MobileMe Family Pack

Editorial Reviews

It all goes where you go.

• Automatic sync.
  MobileMe stores all your email, contacts, and calendars on an online server--or "cloud"--and syncs them to your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. When you make a change on one device, the cloud updates the others. The sync happens automatically and continuously. You don't have to wait for it or remember to do anything--such as docking your iPhone and syncing manually--to stay up to date.
  
  (Please note: 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.)
  
  
• Works with the native applications you know.
  Do everything you need to do on every device you own. MobileMe works with Mail, Address Book, and iCal on a Mac; Microsoft Outlook on a PC with Windows XP or Vista; and the built-in applications on your iPhone or iPod touch.
  
  
• Your web applications at me.com.
  Check your email, change your calendar, edit your contacts, and more at me.com. Accessible anywhere, me.com is an ad-free suite of web applications--Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Gallery, and iDisk--that are elegant and easy to use. You can drag and drop, click and drag, use keyboard shortcuts, and even switch between applications with a single click. Me.com is such a great web experience, it seems as if you're using desktop software.

MobileMe Mail

Check your e-mail from an elegantly designed, ad-free interface. Send a quick reply without even opening a message.

Push. Don't fetch.
MobileMe Mail syncs new messages to your iPhone automatically and notifies you when they arrive. You'll know in a glance if you have new email, so you don't have to spend time checking.

Your email meets its match.
MobileMe Mail stays the same wherever you go thanks to IMAP technology. Whether you check your email on your computer, iPhone, iPod touch, or the web, read messages are marked as read, flagged messages are flagged, and all your folders are exactly the way you left them.

The best email on the web.
You can access MobileMe Mail from anywhere at me.com. With a beautiful, clean design and an intuitive interface, you might forget it's all on the web. View your messages and mailboxes in one window and simply drag and drop to organize them. With auto-complete addressing, message previews, and Quick Reply, email on the web is easier than ever. Best of all, you'll never see an ad.

Native application friendly.
MobileMe Mail uses the email applications you already know. On your iPhone and iPod touch, it works with the built-in Mail application. It also works with Mail on a Mac and Outlook, Outlook Express, or Windows Mail on a PC.

Safe. Secure. And no spam.
MobileMe automatically scans incoming and outgoing messages for viruses. Images are not loaded unless you allow it. With great spam filtering, your inbox will be junk mail free.

You@me.com.
With MobileMe Mail, you can create an email address that's personal and easy to remember. Maybe it's yourname@me.com or maybe it's something clever. Whatever you think up, it will be your best email address yet.

Add contacts, edit details, and even assign photos from any computer. Locate a contact and get directions with integrated Google Maps.

MobileMe Contacts

Your connections in the cloud.
With MobileMe Contacts, you have instant access to your entire address book. From your computer to your iPhone to the web, your contacts follow you.

Keep contacts up to date.
Ever been on the road without an important phone number? With MobileMe, your contacts are synced to all your devices and everything stays up to date. Make a change on your computer, and MobileMe updates your iPhone automatically. Likewise, when you make a change on your iPhone, it's synced to your computer. Whether you use Address Book on a Mac, Outlook, Outlook Express, or Windows Contacts on a PC, or Contacts on your iPhone or iPod touch, you'll always have the information you need.

Everyone you know is on the web.
You can also manage your contacts right from me.com. Anywhere you are, add new contacts and groups--even assign photos to them. Find a contact fast with a quick search. Map locations and get directions with integrated Google Maps. Changes made on the web are pushed to your devices automatically.

No dock required.
With push technology, all of the contacts on your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC stay up to date without a dock, a cable, or you doing anything at all.

Add or change events with a simple drag and drop. Add multiple calendars for work, home, and anything in between.

MobileMe Calendar

You're always up to date.
You'll never miss a lunch date or an important meeting. MobileMe syncs your calendar to your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. So you always know where you need to be and when you need to be there. Make a change on one device--such as creating or rescheduling an event--and MobileMe updates it on all your other devices automatically. MobileMe works seamlessly with iCal on a Mac and Outlook on a PC.

The amazing web calendar at me.com.
MobileMe Calendar on the web makes being busy a lot more fun. You can create different calendars for work, home, and everything in between. Choose from day, week, and month views and turn calendars on and off for easy reviewing. With a simple drag and drop, add or change an event. Changes you make are automatically synced to all your devices so you're always up to date.

No dock required.
MobileMe Calendar syncs calendar changes over the air to your iPhone or iPod touch. You don't have to sync manually with a dock or do anything at all.

MobileMe Gallery

Arrange photos in albums and organize them by event. Add photos and manage albums from your iPhone, computer or any web browser.

Point. Shoot. Amaze.
When your friends and family visit your MobileMe Gallery, they're in for a show. Just upload photos from your computer or iPhone to your gallery, and invite people to visit, download their favorites, and even contribute their own. With beautiful animated views, everyone will see your photos come to life.

Your photos never looked better.
Friends and family can view your photos in a beautiful gallery using a web browser on a Mac or PC. They can skim albums to see what's inside, select an album, and choose viewing options such as mosaic, carousel, or slideshow. And with automatic resizing, your photos adjust instantly to fit the browser window so they always look great, even on large displays.

Manage from anywhere.
You can create a new album or make changes to your MobileMe Gallery from virtually anywhere at me.com. Easily upload new photos, rearrange them, edit titles, and more. Your changes are instantly reflected in your gallery for friends to see. Have a Mac? You can upload photos directly from iPhoto '08 or Aperture 2 with just a few clicks.

