RSSMore trouble for Apple as MobileMe users locked out of e-mail
By Ed Oswald | Published July 21, 2008, 5:15 PM
In what is proving to be one of Apple's more problematic product launches since the G4 Cube, the company is now admitting some MobileMe users are unable to access their e-mail accounts.
AOL's
One reader who called into Apple support was told by a representative that the company was aware of the problem, and that a fix was at least two to three days away.
On the MobileMe support site, a message has been posted that states "1% of MobileMe members cannot access MobileMe Mail. We apologize for any inconvenience." It lists all other services as fully operational.
Angry customers have been posting on Apple's support board, reporting a variety of issues not limited to mail malfunction.
"I've tried accessing MobileMe via Safari and Firefox and while all other internet operations seem to be running fine this transition from .Mac is making my head hurt," user 'j.mcg' posted.
Others questioned the need for the switch, saying .Mac worked well enough. Some were even threatening to cancel their accounts over the various problems. BetaNews tests of MobileMe Monday afternoon showed that all applications seemed to be working properly. However, we did note some slowness.
Outages aren't the only issue the company is facing. Apple sent an e-mail out this week to some European customers who found they had been charged for MobileMe, despite only opening a trial account (.Mac did not require a credit card for the 30-day trial). The problem primarily affected those who signed up using a debit card, and Apple apologized for placing a hold on their funds, which could be unavailable for between a week and a month, it said.
Apple already reached out to its customers due to the problems it had been experiencing with the switch from .Mac to MobileMe. Most customers will be eligible for a 30-day extension of their memberships, the company said last week. Those whose credit or debit cards were pre-authorized with a hold of over $1 will receive another free 30 days.
The company reports its quarterly earnings tonight, where it will likely discuss the ongoing MobileMe transition problems.
What is great is their online chat.. the guys there know their stuff well and checked my mailbox and all.. was also able to fix an issue or two. So thumbs up at least for that!
For now my exchange server has to prevail a few more.. well.. weeks i hope.
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|Well.. guess what.. I am off-line again. This is just too ret@rded for words! I notice that the issues come whenever I am sorting out large mails.. the sjiz hangs and thats that.. log out.. back in.. either Service Unavailable or endless loops.. of nothing.
I am asking for a refund.. not sure how and where.. but I will certainly try as this service is lame!
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|Interesting stuff.
The more people use Apple's computers and services, the more the public's perception (largely influenced by their marketing) of "it just works" is beginning to fade.
It's amazing what a little reality check will do once in a while.
*gasp*
You mean Apple's just another company? Prone to the same mistakes and weaknesses of any other company?
Heh...
Ooh, the humanity.
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|It has "Me" in the title what do people expect? (Think Windows Me)
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|This is now the 5th day.
People tried to state that simple truth on Apple discussion forums this morning. Such threads were deleted by Apple censorship as soon as they had been published. They didn't want to see "5th day" anywhere. I had created one such thread, the same happened to it.
Now they found a better solution: Apple pulled the plug. If you try to connect to Apple discussion forums, there is a yellow post-it "We'll be back soon" and the message: "We are busy updating Apple Discussions for you and will be back soon"
I just can't believe it!
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|Yup, Apple pulled the plug alright. Most online news boards have found out about the issue and has been referencing the discussion forums. Now people who would want to check it out will just stare at a yellow post it note.
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|Well Whoop-di-do! I am no longer part of the 1% iGotNoMobileMe :-)
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|Same here. Love Apple. Love their Products. HATE what is happening with MobileMe.. second day now that I can't access my mailbox.. and of course just after I consolidated two other accounts (MSN and Gmail) to go with 'just' MobileMe.
They should let us use the service for free if it is in Beta state.
Who is with me here?
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|I can understand problems with software but I can't understand the treatment Apple has given me (and thousands of others). I purchased .MAC which worked fine. They switched me to Mobile Me which has had me locked out of my email account since last Thursday evening. I also purchased Customer Support. They don't seem to work either !!!!
