Apple fesses up to MobileMe transition difficulties

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's something wrong with Apple's MobileMe transition -- which was originally scheduled to take place Wednesday evening. Now, into the early hours of Friday, and almost a day after the iPhone 3G's launch in NZ, we've seen maybe a total of 30 minutes of scattered uptime for the service, and Apple is finally confessing that the transition is "taking longer than expected." The good news is that .Mac users should still be able to check their mail, sync their contacts and use their iDisks, but at the moment there's no telling when MobileMe's sexy new web apps will be available, or what to expect next as far as those other services.

Update: For what it's worth, MobileMe is up again -- now with working email and new "Getting Started" tours which we haven't seen before. Looks promising but we'll need to give it a few hours to burn-in. Screenshot after the break.

Update 2: And by "up" we meant "not up," of course. Get it right, people.

[Thanks, Alec A]

[bcrider @ Jul 11th 2008 1:17AM]

thanks for the update!

[Flashpoint @ Jul 11th 2008 1:35AM]

Email me when some hacker CRACKS the iPhone3G wide open.

Then i'll buy it.

[CraigJ @ Jul 11th 2008 2:37AM]

"Email me when some hacker CRACKS the iPhone3G wide open."

Sure, just post your a-mail address right here.

[Oscarv77 @ Jul 11th 2008 1:17AM]

"Mac... It Just Works"

[Lamp @ Jul 11th 2008 1:21AM]

wow,
-high five-
thats not getting old at all.

[Brian! @ Jul 11th 2008 1:22AM]

Heh.

Oscarv77, you just signed your death warrant. The fan boys are going to have your head!

On a side note, Engadget should rename themselves iGadget. That way we can know to expect more Apple news and updates than any other product on the market.

After all, isn't downloadsquad for software news? Isn't tuaw for Apple news? Or maybe all this news about the iPhone should be posted on Engadget Mobile... because isn't that the site specific for phone coverage?

But, this keeps getting posted again and again. I think Engadget reports on the Apple stuff so much because they get hits and generate more ad revenue.

[Reid @ Jul 11th 2008 1:37AM]

Oscar,

Totally! And how come you can only use a one-button mouse on them?

High five!

[CraigJ @ Jul 11th 2008 2:40AM]

Brian. Don't be a troll. Like it or not the iPhone is big news. I don't think raving fan boys would make a graphic that says Mobile Fail, instead they'd be making excuses on Apple's behalf.

[Mark Anderson @ Jul 11th 2008 5:07AM]

@Lamp

Almost as old as the MS bashing that goes on. Isn't it amazing when Apple balls up a full product launch that the tech press are understanding about it whilst at the same time crucifying Microsoft for not launching a beta website?

[jason51873 @ Jul 11th 2008 11:28AM]

@Lamp

Making fun of it will get old as soon as Apple stops trying to tell everyone "it just works"

[Hexxeh @ Jul 12th 2008 4:58PM]

"Mac.. it just about works"
Fixed.

[Pochi @ Jul 11th 2008 1:17AM]

A story about Apple... doing wrong?! Wait... what's this...

"The good news is that .Mac users should still be able to check their mail, sync their contacts and use their iDisks..."

Nice to know you sprinkled some good news in there. Not sure the last time I saw a "Vista did something horrible and mean today, but in other news it also worked really well with an old game I haven't been able to get working since Windows 98SE. Whoo!"

I'm sure it's just around the corner now, though. ; )

I kid.

...

Sort of.

[ESAM @ Jul 11th 2008 1:25AM]

For god saik, If don't like the news you don't have to click on it and post a comment. Or just leave.

[Pochi @ Jul 11th 2008 1:27AM]

ZING! Got me! I guess if we don't have anything nice to say here at Engadget, we shouldn't say anything at all...

...but then again that'd cut down the comments by about 78%. I don't think the advertisers would like that. So I'll continue to support my gadget blogging friends with my negativity.

[kal326 @ Jul 11th 2008 5:17PM]

@Pochi

Well at least you're honest....

And it looks like we have a double header of FAIL, nice going Apple. So much for "it just works". Maybe its time to rename to MobileMaybe

[Eric @ Jul 11th 2008 1:18AM]

I can't do anything with my iDisk, because I already have the MobileMe pane in System Preferences...

My .Mac e-mail is still working, but it's very slow. I sent myself an e-mail about an hour ago and it's just arrived now.

[Joseph @ Jul 11th 2008 1:20AM]

me too.

and I made the mistake of signing out in the pref pane, just to see if logging back in would work. Of course, I wasn't thinking that if it's down, I can't sign back in.

So yeah

[NyArtBoy @ Jul 11th 2008 11:34AM]

I am unable to sync with .mac because my login preferences have changed somehow and I can't log in to change them. I requested a new password this morning and I still haven't received confirmation. So my .mac AND iPhone are JACKed at the moment because I cant login for tech support. The iPhone update erased my phone so its back to the state when you first buy it. Its waiting for iTunes Store to register it but iTunes is down. Was on the (land line) phone waiting 30 mins for tech support even though the message told me my hold time was approx 2 mins. I give up.... This shouldn't be sugar coated. My business is now out of commission.

