Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | June 6, 2011, 2:47pm PDT

Summary: Apple’s iCloud announcement might be music to the ears of many, but those with current MobileMe subscriptions have been left confused as to what’s going to happen after MobileMe shuts down June 30th 2012.

Apple’s iCloud announcement might be music to the ears of many, but those with current MobileMe subscriptions have been left confused as to what’s going to happen after MobileMe shuts down June 30th 2012.

Apple’s discussion forums are a-buzz. Three questions stand out …

Question #1 - What about people who’ve paid for MobileMe?
There is a refund policy in place. Some people have already received refunds, others not.

Question #2 - What happens to files stored on iDisk?
Unknown. This is a big deal as some people have used iDisk as a way to host files (such as images) for websites. Apple’s transition document says nothing.

Question #3 - What happens between MobileMe shutting down and iCloud starting?
Unknown. We know that users get free MobileMe until the end of June 2012 and that iCloud should kick off this fall, but what the transition process will involve is not known.

iCloud might be cool, but the MobileMe customers feel they are caught up in transition hell.

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Xcerion iCloud, Apple MobileMe, Mobile Operating Systems, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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IDisk, IWeb components

mobilemeuserforyears 29th Apr

As a longtime Mac user and Mobile Me person, what is confusing is for folks who use the Public Folder and the hosting for IWEB sites. Apples sold an idea, many folks bought into it, and now they are ending something that is equivalent to ITUNES to some people. To simply end something is wrong. They should offer ICLOUD as "another" service available. Why create chaos for loyal customers?

To have to upload IWEB sites to and FTP is crazy. IWEB was invented so Mac users would not have to do that. To end the availability of Public Folders is a major headache for creative people who have pictures, music, etc stored there.

This is very un-apple like. When the user has to cope, make arrangements to transition--this is the opposite of how things have been. This is a Windows-like experience when the user has to deal with this.

Not to mention, ending IWEB is pretty interesting. A great app, that many use--now being gone. Can you imagine ending Itunes or Imovie, or Garageband? I currently host 3 IWEB websites. Now I have to spend a day on the phone transferring sites, etc. This is a headache.

I am hoping Apple revisits this decision.

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This is covered at Macworld

oncall Updated - 6th Jun

Existing me.com customers will have their accounts automatically extended at no charge until June 6, 2012. If you already purchased an me.com activation code you can get a refund.
h t t p : / / support.apple.com/kb/HT4597

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Contributr

There still mystery over ...

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes 7th Jun

@oncall ... refunds ... not everyone seems to have had one. Also, what happens to iDisk. How Family accounts will be slip is also a mystery.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@Adrian Kingsley-Hughes I am currently on a one year free from Apple due to issues I had last year so not looking for a refund but am curious about family accounts. Am also curious how everything will get transferred over. My MobileMe login into does not match my iTunes account info so how are they going to connect the two?

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

Aknet 6th Jun

Already spoken to Apple Customer care, my account which was due to renew in September, gets no refund. iCloud which is now free, well we just lost exclusive rights to use a product that is now available to the public, good show Apple, good show...

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@Aknet I cloud probably won't go live until after your renewal date so what do you lose?

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

Droid101 6th Jun

LOL

Apple users, ripped off for years. Awesome.

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Oh, I don't know

use_what_works_4_U 7th Jun

@Droid101
I have a MobileMe account that I kept around for the convenience factor. At ~$8 a month I thought it was worth it until this year. I was planning on letting the account expire in October. Now that account is extended at no charge for an additional 8 months after the date it would have otherwise lapsed.

I'm not sure if I will use iCloud or not yet, but being handed 8 months of service that I wasn't expecting is hardly what I would call getting "ripped off".

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

Pete "athynz" Athens 7th Jun

@Droid101 How do you figure that? Go ahead and explain it to us if you can.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

moses007 7th Jun

@athynz the fact that you have been paying ~$10 a month for garbage for an indefinite amount of time?

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@athynz When had he ever explained any of his posts let alone back them up with an facts.

@moses007 I don't feel ripped off for paying what ended up being $4.50 a month from the point I started using it to the point it will end in a year. The convenience that it gave was worth at least four times that cost.

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@Adrian Some Help Please

MichaelWells 6th Jun

@Adrian

Have you heard anything related to support in iCloud for iWeb? That is the primary reason I have been a Mobile Me subscriber.

