MobileMe gets a video tour, and John the Apple guy is your guide

By now you've probably heard about .Mac's replacement, MobileMe. It's like Yahoo! Mail, Google Docs, and every other Ajaxy web app you've ever used... just way more Apple-ish. If you're feeling confused by all the synchronized over-the-air options it presents, your good friend John (aka Classy Apple Dude) is here to explain things in a simple, easy-to-understand tour. Just watching this makes us feel safe, secure... and frankly, a little sleepy.

[Joshua.JWilliams @ Jun 9th 2008 6:13PM]

My god, I can't stand this guy. Is this Apple schtik the only thing this guy has going on?

[Galley @ Jun 9th 2008 9:31PM]

John works in the Charlotte Apple Store.

[Mam00th @ Jun 9th 2008 10:42PM]

Is it me or his clothes look a tiny bit like Job's.

[c|ak @ Jun 10th 2008 3:03AM]

dang that dood looks way older than from the last videos...is he like the friggin manager or what? too old to be selling shiny little computers and phones

[peestandingup @ Jun 10th 2008 4:17AM]

"y do all apple people look gay?
i bet u that annoying apple fan boy is gay."

He probably has a wife & kids, unlike your "homophobic, but secretly want nothing more than a big burley man to make me his bitch, which is why I constantly rag on gay people" ignorant ass.

[Quikboy @ Jun 10th 2008 6:02AM]

Could they not have made this as an update under the original MobileMe post? What a waste.

[GreezyG @ Jun 9th 2008 6:14PM]

This is perfect for me! I use both macs and pcs. I also have had a .mac account for 2 years. I did some digging and found that I will keep my .mac email and also be given a me.com email.

I tell you Apple just seems to be doing everythng right! Now if only we can get MMS ;)

[Mike @ Jun 9th 2008 7:42PM]

Whats wrong with email attachments??? MMS is for phones without the net.

[IndiaTech @ Jun 10th 2008 1:44AM]

@Mike

That's because not all my friends use iPhone or a smartphone and I would like to send them MMS once in a while...

[RC @ Jun 9th 2008 6:21PM]

Is he one of the d-bags from the keynote?

[Adam @ Jun 9th 2008 6:24PM]

...why would I put a mobile number on my PC and not put it on my phone :/

Don't understand why people just don't use the phone calendar when they are sat at the PC :/

Meh, I don't have a job and my email is online with gmail so I probably don't understand why I someone would need this.

[Ike Turner @ Jun 9th 2008 6:24PM]

How many people realize the Apple's MobileMe is using Microsoft's ActiveSync Framework and Exchange ( $->MS) and that calling ActiveSync; "ActiveStink" on stage during the presentation is beyond ridiculous?
The only thing that stinks is Apple's constant idiot juvenile attitude.

[Zak @ Jun 9th 2008 6:42PM]

Right, because jumping around on stage like a rhinoceros on crack, flinging sweat into the audience, screaming "developers, developers, developers" is... what? Mature?

[Ruben @ Jun 9th 2008 6:47PM]

Putting the Ballmer anger trip aside, making fun of a service that you use is a pretty stupid thing to do.

Although, its what Ballmer does. Thats his thing. The same can go for Apple. Their thing is to attack Microsoft any chance they get. But calling ActiveSync "ActiveStink" is the same as them saying Intel is "Limptel" just because their competitor uses the same chip. Seems kind of juvenile to me. But then again, im a rational person.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 9th 2008 6:48PM]

@Cockboy

No, but what has this got to do with MS?

[Ruben @ Jun 9th 2008 6:55PM]

@Mark Anderson

"Their thing is to attack Microsoft any chance they get."

Thats what it has to do with Microsoft.

[Kelmon @ Jun 11th 2008 5:17AM]

OK, while I'm inclined to agree that Apple has made some pretty juvenile statements about competitors products (witness Bertrand Serlet's Windows "gags" at WWDC a couple of years OK - that was painful to watch), let's get a couple of things straight.

Firstly, there is no evidence that MobileMe uses Active Sync in any way. We know that the iPhone uses Active Sync to connect to an Exchange server but I'd be amazed if Exchange is involved in MobileMe.

