Apple gives MobileMe subscribers more free time

By Ed Oswald | Published August 19, 2008, 3:35 PM

Subscribers who have remained with MobileMe through its continued growing pains will be rewarded with another 60 days free, bringing the total free time to 90 days.

To be eligible for the new extension, customers must be enrolled members by midnight Tuesday. Those who have already enrolled will see their free trial periods extended another 60 days.

Apple will begin issuing the extensions Tuesday, which will be applied to all accounts within the next few days.

For those who signed up with MobileMe on its launch date, trials that should have ended in September will now end in December, giving these users a total of five free months of service.

"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped," the company said in a notice to users this morning. "While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards."

It appears as if Apple intends to be aggressive in ensuring MobileMe's success isn't scuttled by these problems so early in its life cycle, even going as far as to take a financial hit to appease its customers.

Steve Jobs has also spoken to the subject, going as far as to send out an internal e-mail acknowledging the service's issues, and making changes to the management structure to make Apple more responsive to problems.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

I can imagine Steve Jobs screaming to everyone there at Apple Co.

Score: 0

|

So I guess that means we need to hurry up and run out and sign up now so we can get more free time on a technology that is having a 'few' growing pains.

I will try to remember that...after I run out and buy a new $220+ TSA certified briefcase.

Score: 0

|

EC's Kroes to US senators: Mind your own business on Oracle + Sun

If the AP is accurate, the EU's antitrust chief just told the United States Senate that any merger that takes place in the world is more her affair than theirs.

What does AT&T's 'Mark the Spot' app say about service quality?

That's a question for Betanews readers to answer in comments to this post.

Windows fix for TLS security bug still forthcoming, won't be Tuesday

Anyone looking for a fix for last month's discovery of a potentially serious security hole in TLS and SSL may have to wait until everyone is ready to act together.

Google rolls out real-time search, Near Me Now, extended personalization

Over time, searches from PCs and mobile phones will grow even "more personalized." But what about user privacy and search results that give you "the truth"?

Betanews Podcast: Rupert Murdoch and the buying stuff online problem

We'll have a more difficult time paying for online news if the underlying protocol for online payment has a big gaping hole in it.

Not the first, not the last, technology predictions for 2010

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: The real truth is probably that what went around in 2009, will come around to haunt us next year.

Google Goggles: Hands on with the Shazam of the Real World

Google today unveiled Goggles, its visual search lab for Android devices that identifies objects by sight.

Microsoft: Windows 7 Family Pack wasn't 'pulled,' it just sold out

If you hurry, you may still be able to find the last Family Pack upgrade editions hanging around retail store shelves, but probably not so much online.

Clever iPhone game returns after being bumped over a name dispute

The game's simple concept and multitude of platforms and puzzles manage to pull off a retro, 8-bit style that's reminiscent of an old Atari game given a modern makeover.

Intel's marriage of CPU and GPU not ready for prime time

Although there will be an Intel component this month that can compute and plot in parallel, Betanews was told today, it won't be based on Project "Larrabee."

An alternative to Research in Motion's enterprise e-mail? There's an app for that

Good Technology today released an iPhone app compatible with its enterprise e-mail solution.