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iWeb doesn't need iCloud

use_what_works_4_U 7th Jun

@MichaelWells
Most of the iWeb users I deal with export their iWeb sites to a folder structure and then upload that to the web site space provided by their ISP. It's not a one click, but it's not tough either unless your ISP makes it so.

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Thank you

MichaelWells 7th Jun

@macadam

I will try that solution. I did actually get my email answered by Steve Jobs and he said it will not be supported in iCloud.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

james347 6th Jun

Maybe you are, but they are not.

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Apple is treating their most loyal customers like DIRT!!

KenziK 6th Jun

I just renewed our family plan in April. I am an apple fan but very disgusted on how this seems to be working.... when looking at the refund link.... it only says BOXED subscriptions... I auto-renewed because I have been a faithful mobileme customer for years. I certainly didn't support mobileme because it was a good product... I supported it because it was apple and i supportED apple. but now it appears I am S.O.L... way to treat your loyal customers. This is not a good way to introduce icloud to me!!!! What a waste of 150 dollars.... for what? an email address for 2.5 months???? I could have gotten that free with gmail. I'm ready to tell them they can keep their icloud if this is the way they treat loyal customers.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

mikegraham8 7th Jun

@KenziK Seriously, did you bother reading the email you received from Apple yesterday? You just got a free few months of MobileMe to prepare yourself for the transition. Why would you want a refund? Please explain that to me.

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Check your email

use_what_works_4_U 7th Jun

@KenziK
Apple sent us all an email yesterday explaining that our MobileMe accounts will be converted to iCloud and available until June 2012. You get the year you paid for, plus a bit on the new service. You were not ripped off, you were extended.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

geoff@... 7th Jun

@KenziK
Ditto for me as well, auto-renewed in April, feeling betrayed. The offering of extending my family account to June 2012 is miniscule and insulting. if Apple said I get iCloud for 5 years that would be more like for the $150 I got billed. I will be contacting Apple to share my displeasure.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

eak2000 7th Jun

@geoff@...
You do get iCloud for 5 years... and more. It's free.

I called Apple yesterday and asked. The official Word is that you get MobileMe through the end of June 2012... AKA 1 year from now plus change. During that time, you can convert to iCloud whenever you want. Once your subscription is up (plus the extra month or so you just scored for free), you will not have the option of renewing, but you can keep your email etc by switching to iCloud.

Before you go calling apple and getting angry (like I did) and then feeling stupid, you might want to actually learn about what's going on. There is lots of info on Apple's websites.

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Confusing...

Ben_E Updated - 6th Jun

I have been a MobileMe customer for a couple of years now. Like KenziK above I let mine auto-renew. I'm not terribly worried about the transition as my renewal date is late October, very close to the iCloud deployment date, so I'll get my full year's sub worth of usage, plus the free time for transition.

I am a little bit concerned about the aggressiveness of the strategy, although maybe I shouldn't be surprised this being Apple. Whilst core components are being transitioned across (Mail, Calendar, Gallery etc.) there are worries about retaining data (they never did very well moving the online Calendar over to the newer system).

Also, iCloud has 5Gb data allowance. A MobileMe sub has 20Gb. As a goodwill gesture, all existing MobileMe subscribers should at least get the same data storage capacity to enable a smoother transition.

Finally, are some of the other features of MobileMe going to have an analogous component in iCloud? iDisk is already a point of concern. What about the Gallery features such as e-mail upload? This, along with the iPhoto sync, was incredibly useful when I got married recently. We put the album web address and the e-mail upload address on the back of our wedding programmes and have so far collected almost 1000 photos, which all auto-download into my iPhoto and sort into time/date order automatically. Will things like this be available under iCloud?

And finally (seriously this time) - the e-mail that came out last night (or yesterday afternoon if you're stateside) stated again that iCloud is for iOS5 and OS X Lion customers only. Lion excludes all Macs with processors older than Core 2 Duo. iOS5 excludes the first 2 generations of iPhone. I am sure there will be a percentage of MobileMe customers who are therefore ineligible for iCloud but for whatever reason may not be able (or want) to upgrade in the time window (e.g. financial etc.). What happens to those poor sods? For those who find MobileMe very useful (like myself) but are using older hardware (I'm not in that group thankfully), it forces an upgrade.

