD pay for this service if it was any good. But it isn’t. Sad.
BTW, the only entity that will raise prices when demand decreases is the government. Example: LAX parking fees after 9-11. This is what happens when you have a monopoly which is what the government is. Competition/capitalism is good.
For me, there are two over riding features.
Galleries/iWeb publishing. I can write HTML and Javascript, but I really don’t want to. My motto: “Easy is good!” Making web pages and photo galleries is so easy. Saves me gobs of time.
2- iDisk
A few years ago, I spent 8 months in Spain writing. I would have been in constant terror of having my computer stolen and losing all that work, but for iDisk. Twice a day backups to the cloud and I could rest in peace knowing that, even if the worst happened, that work would not be lost.
Unfortunately, my daughter now has my MBP at college so I have my old Mac Pro G5. The syncing feature is so pathetically slow that I have taken it off auto and only sync manually.
Recently I have taken to using dropbox to hold works in progress because the syncing is instantaneous. When I get my new MBP however, I am sure al will be fine again.
Overall – I think that many people overlook iDisk. If you have anything that you really do not want to lose, then you should be using it.
“I agree that I’d rather pay $99/year than have ads.”
A-men. There is plenty of free services out there for people who don’t want to pay 99 bucks a year. Plus, I always find MM for 60-65 bucks on Amazon.
Funny how people would be screaming at the top of their lungs, the CIA was spying on their email account. They actually wouldn’t sell that info.
But if Gooooooogle does it and sells that info to anyone with buck…. NOOOOO PROBLEM!
Everything is overpriced in the eyes of a true cheapskate.
I don’t mind that it’s a pay service, but I do wish it was worth $99.
iDisk without an FTP client is still a joke.
Sounds like Apple was “felling our pain” when their prototype phone was lost. A nice touch to offer that great panic app. free to everyone. Thank you Apple. We all forget our phones somewhere at some point, or they get stolen.
Now when the App gets so detailed that it shows me which room of my house I left it in, in which pants pocket, THAT will be nice.
@Maclouie
“My favorite example is when housewives thought the price of ground beef was too high in the 60’s/70’s and all American housewives stopped buying beef. Guess what. Prices came back down.”
What? I an 70 years old. I asked my wife if this happened. She said she could not remember it either. So she called 7 of her close friends, and none of them could recall such a thing. Tried searching on Google. Could you provide us with where you got such a story?
Hey busy
Apple has “felled” my pain since the first 128 Mac back in 1984. And it still does today. AAPL too.
@HughB
I lived through the beef boycott. I saw it on TV. I heard the reports. That’s where I got the story.
Here are some facts that may explain some erroneous information on my part.
I think I was in high school. I dont think I was in jr. high and I dont think I was in college. That’s how I came up with the dates. Therefore, it would be 1967-1970.
I may have mispoken that it was nationwide. It may have been Los Angeles or California only. Afterall, I was a high school kid and my first love was not local/national/world news. But I remember the beef boycott.
Sorry if my first post had errors. I hope this post clarifies the facts as I know them. May explain why you and yours dont remember it.
Bottom line, want to reduce prices? Just boycott the product. Works everytime.
@HughB
I found this link. It might cover what I tried to describe with regards to beef, housewives, boycotts, and 1970!!!!
http://www.springerlink.com/content/l2202mk5u551k1q2/
BR,
maclouie
@Jason
“Why would anyone pay for MobileMe, which isn’t very good, when Google provides a free service.”
See below. Google does not provide all that MM does.
@Joke
“You guys who say you’d rather pay for this service are crazy. MobileMe is not worth 99 dollars…not even 50 with a discount.”
Call me crazy and I’m inclined to call you ignorant. If you don’t need all that MM does, then you’d be crazy to pay for it. But for my photography business, the ability to post my clients’ photos to secure galleries straight out of Aperture and update changed photos with a single click – that alone is worth the price of the whole package.
I also use MM for syncing contacts, calendars, Safari bookmarks & mail rules among my desktop, laptop & iPhone, hosting my website, email, automated online backup (Apple’s Backup app is very nice), and sharing files within my company.
Yeah, I could cobble together a partial solution with free services from Google, Drop Box and others. But, the convenience and integration of MM is cheap at the asking price.
@Majikthize
ditto.
I just because a MM user and it rocks! Everything is synced on all my devices and is available on-line and my wife doesn’t even know it. In other words, it works for her transparently. She maintains the family photos on her laptop and I get to see them or share them anywhere I am anytime. The new photos get added to the gallery without her thinking about it.
And contacts are sync’d on ALL devices with pictures.
Super Cool!
MM is mmmmmgood! Cheap with family plan and we all keep in synch.
@HughB
OK, so it was before I got married.
Here is the news article from 1973. Meat industry feel affects of housewife boycott:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19730402&id=qRozAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2TIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=6598,2901816
For those that think MM is too expensive, do what housewives do. But I guess you already are so what’s the beef?
The price is reasonable; wish the mail app on the iPhone had more bells & whistles tho
The whiners are screaming again. Free, free, free. Why should a premium service not have a fee attached to it? I suppose I wouldn’t mind a discount for long-term users, mind you.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> But I most certainly do not want a free – ie an ugly, distracting, ad- supported site. Moreover, all the features that go into MobileMe need to be included when one determines the cost of the product. This is far more then merely a fine a web-based e-mail client.
Common Apple update the iCal sync to mobile me so you can select individual calendars or iPhone users/ computers so you can get a shared calendar and not everyones personal calendar.
Maclouie
I went to your website and read the article. Here is what it says was effect was the boycotts:
“the boycott efforts and their inability to have more than a temporary remedial effect on the retail pricing practices which prompted the boycott actions. The paper ends with a discussion of the demise of the price-increase boycotts, a discussion which draws heavily on the changing role of American women in the late 20th century.”
Small local boycotts with no long term effects if any toward prices. Your remember wrong son.
@Majikthize
You nailed it. Could not have said it better. $8 a month is pretty cheap in my mind. My wife’s iPhone was lost (stolen probably) and we tracked that sucker down to a car in a parking lot. That alone was worth a years’ price. One embarrased kid, priceless.
@Ad-free MobileMe
You are sooo incorrect. MobileMe is NOT a premium service. It is substandard in almost every possible way. Mail is awful, iDisk is pathetic. There are many, many better options. MobileMe is for lemmings that simply do not know quality.