Wednesday, July 16, 2008
MobileMe does not push
Sometimes marketing goes too far. Even the pros make mistakes. Apple today has written a note to the users, apologizing for the "snag", adding that "the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially".Another snag we have run into is our use of the word "push" in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe "cloud," changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices.Now, the Register went a bit further than Apple. First of all:
Email is managed through IMAP, and strictly speaking is pulled by polling the IMAP servers every minute, though that gives a reasonable impression of being pushed.Wow, polling email is not really push. Not even close. Everyone in our market knows it... If you want to be a competitor of RIM or even ActiveSync, you should know it. Push is push. Now ActiveStink (as the Apple spokesperson for MobileMe once called it) on the iPhone does not stink anymore, right?
The Register adds more:
But changes made using the desktop application are not instantly or automatically reflected on the iPhone or within The Cloud. Such changes need to wait for a synchronisation process, a lag of up to 15 minutes, before they are propagated between the platforms. Not only that but anyone trying to use some of the more advanced IMAP capabilities, such as the APPEND command, will find the MobileMe service unaware that any changes have been made to their e-mail account, at least until a good-old SMTP delivery triggers notification.Ok, this is not even close to push...
This is what you get with MobileMe:
- No push
- Support for only .me email addresses (what about the other billions of email addresses out there?)
- Support for only the iPhone (what about all the other 3B phones out there?)
- No notes support (I know, this looks small but it is big for many)
- $99 taken out of your pocket every year
Oooh, and yes, I almost forgot: you can build your own MobileMe with Funambol software :-)) Open Source. Or you can give us a call if you are a service provider or a device manufacturer. And we know what push means ;-)
Posted by Fabrizio at 09:58
7 Comments:
Mordy said...
Bravo!
Well said, Fabrizio.
Now, there's just that little issue of people complaining my.funambol isn't really "push" either. And doesn't the desktop client still sync on intervals for funambol?
Hmmm...
Comment Posted at 10:03
Fabrizio said...
Hi Mordy,
my.funambol can't be push on email because we act as a gateway between your device and your email provider (who does not provide push). When deployed at an email provider (such as 1&1), Funambol provides true push.
MobileMe acts as an email provider... so it should push...
fabrizio
Comment Posted at 05:52
Mobile Me IS A REAL PUSH email service.
With my phone connected via GPRS and Wifi, I've sniffed all the Wifi trafic from the phone.
Apple is using Sun Messenging services with advanced commands like LITERAL+.
When the iPhone sleeps, the Wifi connection is closed. If I send a mail to my @me.com address, the iPhone wakes up and connects to IMAP server through Wifi. So, some type of notification (SMS, Wap push ...) is sent from Apple's servers to the iPhone over the air. It looks like P-IMAP.
Comment Posted at 01:34
Lara said...
I used to work for Apple, so I got a .mac account, and now I work for an open source company so I have a new phone, that is not an iPhone, I mean the iPhones are really beautiful, but I am kind of glad I don't have one because it kind of bugs me, how pretty it is. Anyways, it really makes me think that Apple is crummy. I mean, what is this stupid .mac? It is, or could be really great, (now I am not programmer so I am just commenting on the user standpoint). So, I get a .mac account and I like it kind of (it's very slow even on a powerbook). But it's pretty, of course, and it does a lot of things, packaged together, which is nice. However, you are right, now all my friends, and accounts and everything has this .mac address, and I am suddenly locked into this 99 dollars a year. So I reconciled that with myself and thought, whatever, ok so I have this expense. But now, I have a new Nokia phone, really great, but I cannot even look at my .mac email in the browser of the phone, as it is not supported. This is really not cool. I am paying for that, and I can look at my other free email accounts I use for like banking or whatever, but I can't check my .mac email, unless I am at home. I mean, this Mobile me is supposed to be an improvement but it is not an improvement at all. It is even slower than before. I can't see my webpage anymore. The file storage is better, I can see my files easier, but that does in no way make up for this email problem. Its like I am forced to think about Apple and analyze and use up energy organizing my life around their "convenience" which just means, I am locked into an email account that not only costs me money, but now Apple wants to force me to buy an iPhone. I don't want an iPhone, my phone is fine. So I am not just here to complain, my point is, yes please make a more cool email program. I mean, there has to be something more democratic than this Mobile me. I am from Switzerland, and we really like Nokia phones anyways. I don't know, I live in California since the iPhone came out, and I am sure that lots of people have them, but how I know my friends, lots of people are also nerved at this total sync up concept. It is like we are not allowed to choose our devises any more.
