For the last few months I’ve been conducting an experiment, trying to figure out whether it better suited my needs to sync my iPhone 3G to my desktop computer, to my laptop, or to embrace the (potential) future and try to sync only over-the-air with the cloud (online services and storage).
First, a little about the contenders.
My MacBook is purposefully kept light. Aside from whatever temporary I’m working on at the time, it has almost nothing on it, including no media unless I’m actively watching it. It’s speed on-the-go with limited capacity.
My iMac is heavy duty and also serves as my media machine. It’s connected on one end to a Drobo and serves an Apple TV in the living room on the other. It’s pure power and content, but absolutely no portability.
My cloud is, well, the cloud — everything I keep on my MobileMe, iDisk and Apple keeps ready for me on their massive iTunes servers.
A month with each of them (Round Robin interuptus notwithstanding) and what were my results? Which have I stuck with (for now)? Read on to find out!
Good news, Windows PC users: Apple’s MobileMe News blog has just announced that they’ve finally put some shove into their Windows-side push:
We’ve recently improved the performance of MobileMe syncing with Microsoft Outlook on Windows. Contacts and calendars automatically sync whenever a change is made in Outlook, and likewise when a change is made on the web or from another device. To take advantage of this improvement make sure you’re using iTunes 8.0.2 and MobileMe Control Panel 1.3 and that you have “sync” set to occur “automatically” in the Control Panel.
Anyone out there tried it yet? How’s the performance?
The forum community here at TiPb keeps growing in numbers every day! With more and more great threads getting posted it’s been hard to try and keep up. Today on the forums, we have a few more good ones that you should definitely check out!
First thread up was started by Dizzy, Google Sync (Beta). For more information about Google Sync for iPhone be sure to check out Dieter’s post from the other day. I’m sure a lot of Gmail users are happy campers at this point.
This thread is pretty straight forward, Will you renew MobileMe? I know without hesitation I will be giving more money to Apple when the time comes. How about you?
Lastly, I’d like everyone to know about our iPhone Help forum. If you have any questions regarding the iPhone please head into this forum and post your issue or question. There are a so many knowledgeable forum members that are always willing to help you out.
In order to get in on the forum action you must register. It’s a quick painless process which can be done at this link right here.
Here’s a welcome surprise for you: Google has now created Google Sync for iPhone so that you can sync up your Google Contacts and Google Calendar. They are doing it by making their data look like an Exchange server — meaning that if you’re not already using Exchange on your iPhone for work, you can point it at Google’s servers (see full instructions here) to get your contacts and calendars pushed out to you. Nice? Nice.
Of course, if you’re already using Exchange for work but still want to get your Google data on your iPhone, you’d going to need to get a solution to sync your Google data down to your desktop and then get it from your desktop to your iPhone either via USB tether or via MobileMe. You can learn more about how the two work together in Rene’s excellent article on that very subject.
Now, Google, just get Gmail to look like Exchange and we’ll be happy campers. Actually, you know what, just fix IMAP, that’ll be enough.
Quick Update: As I just noted over at WMExperts, Google licensed Exchange Active Sync (EAS) from Microsoft, which is a shot at RIM but also, maybe, a shot at Apple. Rene just pointed out to me that given all of Google’s recent moves with the CalDAV/iCal system, they might have kept on pushing to make the stuff that Mac uses the industry standard. Instead, Google and Microsoft are suddenly working together on using EAS.
Yep, they’re not just iClone’ing phones anymore. The App Store is on everyone’s must rip list, and what else? It rhymes with iPhone and works a lot like MobileMe…
According to WMExperts, it’s Microsoft’s new My Phone (née SkyBox).
Okay, so the name re-un-de-breaks Microsoft’s usually mind-boggling branding — we’re guessing it harkens back to My Computer and My Documents of yore — and including not only PIM data but text messages, photos, videos, and device backup, is something we’d really like to see in the next version of MobileMe.
Our own editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, will be live and on location in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, so we expect he’ll send back all the details, but with everyone at Microsoft already using Exchange (heck, even Apple licenses it!) we have to wonder where My Phone fits in, what if any similar features ActiveSync might get as a result, and why it is exactly Microsoft insists on producing so many products with more overlap than a hair weave?
MobileMe was announced by Steve Jobs and demonstrated by Phil Schiller at WWDC 2008. Tagged originally as “Exchange for the rest of us”, a disastrous launch — where Apple tried to do too much at once, including the iPhone 3G, iPhone OS 2.0, and the App Store — and a problem with early computer-side syncing forced them to downgrade the promise of “push” to more of a gentle “nudge”.