I can't decide whether to say "Well played Apple. Well played." or make a point that Apple's increased userbase means they have to be more careful about these forced transitions and obsolesences. This one is particularly nasty if you fall outside of Apple's designated favoured group.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

sorbothegeek 7th Jun

@Ben_E "Forced?" Really? Come now. Is Apple going to automatically debit your account? Of course not! You're not "forced" to spend anytime money. You're making this decision of your own free will. Look around in this world. *Everything* eventually becomes obsolete. The 2nd car I ever owned was a 1965 Volvo Stationwagon. I chose to upgrade. I wasn't forced. I wanted newer technology (airbags, ABS brakes).

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

Ben_E 7th Jun

@sorbothegeek
Yes, that doesn't really work as an analogy does it? A better analogy would be passing a law saying that after a certain date the 1965 Volvo was no longer allowed or even able to run on the roads. You can buy better and newer cars, but if you find that there is something about that car you want to keep or that you won't necessarily get on newer vehicles then you don't have to upgrade.

But with this transition, the feature set of MobileMe isn't necessarily being transferred wholesale to iCloud. So some people will be left in a difficult situation. On top of that, you have to be running the latest Apple software on your devices, which may not be able to take it. And Apple hardware ain't cheap. So, should a forced change in the one service mean a potential large outlay elsewhere?

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@Ben_E You can't guarantee that any system will be compatible with all future services. I see where you are coming from but if somebody is willing to pay $99+ a year for the MobileMe service do you think they can't upgrade their phone? The latest OS update required for this service will run on devices that have been available for two years now. That being said the MobileMe service will continue to operate for another year which means even if the customer is using say an iPhone 3G they still have a year to use the service they signed up for. They won't be able to use iCloud but they will be able to use the service that they signed up for until the point that their model of phone is 4 years old. No service from an company in any industry is guaranteed to go on forever, that is a fact of life.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

mikegraham8 Updated - 7th Jun

Seems most of those posting here are morons. Sorry, but Apple is giving you until June of 2012 to make your transition to iCloud. Your me.com address stays the same and it will be free. Why can't any of you understand the world changes? Can any of you really explain to me how Apple is ripping you off or doing anything wrong to you?

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

JCinLondon 7th Jun

@mikegraham8
My wife and I have been members since iTools days. My wife has a Core Duo Macbook. She has been using a .mac addy for maybe 9 years. Her Macbook won't be able to run Lion. She is therefore ineligible for iCloud, and your assurances that her address will stay the same, free or not, are therefore redundant. She has been paying for the service all these years, even throughout the Dotmac to MobileMe debacle, because the continuity of her email address is important to her, but at the end of June 2012 she has to either have a new Mac or IoS device (unfortunately she only has an iPhone 3G so she's out of luck on that front as well), or she will be shown the door.

You may not think it's a big deal, but she will undeniably be in a worse position than she is now.

I don't think you need to refer to people as morons just because you don't agree with them, especially if they're right and you're not.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@JCinLondon Is there any requirement to buy a new device to continue using the email address? She doesn't have to use the other services that come with iCloud but should be able to continue to use the email address just fine on previous versions of the OS.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

eak2000 7th Jun

@mikegraham8

Thank you. Seriously.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

Rich2020 7th Jun

Umm. Thats really bright of Apple. Launch some new fangled "free" service, and forget about the existing customers. Newsflash Steve Jobs - you haven't got it right this time either you turtleneck twit. You have to take your existing customers with you. Or have you forgotten us?

Really Apple doesn't have the balls to admit what it is doing. Its closing MobileMe and replacing it with iCloud. If you use MobileMe too bad. Is that progress? Is that listening? No.

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Companies change services as products evolve

use_what_works_4_U 7th Jun

@Rich2020
Companies change services as products evolve - deal with it. How's that GeoCities site holding up? How about the analog cell phone that actually works better where I live? What about replacing those Air Jordans that fit perfectly right out of the box?

MobileMe was a disaster that never worked properly. Apple decided to replace a bad product with a good one. The feature set is not identical, but they are keeping the core functionality for another year. How long do other web services give customers to transition when they close?

