When MobileMe first came out I was so excited. So excited that I signed up early. Way early. Full of holes early. But, I held fast in my relationship. This is Apple after all. And yes, true to that belief it got better over time. I love it for the idea of what it can do and how simple in theory it is.

MobileMe is Apple’s bit of cloud computing, integrated with the Mac and iOS operating systems. The setup is simple, the price is reasonable, and despite the total lack of phone support, when all is humming along things just work. It is brilliant. It is an answer to sync and real time data. Also it helps that I live by my iCal. And I live with it heavily on my mobile devices. I also really like the idea of finding your iPhone and iPad and being able to “kill” them if you ever needed to. That alone is worth the price of admission.

But here comes my rant, and keep in mind that I love Apple. Really. So this is a big one for me: MobileMe could be the most fickle thing ever to touch my Mac. Odd since it comes straight from Apple. Simply put, it doesn’t keep working. It stops syncing. It loses data. And Apple provides little or no advance warning of potential problems, nor easy ways to fix issues that occur.

Here is how the final straw and why this particular rant came about: For the last few weeks after upgrading to the new MobileMe CalDAV-based format, I am close to putting my fist through the laptop. I think the move to the standards-based approach is a good one, so I said, sure, it makes sense to do this. So I upgraded. To condense here is what happened and keeps happening:

  • Nearly all events more than about six weeks old got deleted. No warning – just BAM! Gone. There was a fix but it took forever.
  • Calendars on the iPad break with this upgrade. They must be reconfigured manually until iOS 4.2 arrives. iPhone sync requires iOS 4.1 or more reconfiguration which is quirky.
  • The sync path between my computer and MobileMe will not save. Or when it does or does not is anyone’s guess.

I tend to use my iCal locally on my laptop and push out to MobileMe automatically. It is just my workflow,  but it is a crucial one for me because I work on my laptop all day long and use it for work. It becomes my to do list, marks changes in appointments, calls, meetings etc. Vital stuff. Then later in the day I find that an event that I moved or deleted is back. Yes, because for some unknown reason the sync path got moved back from MobilMe to my laptop. It drives me CRAZY. And there is no fix I can see anywhere on line, and no I cannot get help at Apple other than chat services … and you know what? I need to talk to actually talk to someone!

Apple is now making a serious move into cloud computing with new product offerings and back-end servers, yet basic problems remain. I expect more from a paid service than casual loss of data and seeming indifference to its users.

And yes, the end of this rant will see me sticking with the product because I work so well with iCal. I mess around with Google Calendar from time to time and syncing that with iCal and the rest of it, but this is an Apple product using all Apple products and I am paying for it. It needs to work consistently. Period.

Don’t make this the one sore thumb for me Apple. I don’t want it to be, and you don’t have to. It is too good a concept and the product has such potential – please don’t force me to go elsewhere. But if it doesn’t rectify itself sooner rather than later, I may have to until Apple decides to get serious with the product they have released.