Apple's MobileMe, Designed for Consumers, Could Be Potential Headache for IT Managers
Apple's recent rollout of its integrated Web app and synchronization services, an early effort to join the cloud computing trend, focuses on the consumer too much to be a good business platform. That means MobileMe gives IT managers another application to worry about.
Apple, which did not respond to requests for comment, initially advertised the service as a business-friendly alternative to Microsoft's Exchange messaging platform.
"Think of MobileMe as 'Exchange for the rest of us,'" Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement announcing the service in June. "Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push e-mail, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get."
The company has backed away from the "push" concept, which suggests instantaneous transfer, according to The New York Times and other media reports.
The rollout of MobileMe, which happened on July 11 the same day as the release of Apple's next-generation iPhone 3G, initially caused some significant issues. Users could not connect to the service for nearly 48 hours, leaving .Mac customers—which had been transfered to the MobileMe system—without e-mail for two days and without access to their Web and group sites for nearly a week.
While such hiccups could turn off potential business adopters, Apple handled the situation well, said JupiterResearch's Gartenberg. Last week, the company apologized and awarded customers a month of free service.
"I would have been surprised if there were not bumps in the road," Gartenberg said. "In the end, I don't think the bumps matter. It's how you deal with the bumps, and Apple did a respectable job there."
Apple's not out of the woods, yet. Apple users continue to run into problems with MobileMe. Users complained about a host of issues on Monday in Apple's forum for the service, including being unable to access e-mail and problems with data synchronization.