Print-quality downloads.
You can allow visitors to download high-resolution copies of their favorite photos or entire albums right from their browser. Your photos download as full-size JPEGs (highest resolution) or images optimized for 16-by-20-inch prints (smaller file size).

Contributions welcome.
You aren't the only one shooting pictures. With MobileMe Gallery, you can get the shots you wish you had by allowing friends to contribute their photos. They can do it from a browser or via email.

Amazing with iPhone and Apple TV.
MobileMe Gallery works beautifully with all your Apple devices. Your photos look great on iPhone. If you snap a picture on the road, you can post it directly to your gallery with just a few taps. And with Apple TV, you can view anyone's public photos on your widescreen television--no computer required.

Upload files and download from any browser, anywhere you are. Easily share large files by sending an email with a link.

MobileMe iDisk

Your personal hard disk online.
With MobileMe iDisk, it's easy to store, access, and share files online. You have plenty of storage space--even large files are no problem. Just add the files you need to your iDisk, and whatever you upload will be there for you to download using a web browser on any computer.

Easy web access.
MobileMe iDisk is accessible from any web browser, Mac or PC, at me.com. With a familiar, intuitive interface, uploading and organizing files is as simple as drag and drop. You can see your files in list or column view. And if you use a Mac, you can find iDisk right in the Mac OS X Finder.

Share and share alike.
Sharing data with friends is a snap with iDisk--even files too big for email. Just upload what you want to share. iDisk will help you send an email with a link to the file. If you have files to share with a group of people, add the files to your iDisk Public folder, where your friends can access them online and post their own.

Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review




Pretty good deal, September 5, 2008
By MarvelJAM (Rochester NY)
Mobile me is an interesting service if you use all the features. It does not do any one the great.. but does most of them well. Look into each feature in detail before you buy. Many of the features can be done on free sites as well or better.



Everything in Sync!!!, September 2, 2008
By Kenneth D. Richardson III (Dallas, TX)
It was a difficult transition, but everything is working great now. I like not having to enter names or calendar info more than once. The syncing features are improving on a daily basis. Being able to enter a name or date into any of my devices, and it be available on any of my other devices is a cool feature. I've had .Mac since 2001 and can honestly say that the only interruption in email service for me was during the mobileMe transition. Those interruptions are a thing of the past, and in the unlikely hood that there are more Apple will reconcile with customers like no other company. For the problems we have had thus far we were given 90 days free. Blackberry never did that with their numerous outages.



Great now after rough start, August 30, 2008
By R. Hilton
Buggy at first, but everything works great now. I love how updated contacts, bookmarks and calendar changes on one device just appear on the others. This is sweet, enterprise for the rest of us!



Working great for me now!, August 11, 2008
By David Nine (Duncan, SC USA)
I was like most here when MobileMe was launched...it was a nightmare...about the worse product launch I've seen in some time, if not all time. Couldn't get email, web apps didn't load, iPhone set up would crash, etc. Apple was slow and muted to respond.

But that was then...July 11.

As of now (Aug. 11), just about everything works great for me. My email is stable and functioning. My contacts are all there. Push calendars, contacts and email works perfectly and instantly with my iPhone, including my Entourage/Exchange items. Syncing between my office desktop and personal laptop is flawless (which by the way, what's the big gripe about a 15 minute interval between PC syncs?! When is it critical for you to have synced information on 2 or more computers within 15 minutes?!).

There are definitely things that need improving like the dual listings on Exchange/iCal-Contacts entries on the iPhone; the ability to have shared calendars (which right now is limited to CalDAV server solutions like Mac OS X Server); better photo editing/sharing tools on the Gallery; and updates for Backup or another file backup solution to better integrate w/ MobileMe, especially for the Family Pack members.

Anyway, I'd say give MobileMe a shot now. Lord knows, there have been plenty of other software releases that have had mountains of problems at launch (Vista, Leopard, Lotus, etc.) It definitely does not have a quarter of the issues it had at launch and really has become quite a nice replacement for us previous .Mac users. I find it to be an excellent solution for mobile users, especially those with iPhones and/or Macs.



Love it!, August 11, 2008
By Donald Barger (Mexico and Alabama)
Just a little history about me and my use of the software. I was a .mac user prior to mobile me. I switched over from pc about a year ago and have enjoyed the transition. I really like not being asked to fix everyone else's pcs any longer because they are tired of me saying, "Yeah, I don't have that problem on my mac."

Now the review. What is with all of the hating of this product? I love it. It pushes to my ipod touch, it works well on all of my computers. I do not understand why people are still griping. Did the roll out of this new product go smoothly? No, not in the least but all is well now. It was a rocky transition but Vista is still in transition nearly two years after a roll out.

For those unluckly 2% that had real mobileme problems, yes, you had it rough for a few days but the rest of us were mostly mad because it did not get started until a day or so after we expected.

Benefits
The push feature on email, address book, and calendar are great. I can make a change on my ipod touch (or iphone) and my home computer in another country is updated.

As an added benefit I really like how everything flows together. I realize that I can publish my pictures on another site but I like how iPhoto integrates into my online gallery. I realize that I can publish videos to any site but I like how iMovie integrates to my gallery.

Some have said that all of these features in mobile me can be found in other places. Most of the online features are available but they are not integrated, they are unreliable, and who wants all of the advertisements? I had been using these work arounds prior to .mac and now mobileme... it is worth the $112 or so that mobileme family pack costs to not have to deal with the other services.

After using the service for a few weeks, I upgraded to the family plan so that my wife could use it as well. She loves it.