Tag Archives | Apple

More MobileMe For Your Money–Yup, Again

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 18, 2008 at 7:48 pm

In many ways, Apple’s rollout of its MobileMe synching service has been a textbook example of how not to launch a technology service. Just ask anyone who’s grappled with its outages and glitches. But in one important respect, the company’s doing a stellar job: It’s handling a really difficult situation well.

The latest example is today’s news that current Mobile Me users will get an extra sixty days of service, on top of the free month it extended to Mobile Me early adopters and .Mac veterans a month ago. It’s an appropriate, classy step, but I’m also struck by the honesty of the language that Apple used in announcing the extension:

“The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped.  While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards. We are extending subscriptions 60-days free of charge to express appreciation for our members’ patience as we continue to improve the service.”

Admitting problems in the past tense is unusual enough in the tech biz; admitting them in the present tense, and implying that they’re ongoing in nature, is practically unheard of. I’m sure there are other examples; I just can’t think of any at the moment.

One nitpick: The MobileMe status blog is now three weeks out of date, and doesn’t mention this extension–at least not as of the time I’m blogging this.

Okay, two nitpicks: The Apple site still touts the wonders of MobileMe, which is a little odd given that it’s simultaneously describing it as not being worthy of Apple.

Okay, a meta-nitpick as well: Wouldn’t it have been cool if Apple had declared MobileMe to be in a retroactive free beta, and suspended charges altogether until the service was up to its own standards? You gotta think the goodwill such a move would generate would be more valuable than the cash generated by MobileMe subscriptions.

Of course, Apple’s handling of MobileMe will only be truly successful once the service is working to the satisfaction of folks who pay the company $70-$100 a year for it. If it’s still bumpy sixty days from now, wonder if Apple is prepared to do yet another extension?

Your thoughts?

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Are Macs More Expensive? Round Three: An All-in-One Free-For-All

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 17, 2008 at 11:58 pm

So help me, I’m addicted to comparing the prices of Macs and Windows PCs. That’s okay, though–judging from site traffic, a startling quantity of Technologizer readers seem to be addicted to reading and discussing my comparisons. On Thursday, I contrasted a mid-range MacBook with custom-configured Windows laptops. On Saturday, I followed up by comparing the cheapest MacBook to cheap Windows laptops from Best Buy. And today? Well, today I’m in the mood to look at desktops aimed at consumers.

Apple, of course, makes no typical desktop PCs for consumers; we’re now in the second decade of the all-in-one iMac. The unified-monitor-and-CPU form factor never conquered the Windows world, but several major manufacturers offer units that combine that design’s space-saving virtues with a splash of Apple-like flair. What say we compare the current 20-inch iMac to some Windows-based iMacalikes?

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Are Macs More Expensive? Round Two: Survival of the Cheapest

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 16, 2008 at 2:25 pm

On Thursday, I began my multiple-part look at the cost of Macintoshes by comparing a mid-range MacBook to some Windows laptops which I’d configured to be as similar to the MacBook as possible. Compared to those machine, I concluded that the MacBook was in the zone in terms of price and power, or, in other words, “not expensive.”

I also managed to stir up lots of controversy, in the form of dozens of comments and discussion elsewhere on the Web. So as promised, I’m back with another round of price comparisons, and based in part on comments to my original post by a reader named Michael, I’ve decided to stick with the MacBook and compare it to Windows laptops that happen to be on sale at Best Buy at the moment.

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“Are Macs More Expensive?”: The AfterFAQ

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 15, 2008 at 8:03 pm

McCracken’s Fifth Rule of Tech Journalism states that reaction to anything one writes about Macs is likely to be incredibly passionate–and that you can write one story and catch flack for being both mindlessly pro-Mac and mindlessly anti-Mac. I shoulda remembered that when I decided to write “Are Macs More Expensive?“, which is already one of the most-read, most-commented-upon things I’ve written for Technologizer. I didn’t mean to provoke so much strong opinion, but I did, in spades.

That said, I’m sure enjoying reading the reaction to the story in the form of comments on the story itself as well as discussion elsewhere on the Web. As I mentioned in the story, I’m going to continue trying to answer the question in additional posts that compare different types of Macs to similar Windows machines, so this conversation is going to continue for awhile.

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Are Macs More Expensive? Let’s Do the Math Once and For All

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 14, 2008 at 10:50 pm

[UPDATE: This is one of the most popular stories we’ve ever published, but with the arrival of the new MacBook on October 14th, it’s also obsolete. Read it if you like–but this new article compares the new MacBook to comparable Windows computers.]

It’s of those eternal questions of the computing world that never seems to get answered definitively: Does the “Mac Tax” really exist? Some folks are positive that Macs are overpriced compared to Windows computers; others deny it steadfastly. Almost nobody, however, bothers to do the math in any serious detail.

So that’s what I’m going to do. And since Apple manufactures multiple models, I’m going to do it one computer at a time, starting with the MacBook, the company’s consumer notebook.

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Introducing the T-Poll: Your Take on the iPhone 3G Launch

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 14, 2008 at 11:02 am

Last week, I asked you what you thought about the $1000 iPhone application in a silly little poll, and more than 1900 folks have chimed in to date. So consider that microsurvey to be the first T-Poll–and look for more of ’em on a reasonably regular basis. Starting with this one, in which, once again, I come back to the iPhone 3G.

It’s been a little more than a month since the iPhone 3G debuted, and an awful lot has happened. Let’s recap:

* On January July 11th, the iPhone 3G debuted at Apple Stores and AT&T retailers to long lines and a surging sea of activation glitches in the morning, although they seem to have gotten under control by the end of the day;

* Serious problems with MobileMe, however, persist–prompting a subscription extension from Apple, a blog about the glitches and Apple’s response to them, and a widely-published internal memo in which Steve Jobs said the service wasn’t up to Apple standards;

* The Netshare tethering app appeared on the App Store, then disappeared, then appeared, then disappeared;

* Apple let the $1000 app onto the App Store…briefly;

* The App Store has a hit, with iPhone users downloading tens of millions of programs, including a million bucks’ worth for for-pay ones a day;

* Some App Store apps received rave reviews, including Twitterific, Facebook, Evernote, and Apple’s own Remote;

* Users (including me!) groused about Apple’s “Twice as fast” claims about the new phone;

* Reports surfaced of iPhone 3Gs that dropped calls and delivered slow Internet connections, possibly because of a faulty chip;

* Electronics megachain Best Buy became the third seller of iPhones in the U.S;

* Despite everything, most iPhone 3G users appear to be satisfied-to-delighted–but battery life seems to be the most common source of angst;

Today’s T-Poll is a two-parter:

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A Brief Reverse-Chronological YouTube History of Apple

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 14, 2008 at 1:40 am

The history of Apple is so long and interesting that some amazingly weighty tomes have been written about it. But I don’t think you need to pore over hundreds of pages to get the gist of the company’s journey. Actually, more than with any other computer company, its advertising tells much of the story. And thanks to YouTube, it’s all a few clicks away, and watching it is downright addictive.

I started to put together this video timeline starting in the 1970s and working my way forward to the present day. Then I realized that it’s more fun–and much bloggier–to begin with current commercials and travel backwards in time. Join me, won’t you?

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