MobileMe Fail

Annoyed, we are. I'm willing to embrace new technology as long as it works. I eagerly embraced MobileMe so that my emails could be "pushed" to my iPhone as compared to going through my regular web address wherein I have to check for new emails or wait for them to be delivered at a particular time. Not that my life is so on the edge that I need to read my emails "instantly" but still, it's way cool, okay? I ran their sixty day trial -- no hassles. A little light on options, but it had possibilities that it might grow into something really nice. I moved my primary business contacts to MobileMe and life was good.

Then Apple changed their software somewhere along the way. So not good.

My agent was the first to point out things were not kosher. My emails to her didn't bother to wrap. Instead, they were one long line disappearing off the end of the page and into infinitely. Gads. So I tested this issue with some friends. Almost all of them had a problem. Drat. Digging through the stacks of info on Apple's website reveals they know of this problem and haven't bothered to correct it. When I go to send an email, part of the time I get an error message that requires me to refresh the MobileMe page, then send the email. What is with that? No formatting options have been added, etc. etc. Did I mention this service costs $99/year? Ah, that got your attention. Inelegantly designed software is tolerable if it's free. It's not when it costs $$, especially for what is to be my business account which is a reflection of "moi" online. (To their credit, Apple offers a refund if you cancel within forty-five days. That date approacheth.)

I'm currently checking out GoDaddy. Their hosted exchange accounts offer Microsoft 2007 software as part of the package. The Alpha Geek tells me that MS Outlook '07 is a good thing (and he's SO not a Microsoft guy). I've be less likely to get caught in a spam trap as compared to using Yahoo or Gmail. I'll need to do some more due diligence. I don't want to keep annoying my contacts by changing email addresses every day or so.

So no gold star for you, Apple. I love your iPhone. Adore it. I can't stand your MobileMe. Fix it and maybe someday I'll give it another try. For now, I'm cozying up to your competitors.

If any of you have experience with GoDaddy or any other service, let me hear your thoughts.