I’m not sure if I’ll be writing a correction to this story in the next few days, but according to Apple’s official MobileMe updates site, the Mail tool is working normally for the first time since it was released. This should be music to the ears of many of Apple’s customers, 1% to be exact, that we unable to access e-mail during part of the time they’ve owned their new iPhone 3G. For a couple of hundred dollars, the iPhone 3G has ignited a whirlwind of controversy surrounding the multitude of defects that the new phone has. The update boldly claims, “By completing this restoration of Mail services, we hope we have put the vast majority of MobileMe Mail problems behind us and can now focus on improving other aspects of this new ambitious service.” Whether this statement is fact or fantasy remains to be seen.
The major break for Apple developers that were deciphering what was causing the Mail issue came on Monday, when techies found “a syncing bug… which caused contact and calendar data to not sync properly over-the-air with iPhones and iPod touch.” However, the solution seems to have not cured the woes of everyone affected. Mac forums and even mainstream news sites are still reporting a flurry of irregularities with MobileMe’s Mail function.
If you’re looking for some real fun, take a gander over to Apple’s MobileMe Mail support forum on Apple.com. There, you’ll find hundreds of the angriest customers Apple has, all pouring their hatred for the fruit out in run-on sentences. My favorite post comes from a poster who was irate on Thursday night: “So the status page says service has been restored and if you are still having problems get help via Chat. I sign into Chat. I get a computer pretending to be Chris, and another computer pretending to be Jamal. Both tell me that I am not having problems and kick me out of Chat. There doesn’t appear to be any other way to get help. I’m in the middle of a small-business startup and this is killing me. I can’t see any reason to believe Apple about anything anymore.”
Other topics in the MobileMe Mail help forum include Mail shutting out certain IP addresses, confusion over what proper e-mail address formats should be (.mac or .me), and how to convert POP e-mail accounts. Several recurring issues include messages not being deleted universally across all interfaces as well as customers receiving duplicate copies of e-mails. I experience the latter problem often with Outlook on my Gateway, but it’s normally due to the connection with the server being broken during the middle of a send/receive.
To say that this has been a major saga would be a complete understatement. The drama surrounding the MobileMe issues makes the Brett Favre situation look like a cake walk. Several customers have become increasingly irate towards Apple in the process, which bodes poorly for the future of both the company and its cell phone carrier partners. In the United States, a judge in California ruled on Thursday that cell phone providers’ early termination fees are illegal. An appeal is almost certainly forthcoming, but disasters like the one that occurred with MobileMe would likely lead, in the future, to many consumers jumping ship entirely to a different phone and different provider.
We’ll keep you posted on the latest from the world of Apple right here on MacPoker.net.