Secondly, Phil almost certainly didn't mean to say "Active Stink"; that was probably an honest slip and it made him look dumb(er).

[retro77 @ Jun 9th 2008 6:26PM]

Glad he could dumb it down for the Apple crowd.

[JC @ Jun 9th 2008 6:27PM]

it buggs me that all the apple guide videos are never in sync with the voice and the guys mouth

[Markus @ Jun 9th 2008 6:28PM]

Apple John and Anderson Cooper should totally date.

[Michael @ Jun 9th 2008 7:52PM]

That'd be pretty hot actually.

[andy @ Jun 9th 2008 6:29PM]

wow i must say... apple really has me impressed right now... not because of the iphone but because of how they manage to tie their line of products together with ingenuity and ease

ive been a windows user (includin windows mobile (but not zune ;)) for all my life but recently ive been considering getting a Mac and iphone and apple tv loll the renting movies, music, camera, wifi, 3g, mobile me and recent announcement of the development of slingplayer mobile for iphone is really tempting

[Quikboy @ Jun 9th 2008 11:47PM]

@Andy : I'm glad to see yet another person lulled over by yet another shiny Apple creation. Honestly, if you didn't know, Microsoft has done this kind of thing for a long time already. Not as all shiny-like and always better, but some of of their offerings have gone above Apple. If you don't believe me, there's this video that Microsoft made to show how integrated their services and products are. Kinda long, but you get the point:

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=a8d98d01-7edf-4991-93b7-8554b9608b5a

You're consider a Mac, iPhone, and Apple TV because?...

Mac - Nice all-in-one, but just because it's pretty and has an Apple logo doesn't mean anything. Dell, HP, and Gateway have developed their own all-in-ones, and sometimes Mac specs kinda sucks.

iPhone - Also nice, with multi-touch and ease of use, but it's still restrictive the way Apple sets it up, and you need iTunes to sync with computer. If you're looking at "camera, WiFi, and 3G", then there's other phones that have this for a long time already, and have been proven to perform very well. Apple doing it, doesn't make it magical.

Apple TV - I found this one to be very disappointing. Media Center and other home-entertainment hubs are much nicer. If you didn't notice, AppleTV offers no DVR. Why? To get you to buy content from iTunes. Plus it costs quite a penny, while WMC is free with Windows.

If you didn't note, I'm not try to discourage you from buying an Apple product. All I'm saying is that just because it's all glossy and pretty-looking, doesn't mean it's the best, and that Apple is the only one with enough "ingenuity" to have done this first. I've seen people suck into all that, and it's quite sad to see them rant in comment sections all the time.

[ef15e @ Jun 9th 2008 11:59PM]

dont listen to "quickboy" hes just bitter, I made the same switch from windows to mac last year and now I have an iPhone and will be getting an Apple TV. You will soon be hitting yourself thinking "why did it take me this long to switch??!?" The mac/apple experience is something you cant get with any other company, they just seem to do it right all the time.

[Quikboy @ Jun 10th 2008 3:28AM]

@ef15e : You're exactly what I'm describing in my post. People who have never used other quality hardware out there. I'm definitely not bitter. Bitter about what? Overpriced hardware with a pretty look?

My points are all right by the way. Unless you can disprove something I said, I don't see why you must take the "don't listen to him" route.

[ef15e @ Jun 10th 2008 7:42PM]

I have a Dell Desktop too its definitely not quality hardware..is that what you were referring to? Or is it my HP Desktop? Which is on the verge or falling apart...or what about my previous sony Vaio FS series notebook?..what's quality that I haven't tried yet?
My Macbook Pro and iMac are both the definition of quality, quality hardware, quality design, ease of use.

[Kelmon @ Jun 11th 2008 5:28AM]

@Quikboy

Oh, for crying out loud. It's all about the end-user experience, and Apple typically delivers that in spades. I switched from Windows 5-years ago because the Windows user experience is rubbish. Your obsession that Apple is only popular because its shiney is just laughable - they're popular because they're more enjoyable to use to achieve things. Your problem is that until you've "switched" you don't appreciate this, i.e. you can't see both sides of the fence.

