Apple
Apple posted its third quarter fiscal earnings yesterday, and on that same conference call, Apple mentioned that the next rollout of iPhones internationally would be on 22nd August 2008. This next wave will rollout across 20 countries, and my inkling is that Singapore would be one of them.
Read about this at Macworld
From the first wave, we already know it didn’t go smoothly. Launch day itself in US was marred by activation delays. In UK, things were awfully similar.
I hope Singtel would be ready for mayhem should there by delays like this.
Now, there’s only 31 days to go.
(give me my iphone already!)
iTools was the first internet service provided by Apple, and that was a significant landmark in the evolution and history of Apple. iTools marked the first attempt by Apple to provide it’s users with a space and purpose in the online realm – this was back in 2000. As a value-added service, Every Mac OS 8 or 9 user then could have an email that ends with “@mac.com”, and it was totally free!
Two years later on 17th July 2002 at Macworld New York, Steve Jobs announced iTools was to be rebranded as .Mac, and it was to be a paid service. It caused a furor amongst the mac community because if you don’t subscribe, you will lose your coveted mac.com email address. Some have speculated that .Mac was seen as a response to Microsoft’s .Net suite of services, but it was marketed as an extension of your digital life if you’re a mac user.
.Mac was quite groundbreaking back in 2002. The initial offering included Homepage for publishing your own online web page, iDisk for 1Gb worth of online storage space, Backup for users to backup data into CDs or DVDs and lastly, an online greeting card service known as iCards.
Over the years, .Mac had seen it’s fair share of upgrades. In 2006, .Mac mail service was rebuilt to look a lot like your Mail application in OS X, which included live updating and drag-and-drop functionalities. In 2007, along with iLife, online storage was increased to 10Gb for basic subscribers and a new web gallery to show the photos and movies you made with your Mac.
Fast forward a little more to recent history – 9th June 2008. At WWDC, Apple announced that .Mac is to be discontinued, to give way to the birth of MobileMe. With the iPhone, MobileMe is the next evolution of the service. Your space online is now at Me.com. Available to to windows users as well, MobileMe offers a (almost) complete and near-instantaneous integration between your Mail, Address Book and iCal applications on your Mac to your iPhone and any computer with an internet access.
MobileMe walked it’s first steps 8 years ago as a free service formerly known as iTools. Given the history, I’m quite certain that this incarnation will see many more improvements and features in the years to come. What started as a service meant to add a little value to every Mac user, it is now the last remaining piece of software that completes the entire experience of the iPhone and user, regardless of whether you’re a Mac or PC owner.
iTools to .Mac to MobileMe. What’s could be next?
This came in my mail today:
We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.
Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.
Another snag we have run into is our use of the word “push” in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe “cloud,” changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word “push” until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.
We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.
We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.
Thank you,
The MobileMe Team
At least Apple admitted their mistake, despite an initial silence after a major uproar from the community.
Well, it seems to suggest that real “push” could come in the future. Oh well, at least I get a 30-day extension. Give me my iPhone already!
Finally, me.com is live!
Me.com is used to be Apple’s dotmac service, and with the announcement of the 3G iPhone, underwent a complete overhaul to what is now known as “MobileMe”, a complete suite of online applications that syncs your email, address book and calender functions across all your mac and iPhone or iPod Touch. Any changes you make, whether its on the move via the iPhone or at home on a mac will be synced straight across.
Push technology is great!
Also, if you’re a subscriber to dotmac, your online storage space is automatically doubled to 20Gb. Which just means that you can store more files on your iDisk.
Once again, Apple’s software integration with hardware trumps all the other supposed smart phones in the market. With integration like this, and a whole new bunch of apps available for the iPhone, I’m definitely not keen on even looking at other any smart phones in the market, especially those running Windows Mobile.
Now, the final piece is set. iPhone, I’m ready for you!
Check out MobileMe here.
Apple released iTunes 7.7 today. Updating your iTunes simply prepares you for the new iPhone 3G about to be released.
If you click around the iTunes store, you will notice that the Singapore Store is up and running.
However, a quick glance will tell you that the Singapore store only contains apps that run on the iPhone and iPod Touch. No music, no videos. Bleah.
Well, at least its a step in the right direction. There’s a couple of free apps, like the Apple Remote that lets you use your iPhone to control iTunes or AppleTV. For social networkers, there’s also a Facebook app, and a Twitter app.
For gamers, there’s a whole catalogue of casual games to keep you busy on your MRT ride. Prices of apps cost between $0.00 to $9.99, which I think is pretty reasonable.
We’re now one milestone closer to the actual launch in Singapore. I’m definitely holding my breath for this one. Now I just wished that when they do launch, the store would have music and videos.