First of all, if somebody could write a script that makes this "Mobile me" function on other platforms, I would even pay for it. That would be great. Or as open source, it would be great, or ask Nokia to pay you to develop it as it is some kind of market cornering or forcing or whatever that people can't reach their email from a Nokia.
Also, I would really like to have a better email program. I mean, I actually don't want to use the email in the phone, if you know what I mean, the email that is like the text messages system, I go to the browser and check my email, but if there was a really good one where all my email from the different accounts could come in, that would be great.
I think though, that a script that would make Mobile Me usable on other devises in and of itself would be so great and super and I am pretty sure that Nokia would find it very much in their interest to keep Apple from forcing the entire Apple market to buy an iPhone.
I mean, I know my friends in Europe. We are not just using our phones in our cars and stuff, but at parties, on our bicycles, on trams and at the lake and stuff. The iPhone is almost to fragile and pretty for this. I think most people would just rather stick with Nokia or Sony but have their PowerBook too, and if somebody can write scripts that make them compatible it would be great.
And sure that Sony and Nokia think so too. :)
cheers, Lara
Comment Posted at 15:03
Sean said...
All-in-all, I think Apple has done a poor job in the design and deployment of MobileMe. I'm an avid Windows user/supporter, but I am seriously considering a change to Macintosh because I admit that it's kind of "cool". Then I get a slap back to reality reminding me that Microsoft for all their faults (they certainly have plenty) develops software for a more “open” environment where you have a myriad of hardware platforms (just because PC is Intel based does not mean it’s standard) and a myriad of third-party software applications. Apple has the luxury of developing software for a far more “closed” environment where they control most of the components.
Now comes MobileMe where Apple is designing a solution that is marketed as working with Mac’s, PC’s and mobile devices, not to mention that they’re providing a hosted solution where they have to properly design for scaling as well as provide reliable uptime and disaster recovery. Well Apple, welcome to the hell Microsoft has to deal with. Oh and by the way, when I saw the keynote speech when the Apple executive introduced MobileMe and referred to Microsoft’s ActiveSync as ActiveStink...what a childish remark. Too bad Apple didn’t invest more effort into making MobileMe an awesome product and beat Microsoft in that arena versus name calling.
You probably sense my anger. Now I don’t want to bash Apple just for the sake of bashing Apple. I want MobileMe to be a great application with all the features you find in gmail, yahoo mail and hotmail plus the features that make it “Exchange for the rest of us”. Apple has disappointed me.
Comment Posted at 20:30
Sean said...
All-in-all, I think Apple has done a poor job in the design and deployment of MobileMe. I'm an avid Windows user/supporter, but I am seriously considering a change to Macintosh because I admit that it's kind of "cool". Then I get a slap back to reality reminding me that Microsoft for all their faults (they certainly have plenty) develops software for a more “open” environment where you have a myriad of hardware platforms (just because PC is Intel based does not mean it’s standard) and a myriad of third-party software applications. Apple has the luxury of developing software for a far more “closed” environment where they control most of the components.
Now comes MobileMe where Apple is designing a solution that is marketed as working with Mac’s, PC’s and mobile devices, not to mention that they’re providing a hosted solution where they have to properly design for scaling as well as provide reliable uptime and disaster recovery. Well Apple, welcome to the hell Microsoft has to deal with. Oh and by the way, when I saw the keynote speech when the Apple executive introduced MobileMe and referred to Microsoft’s ActiveSync as ActiveStink...what a childish remark. Too bad Apple didn’t invest more effort into making MobileMe an awesome product and beat Microsoft in that arena versus name calling.
You probably sense my anger. Now I don’t want to bash Apple just for the sake of bashing Apple. I want MobileMe to be a great application with all the features you find in gmail, yahoo mail and hotmail plus the features that make it “Exchange for the rest of us”. Apple has disappointed me.
Comment Posted at 20:31
Rajiv said...
You're right. I'm having serious problems with my Nokia N95 8GB phone. Everytime I try to access mail through my GPS enabled phone MobileMe has the same answer...'Browser Not Supported'. Apple has to look at this problem seriously and resolve it quickly.