This isn't ideal for everyone, but we are talking about a for profit entity ditching a product that never measured up. If you expect Apple (or Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, WalMart etc...) to cater their product offerings around a failing product which is an embarrassment to said company because a very small group can't go out and find something else, well follow the yellow brick road because there's only one guy who grant you your wish.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@Rich2020 I'm a MobileMe user and I certainly do not feel they are forgetting about me. I will get everything I used with MobileMe plus more and now it will be free. Sounds pretty good to me but of course it's obvious by your post you have something against Apple and/or Steve Jobs so no matter what they do it won't meet your approval.

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Apple provides controlled transitions

Ken_z 7th Jun

Apple gives you plenty of time to transition to iCloud and is not charging for any part of that time that is outside of your current subscription.

You can move over to iCloud on Day One, along with a lot of others, or you can wait a bit, clean up your files and then make the transition.

Personally I'll wait until I have Lion and iOS 5 installed. That will significantly simplify the move.

I also believe that Apple will release more information, such as the ability to have more than 5GB of extra storage.

And, because Apple is delivering iCloud APIs to developers, I believe we will be seeing the developers bring features to their products fairly fast.

All in all I see no reason to get mad today. No one is being financially ripped off because Apple delivers free MobileMe to ensure you are treated fairly.

Let's wait and see else is added before getting angry.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

braveheartwilliam@... 7th Jun

Why should I buy a new iPhone when mine works just fine -- or is Apple counting on my iPhone 3G expiring by June 30, 2012.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@braveheartwilliam@... Why should you buy? I can see one very obvious reason, if you want to use iCloud. If you do then upgrade if you don't then stick with your 3G, pretty simple.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

kmberger Updated - 7th Jun

I have used iDisk to host pdfs made available on a blog, I use the gallery to share photos with friends, and I host a personal web page on my iDisk as well. iCloud does none of these things for me, and now I will be forced to find new alternatives, some of which may be far more expensive for me in the long-run than mobileMe was. I appreciate some of the new features iCloud will provide, but I don't WANT all my photos on every device I own. My computer is a laptop, and I don't want to have it syncing constantly when I open it up to work. I like to sync WHAT I want synced, when I want it to sync! Overall, this one is not a step forward for me.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@kmberger You don't happen to mention how much of the iDisk space you use to maybe iCloud will still solve most if not all your needs. Of course if it can't there are obvious and widely know free services out there to handle each and everyone of your needs. Might have to pay to host your website but that's far cheaper than MobileMe cost.

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I'm With Mobile Me and I'm Not Concerned.

danieljcox Updated - 7th Jun

Adrian,

It's always interesting how any time I see something that has a negative Apple slant, it's most often times written by you. "Caught up in Transition hell" Are you kidding? Nothing has even started yet. How can anybody be caught up in Transition Hell when there isn't even anything to transition to at this time? I've been a Mobile Me user for years and I'm confident Apple will get this all worked out properly. If they don't then that will be the time to complain but why whine before then? Lets let them do there thing and see how it goes and give them credit for the great tools they have brought to all of us. Just for the record, I used windows machines for nearly twenty five years and I'm extremely grateful for Apple's presence in the world of technology.

Daniel J. Cox
www.naturalexposures.com

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

ramien43@... 7th Jun

And this is why we want to go to the 'Cloud'. Vendor decides to change rules. Your data, not sure. Nice policies.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@ramien43@... And nobody lost anything so what is your point? It's not like Apple said thanks for being a MobileMe customer but we just shut the service down and you can not get your files back.

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I plan to ditch it anyway

jscott418 7th Jun

I never liked MobileMe. It was too expensive and buggy. I have found other free alternatives. Don't plan on using the iCloud either. Apple too me just keeps inovating towards getting users into a even more closed system. I do not embrace Apple that much.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

peaceout 7th Jun

Hummm,
What happened to people who did not renew their mobile me in time ? ( a few weeks off ) but still wanted to renew for at least their email address... Well looks like their can kiss goodbye that email address.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@peaceout My thought, if they really wanted to keep the address they would have made sure to renew before it expired regardless of what is going on with iCloud.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

seriouscoffee 8th Jun

Am I missing something? I just renewed my mobileme subscription (after 2 years of patchy service and problematic technical service leading to downtime and manually re-doing my database). I paid full price. Now its a free product. How do I get a refund on a renewal? I didn't renew via a mobileme box just online.

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RE: MobileMe customers confused by iCloud transition

non-biased 10th Jun

@seriouscoffee Wasn't there a link in the article? Besides, even if you renew next week (which they won't let you do at this point) you would still get a year of the service.