.Mac to MobileMe cutover causes angst as servers go down

By Stephen Withers
Friday, 11 July 2008 10:50

Opinion and Analysis

Apple's rebranding of its .Mac Internet service to MobileMe is throwing users into disarray as the service has been offline for prolonged periods. Users find that some services still work while others aren't operational at all.

While some features such as iDisk seem to be working normally, others are suffering from hiccups.

Worst of all, the .Mac site has been offline all day, making it impossible for users to check the status of various services, leaving them in the dark about whether any particular problem is caused by Apple or closer to home.

Visitors to the site are merely presented with a message that reads "This service is temporarily unavailable. We are currently performing scheduled maintenance. Normal service will be restored soon." in four languages.

Some users in time zones ahead of the US are feeling aggrieved that the unveiling of MobileMe may be timed to coincide with the iPhone 3G going on sale on the west coast of the US, even though the launch took place hours ago in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

While the .Mac mail servers have apparently been working, as far as responding to mail clients, I have had several instances during the week where messages sent from my .Mac account haven't reached the addressees, and others sent to me haven't arrived.

But if you're travelling and relying on .Mac web mail, tough luck. You can't log into the web site, so you can't access your mail.

What else is happening? More .Mac/MobileMe iSsues (groan) on page 2!