Frederic Erk

Posts Tagged ‘Mac’

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Apple MobileMe

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2010 at 10:30 pm

Apple

The cloud

A review of Apple “MobileMe” service

Apple MobileMe is a service which integrates electronic mail, address book, electronic agenda, online gallery and backup solution in one comprehensive suite of online applications.

Benefits of MobileMe are :

  • Native suite of online services for Mac OS X
  • Instantaneous synchronisation of data across your network
  • Online backup
  • Accessibility from any computer with Internet connection
  • Online publication of pictures, videos and web sites with access control
  • Compatible with Microsoft Windows
  • Apple stylish interface
  • iPhone and iPod dedicated application
  • Free Apple backup software for MobileMe subscribers
  • Confidentiality of data

Drawbacks are :

  • Electronic mail content is not indexed, contrary to Google Mail
  • No smart folders
  • No office suite included, contrary to Google Apps
  • No web site editing application
  • Subscription fee of 99 USD per year

My opinion of MobileMe after 18 months of daily use is positive. Would I recommend it? Yes, especially if you are using a cluster of computers running Mac and Windows, or if you own iPhone.

MobileMe could be better, though. It should integrate iWork ‘09 office suite, iTunes Podcast publishing and better indexing service. Any new Apple customer should be awarded one year of MobileMe subscription.

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2010: The Year of the Mac

In Uncategorized on January 9, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Apple Snow Leopard Should Take On Windows 7

Apple Snow Leopard Should Take On Windows 7

In answer to Mr Galen Gruman’s article “2010: The Year of the Mac?” Apple has been and is still one of the most innovating companies in the world. It is a mistake, though, to consider Apple as a computer manufacturer only. It is a company focusing on multimedia and communication with the iPod and now with the iPhone. Mac OS X operating system is outstanding, but it is no more the workhorse of Apple.

The iPhone has demonstrated excellent usability. Its success has certainly drawn customers to using Mac OS X driven Apple computers and laptops. But Apple has been less than successful with the integration of all its hardware into the cloud of mobile computing. MobileMe is expensive and relatively poor, considering the reputation of Apple in terms of software customisation and integration.

The idea of MobileMe is excellent, as it provides online backup and data synchronisation. But it is poorly implemented and has been plagued with breakdowns. It is a telling example that Apple has seen the potential of integration within the cloud of mobile technology, the workhorse of today’s market.

Here are some issues I had with MobileMe:

  • Poor compatibility with previous versions of Mac OS X, namely Tiger.
  • Expensive! It should be free to Apple hardware customers.
  • Online backup is dependent on Internet bandwidth (of course)
  • Poor integration of iCal, especially if you wish to synch and share events
  • Online gallery of pictures is hardly a match for Flickr
  • Email is lacking advanced features of Google Mail
  • Only one domain name per user with limited advanced web features

Considering the success of the iPhone, Apple has been unsuccessful with MobileMe. I believe that instead of focusing on Mac computers as a measure of success in 2010, it would be more interesting to see how Apple will define its online strategy between iTunes, MobileMe and iPhone.

Perhaps the quantum leap for Apple would be to start distributing Mac OS X operating system for all computers, regardless of their Apple origin or not. There is a thriving community of Hackintosh users, who have successfully adapted Mac OS X to standard PCs.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard is more than a match for Windows 7. In fact, Mac OS X Tiger was already more advanced than Vista. And there is a great thing with Mac OS X operating systems, they really blow Windows away in terms of hardware requirements.

Why is Apple procrastinating in its niche of faithful users and geeks, while it has demonstrated its capability to innovate and create markets? Why is Apple not opening the doors of its outstanding operating system to the whole PC community?