Apple adds another 60 days to MobileMe subscriptions

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 08:33

Business IT - Networking

Still stinging from the teething troubles that accompanied the launch of its MobileMe Internet services, Apple is granting users a further free extension. This time it runs for 60 days, and even those in the free trial period will benefit.

MobileMe is the successor to Apple's .Mac services. It was introduced last month alongside the iPhone 3G.

The service bundles an email account, web-based mail, address book and calendar applications, push email to iPhones, and data synchronisation between desktops, iPhone and the MobileMe cloud services.

"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped," Apple officials said.

"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."

All accounts, paid or free, that were active at midnight on August 19 (US PDT) qualify for the 60-day extension, whether or not they received the original 30-day extension or the 30-day extension provided to some European users as compensation for excessive authorisation holds applied to credit or debit cards. This new extension also applies to Family Packs and storage upgrades.

How long will it be before users see the extension? Find out on page two.