[Sean @ Jun 9th 2008 6:33PM]

It's just like all those ajaxy websites, only it costs $100 a year... which is why everyone was leaving .mac in droves.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jun 9th 2008 7:45PM]

Don't need to understand. People just don't like to spend money on things they don't deem necessary. You can open up a dozen Google accounts and get 60 GB for free. It's a bit more of a hassle, but the catchword is free.

I don't think $100 a year is very much if you need to keep everything synced up, but all people are different. MobileMe looks to be very simple and practical for storage, but for those that don't mind juggling accounts it can be done for less money.

[Jason G. @ Jun 9th 2008 6:35PM]

Close examination reveals John got an iPhone 3G before everyone else :) Lucky guy.

[LloydChiro @ Jun 9th 2008 6:36PM]

What's with the elderly guy?

[required @ Jun 9th 2008 6:41PM]

He's the type of fellow that trusts (unknown) others with all of his personal data.

[Ethan @ Jun 9th 2008 7:44PM]

He evokes a future in which everybody ages like George Clooney.

[required @ Jun 9th 2008 6:36PM]

MobileMe (especially the logo) looks a lot more like a Microsoft offering than it does an Apple one.

[Ike Turner @ Jun 9th 2008 6:41PM]

Well, given that it is Microsoft technology (Sync Framework + Exchange) and that Apple paid MS for it...

[required @ Jun 9th 2008 6:43PM]

I didn't know it was a quasi-rebranded Microsoft product. Interesting.

[Ruben @ Jun 9th 2008 6:40PM]

I couldnt watch the video because it required some spyware called Quicktime.

But from what i gather, Google and Live already have one hell of a leg up (especially Google) due to the free nature of the service. Besides hardcore mac users, i just cant see the justification for such a service where the alternatives (minus the push support) offer so much more for so much less. It just goes to show you the commitment Apple has to such a service. Google and Microsoft dump money into their internet integration services, and they ask nothing more out of you than for you to use it. Meanwhile Apple has the balls to charge you for their offering.

I would have alot more respect for the MobileMe service had it been free. It would indicate to me that they are committed to this space. By charging for it, i see no reason to ever buy into it (and 99 bucks isnt much, but its the principle). Even XBOX Live only costs 59 bucks a year, and the integration and entertainment you get out of that service makes this one look silly. They had a chance to revitalize .Mac and failed miserably.

[Koray @ Jun 9th 2008 6:44PM]

use quicktime alternative...

[Ethan @ Jun 9th 2008 8:24PM]

Or the VLC browser plugin. That works right?

[boss-hogg @ Jun 9th 2008 6:48PM]

Where can I get one of those black I-Shirts!

[IndiaTech @ Jun 10th 2008 1:50AM]

Wal-Mart...

[jcwestbrook @ Jun 9th 2008 6:53PM]

Apple John is Steve Jobs through the eyes of, well, Steve Jobs.

[Richard Lai @ Jun 9th 2008 7:07PM]

I'd like to see Jonathan Ive do a video - his soothing British accent could win over more users.

[mrhammerstein @ Jun 9th 2008 7:07PM]

what a crappy name, "MobileMe".

get out the faildozer.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jun 9th 2008 7:24PM]

I like that term faildozer. It has a nice ring to it.

I've never heard anyone that said .Mac was worthwhile, so I guess nothing has changed. I'm not sure why $99 a year is too expensive when it almost costs that much to fill up an SUV's gas tank every week. Well, at least in NYC, it does.

[retro77 @ Jun 9th 2008 7:31PM]

Steffen Jobbs: Why on earth would you have an SUV in NYC?

[Quikboy @ Jun 9th 2008 11:28PM]

I agree. MobileMe is a rather sucky name compared to .Mac.

For some reason, when I think of the word "MobileMe", I think of a mobile service that is for people who are all self-centric, because of the use of "me".

I mean, it's not like Apple caters to people who think they're all superior and self-centric just because they have shiny-looking gadgets, right?

[CosterMonger @ Jun 9th 2008 7:18PM]

how much does Google Docs cost per year.

[Richard Lai @ Jun 9th 2008 7:21PM]

Good point. We shall see how Android will interact with Google Docs.

[retro77 @ Jun 9th 2008 7:33PM]

FREE!!!!!!! Something Apple knows nothing of.

It would be interesting to put Apple's business model next to Google's. They both makes tons of money!