While noted Windows pundit Paul Thurrott might be an out-of-the-closet iPhone lover, it seems his experiences with, and feelings for, MobileMe have been more towards the negative.
There have certainly been problems with MobileMe, and Apple has reached out to users as Casey posted yesterday. Now Thurrott has a leaked Apple sales note, reportedly sent out to redefine their language in light of these problems:
MobileMe Messaging Update
MobileMe messaging is being updated effective immediately. In order to set appropriate expectations with our customers, focus your sales discussion on “automatic sync” rather than “push.” Additionally, we will no longer describe MobileMe as “Exchange for the rest of us.”
When discussing the sync features of MobileMe, you may tell a customer that:
Updates between me.com and iPhone or iPod touch will occur in a matter of seconds.
Updates between me.com and Macs running Mac OS X Leopard and Windows PCs may take up to 15 minutes when MobileMe is set to sync automatically (Macs running Mac OS X Tiger may experience longer sync times).
Ouch! Want some double-ouch with a hefty side dish of rant? Check out Thurrott’s complete post where he focuses on lack of IE7 and Firefox support and, in part, takes David Pogue’s iPhone 3G review out for a ride…
Is Thurrott justified given Apple’s painful and still botched MobileMe roll-out? Or is he upset the mass-media is still dissing on Vista and wants to throw some fire Apple’s way? Little of both?
Out of the closest iPhone lover Paul Thurrott of the Supersite for Windows got his beige-boxy hands on pre-release version of the iPhone 2.0 software update and the pre-requisite iTunes 7.7 software, and ran the upgrade process through its paces.
His verdict?
[Installing the 2.0 upgrade] is a multi-step and time-consuming process but is largely hands-off. [...] There’s a new App Store icon on the home screen, for example, and the Mail application includes prominent links to Microsoft Exchange and MobileMe account types. [...] The old iPod Games entry in the Source list [of iTunes 7.7] has changed to App Store, for example, though selecting it now, before the July 11 launch, displays only whatever iPod Games you’ve purchased. [...] I’ll have a lot more to say about this impressive upgrade in the weeks ahead. So far, so good.
Check out his upgrade gallery, and massive iPhone 2.0 screenshot galleries.
Out of the closest iPhone lover and WinSuperSite maven Paul Thurrott once again proved a picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to just some of the complaints TiPb and our readers have leveled at the new MobileMe branding.
Particularly poignant, coming from the man behind the site in front of Windows, the above logos show how linking The Next Big Thing to The Last (Before Vista) Big Flop maybe wasn’t the best marketing discussion in the world.
In related news, what does Thurrott think of the new iPhone 3G?
I’d like to point out a simple bit of advice, and I cannot stress this enough: You need to get an iPhone. Sooner rather than later. With Apple dropping the entry price on this innovative device to just $200, while fixing all of the major issues I described in How Apple Can Fix the iPhone in 2008, there are precious few reasons to ignore this seismic shift in mobile and cloud computing. (One potential reason is the cost of the data plan: It looks like the minimum monthly outlay for an iPhone in the US is going to be $70 before taxes, about $10 more than it was before.) I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The iPhone is a dramatically important computing platform and one you should not ignore. Trust me, once you’ve used an iPhone, that Blackberry or Windows Mobile device you’re settling on now will seem like ancient Soviet-era technology by comparison.