[redirector @ Jul 11th 2008 1:19AM]

their web hosting is still working for me :D

[bcrider @ Jul 11th 2008 1:21AM]

Tried publishing or just still live?

[Konstantin @ Jul 11th 2008 2:27AM]

Not for me. Can't sign into my .mac account which really sucks considering you have to pay 99 bucks for the thing.

[Drew @ Jul 11th 2008 1:19AM]

Whoops!

[Technophile @ Jul 11th 2008 1:21AM]

they might as well completely take the whole server down and just get it fixed correctly.

it would be better than everyone freaking out and spamming it with push requests for email all the time while they're trying to figure out what the problem is.

[Charles Han @ Jul 11th 2008 1:27AM]

apple fail? that's unpossible!

[John @ Jul 11th 2008 1:31AM]

Speaking of fail, the job on the picture could have used a tad more work.

[Yevon @ Jul 11th 2008 1:38AM]

Well than, get off your ass and into Photoshop! (More like stay on your ass and click on over to Photoshop, but whatever.)

[Saad Rabia @ Jul 11th 2008 1:35AM]

That picture up there brought me the joy within; like a breeze of cold air in a summer day; I feel human once again... I can rest in peace.

[Mikkle @ Jul 11th 2008 1:51AM]

Haha no kidding... between "mobile fail" and "sad Moto" :(, Engadget is on a roll!

[Piratbyran @ Jul 11th 2008 1:36AM]

http://h4xr.org/e7bm

Leave them alone.

[omnicloud @ Jul 11th 2008 3:57AM]

LEAVE STEVE JOBS ALONE!

All you tech blogs care about is readers and making money off of Apple! Steve's a human!


I'm sorry I couldn't resist.

[Alex @ Jul 11th 2008 5:07AM]

Omnicloud,

SO IS BRITNEY!
LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!
SHE'S HUMAN!

Y'all know what I'm talking 'bout.

[Reid @ Jul 11th 2008 1:38AM]

I just noticed the "mobile fail", like the third time I saw the picture.

Tip of the hat to you, sir!

[William @ Jul 11th 2008 1:38AM]

What happened to being a Blackberry killer?

[TimeyWimeyStuff @ Jul 11th 2008 5:57AM]

Welcome to June 29, 2007

[Eric @ Jul 11th 2008 1:47AM]

I can log into MobileMe through System Preferences, but iDisk isn't working.

The rest of it seems to be.

[Shenzhov @ Jul 11th 2008 1:56AM]

@Reid

Macs come with a multi button mouse.

I've been using mulit button mice on my Macs since the 90's.

Maybe you just can't read.

[Dan @ Jul 11th 2008 4:50AM]

Woah - somebody forgot their irony hat today.

[thefiendster @ Jul 11th 2008 1:58AM]

lol

[thefiendster @ Jul 11th 2008 1:59AM]

lol

["grumbles" @ Jul 11th 2008 2:04AM]

I cant access my iDisk, sign in via my control panel, or sync a bleepin thing.... Thanks apple.... Its been nearly 36 hours of ZERO access other than mail via my desktop application.

[Taylor @ Jul 11th 2008 2:06AM]

Stay up to date here:

http://www.apple.com/support/dotmac/

[Lori @ Jul 11th 2008 2:13AM]

I was able to sign up earlier during a brief period of uptime (of just the registration page) for a trial. I was able to check my email the first time I tried about an hour ago, and now am able to actually sign in via System Preferences on my iMac as well as in Control Panel on my PC. :)

iDisk is apparently still down, but everything else is working.... except the web apps as well. Syncing and all of that is working though.

[The Man Dude @ Jul 11th 2008 2:25AM]

I was using screen sharing with my iMac service when it crashed the other night. ever since .Mac isn't working my sys press still say .mac -where is the mobile me pref pane?

[cmbstation-orders @ Jul 11th 2008 2:31AM]

36+ hours without service. Absolute disaster for me. Considering I actually pay for what I could have and do have for free at Yahoo/Gmail I guess I'm the real dummy here. I'll be asking for that refund and populating everything to Gmail.

[GreezyG @ Jul 11th 2008 3:22AM]

It's worth the wait. Ive been a .Mac customer for two years. I haven't had any email problems at all. I have both my pc's, my mac, and my iPhone syncing up now. It's taking them longer than planned but its coming up.

[GreezyG @ Jul 11th 2008 2:43AM]

It looks to be up and running... I am not able to login via the mobileme icon in windows control panel and its syncing up :)

[soonershane @ Jul 11th 2008 3:19AM]

Still waiting for the 2.0 update as well.

[Matt @ Jul 11th 2008 3:29AM]

"Exchange for the rest of us"

[Matt @ Jul 11th 2008 4:22AM]

And it's down again...

[Tubes @ Jul 11th 2008 4:29AM]

I'm kinda hoping this isn't a sign of things to come with the new Me.com.

Heavens knows it wasn't too wonderful under the Mac.com moniker.

:(