AppleInsider StaffIn addition to introducing new iMacs, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs may use Tuesday's media event in Cupertino to transform his company's .Mac internet service into a more compelling offering.
Due to scheduled maintenance, .Mac members might be intermittently unable to access some .Mac services from 10am to 12pm PDT on 08/07/2007. We apologize for any inconvenience..
.Mac has been criticized by industry watchers over the years as an overpriced subscription service with low storage quotas and limited functionality. For instance, .Mac offers its paying members an e-mail storage quota that is much smaller than that of free services such as Google's Gmail.
While some have called upon Apple to lower its $99 annual fee for the service, others have taken matters into their own hands by issuing a $10,000 dollar bounty aimed at funding a GPL replacement for the service, dubbed the "notMac Challenge."
Apple, however, may be one step ahead.
During a recent interview, the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg held Jobs accountable for the poor state of .Mac, to which the Apple co-founder offered an interesting reply.
"I couldn't agree more [with the assessment]," Jobs confessed. "And we'll make up for lost time in the near future."
William Gallagher
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
61 Comments
It's about bloody time!
What the majority of folks really want = a much cheaper price.
Exact same existing service = $29
More storage + same bandwidth = $49
More storage + a lot more bandwidth $99
Whatever else = bonus.
i.e. don't just don't add some stuff and features and keep the same price. People want the option of paying either $29 or getting the existing service for free. $99 for this service is a crazy rip-off. Give people options. Gmail is free, hello! We know folks at Apple read these boards here, now hows about those folks give back to their users for once. We support you Apple, through thick and thin. Here's a chance for you to show us you actually give a shit about your customers.
What the majority of folks really want = a much cheaper price.
Existing service = $29
More storage + same bandwidth = $49
More storage + a lot more bandwidth $99
Whatever else = bonus.
What do you mean by "bandwidth" in the .Mac context?
i want all .mac to be free. seriously, free integration of all your mac's and apple devices, synced.
that would be
maaaaaaybe i'd be willing to pay a little bit. i resubbed again about a month ago, but because i had slept on figuring out other free solutions. pisses me off.
I remember something way back when the iPhone was announced that Google and Apple would be working together with .Mac to either bolster the service or get rid of it entirely and just incorporate all of Google's services instead. Not sure what's gonna happen, but I can almost guarantee that Google will play a major role.