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|It's too bad that Apple is having such problems with this device right now but I think it can be expected.
It was a huge launch and with the size of this type of launch you're going to always have a few problems. Soon they'll have everything sorted out and everybody will be back to hounding MS for all their problems.
You can find lots of Free iPhone Wallpapers on http://www.mobilejacz.com
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|i think people need to grow some balls. mobileme is one of the first times that a company makes a service like this available to the common man. people should cut apple some slack and start realizing how hard and how big it is to maintain a service like this completely flawles, its brand new, and its an excelent concept and its also the first time that is made available in such and easy and convenient way. so people stop being such pu***** and if theres trouble at first then just realx and dont let the "headache" monster take your balls away again.
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|I would like to explain a bit what's really going on.
The transition for me was just a few hours interruption. Not bad I would say for such a large scale switch. They gave 30 days free. I didn't expect it. It's pretty cool given the little problems I had. Everything went smoothly for a week, until Friday afternoon.
All of a sudden, no email access. Thought it would be just a few hours. But then people who could get to chat with support were told they were not provided with any ETA... Then the message that was saying that 1% was down and they'd repair asap, was replaced by just 1% is down... And no information beyond "your account is stored on a server that is down, sorry for the inconvencience" It went on like this for 4 consecutive days so far. No access to my primary email. No information!
Maybe the concept of MobileMe is cool and grandiose and high tech. But I didn't ask for it. I was perfectly fine with .mac. Apple sent an email a few days before saying that basically it would be a very easy upgrade. Well, the transition itself was fine for me. But a week later, 4 days interruption, just saying that one (1) server is down, and oh sorry, your account is on it. What is taking them so long to restart it? What kind of "premium" service is that?
Maybe we're only 1%... at some point it said 2%. But still, who would accept having a 1% chance that if their email goes down, they won't access it at all for 4 or 5 days. When that's your primary email, it can be pretty dramatic depending on the emails you're waiting for, and to which you should answer immediately.
So "grow some balls" that's easy to say when you're not in that situation. I'm waiting for documents from the US embassy for my work-visa renewal... do you see the kind of consequences it could have for me if it continues too long? We still don't have a date as to when it is going to be restored. And friends who sent me emails asked me why they were bouncing back... The embassy officers must think I'm willing to "disappear"... great, great, great!!!
Addition: When I connect on MobileMe/Storage Settings, it now says in front of the email section: 0 MB....... Tell me they haven't lost everything!!!
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|"mobileme is one of the first times that a company makes a service like this available to the common man"...
Seriously?! Do some homework, there are a lot of companies that are hosting Microsoft Exchange (for free or for fee) and have been doing so flawlessly for years now. I have a WinMobile 6.1 device and have been syncing to both my corp exchange server and my personal, hosted exchange server for at least 3 years now (starting back with WinMobile 2003). To say that this is one of the first times that a service like this has been available is just wrong...
"people should cut apple some slack and start realizing how hard and how big it is to maintain a service like this completely flawles, its brand new, and its an excelent concept and its also the first time that is made available in such and easy and convenient way."
Again, read above... While everyone loves to bash MS, at least Exchange server and services that have been built around it work and for the most part they work pretty flawlessly...
"so people stop being such pu***** and if theres trouble at first then just realx and dont let the "headache" monster take your balls away again."
Ok, I don't know what planet you live on, but when email is down for a few hours, it is generally considered acceptable... When it is down for days, it is generally considered very unacceptable. Considering that there are people who actually use their iPhones for business (both calls and email), this would be disasterous for the small company that is relying on this service to work.
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|Quick! Restart the server!
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|This is a very tame version of what's really going on. Describing the transition to MobileMe as rocky was an understatement. It was a nightmare. Various issues have come up after the switch, email problems is just one of them. I am very dissatisfied and disappointed. Apple can take back the 30-day free membership extension. That offer is insulting.
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|I thought apple stuff "just worked"???
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|I think that only applies to popular and trendy Apple stuff.
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