Fast forward 6 months and MobileMe has grown through its pain becoming almost, though not quite, everything Apple promised it would be at WWDC. Web-based email, contacts, and calendar are synced in near-real time to and from the iPhone and the Mac (Windows mileage may vary). Photos function, and iDisk is beefier, but still functionally on par with its .Mac roots.
But what do the next 6 months hold? If we get new iPhone hardware in June, and iPhone OS 3.0 along with it, could Apple be ballsy enough to try and give us MobileMe Take 2 at the same time? And if they are, what do we want to see in it?
Welcome to 2009, where Microsoft will — at some point later this year or next — release versions of what Apple released in 2008!
Our frenemies over at WMExperts have the details, and we have the snide remarks:
SkyMarket looks to be the App Store done Microsoft’s way. Does that mean each app will ship in Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Really Professional, Ultimate, and 8 more server SKU’s?
SkyBox, which if MobileMe is “Exchange for the rest of us”, makes SkyBox “MobileMe for the same of you?”. We can only guess it’s a repackaging of Hosted Exchange and Live! services, so join in on the Sync Toy/Live Sync/Live Mesh/Azuze MPD-brandfusion. It will, reportedly, run on non-WinMo devices (which is actually a Very Nice Thing).
SkyLine, either a business version of SkyBox(!) or a Mobile clone of iDisk, depending on who’s reading the tea leaves.
Microsoft, like RIM, Google, and Palm have to go in this direction. Apple opened a floodgate with the AppStore, no doubt about it, so while we poke some friendly fun, we also hope this gives Apple more competition, like the new Palm Pre, so that Apple has to up their game and give us iPhone faithful more functionality faster than we might otherwise get.
Anyone racing to pick up an HTC FUZE and try it out?
While TiPb is still waiting on Mobile iChat (SchillerNote Macworld bullet-point perhaps?), at least MobileMe isn’t taking time off for the holidays. In addition to an update for their browser-side PIM services, fresh rumors abound of iWork — Apple’s word processing Pages, presentation making Keynote, and spread sheeting Numbers — going WebApps (think Google Docs with buttery Apple-crafted UI). Ars Technica says:
“Magic” could refer to a few things, but my best guess is that it will be a new iWork component or application that will allow some kind of online sharing, collaboration, or application access. It’s possible that Apple will indeed introduce iWork web application at the Macworld Expo, but if that’s the case then I think they’ll be offered as part of the existing suite, or as an add-on component, rather than as groundbreaking overhaul.
What seems more certain, and certainly handy, is this catch by TUAW:
Soon a new feature in iDisk will make it simple to share files too big for email. iDisk will automatically send a message with a simple link. The recipient will just click the link to download the file.
Official iDisk integration for the iPhone would be a nifty holiday treat as well. OS 2.3 please?
Outage prone PIM push service by day, crime busting super sync utility at night? Seems that way. According to TUAW, MobileMe whipped off its mild-mannered glasses and swooped down and caught an iPhone 3G thief!
While at the dry cleaner one day, Rob’s iPhone was stolen. He immediately chalked it up as gone forever, and proceeded to purchase a brand new one that same evening. It was the next day when unfamiliar contacts began to appear on the new phone. The (not-too-bright) thief was unwittingly supplying him with names and phone numbers of his or her closest friends, via the magic of MobileMe synchronization from the stolen phone to the cloud and eventually to his new phone. “It didn’t take long for me to realize that MobileMe was leading me right to the thief!” wrote Rob.
What’s next, saving the world from Steve Ballmer Lex Luthor?
What has the MobileMe team gone and gotten us for the holidays? Why, a slew of pre-New Year updates! Specific to the iPhone:
Resolved an issue that could cause some contacts to temporarily disappear on iPhone or iPod touch when syncing with MobileMe over an intermittent network connection; iPhone Software 2.2 is required to take full advantage of this
Improves reliability of new email notifications on an iPhone/iPod touch
Messages just deleted on iPhone, iPod touch, or a desktop mail application now update more quickly on webmail
And, most importantly to Mac users who previously saw the “push” and “Exchange for the rest of us” labels vanish in a cloud of, er… more like 15 min…
Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac sync automatically within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at www.me.com; Mac OS X 10.5.6 is required
Well, they had me at “Back to My Mac” and “Sync”, but if you’re a MobileMe user, is this enough to get you to renew? If you’re not, is it enough to get you to sign up?
