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Apple has had more than their share of trouble since the launch of MobileMe, pretty simply put they have admitted “it was a lot rockier than we had hoped,” and I think that just about any previous .mac user or new MobileMe user will certainly have a story or two of frustration to tell.

Thankfully, albeit 6 days after the fact, Apple has stepped up and offered every MobileMe user a 30-day extension on their yearly service, which according to Apple should be reflected in your account within the next few weeks.

The launch of MobileMe, which was really a switch over from the previous .mac service had a few major issues, to begin with the web apps had some initial difficulties and were just not really working well at the launch. Which caused lots of grief and aggravation because users were unable to see if their changes were really being “pushed” into the cloud and being synced with the web apps.

Not to mention when everything else seems to be having issues, you begin to worry about the email reliability, which for previous .mac subscribers who were readily using that address was a cause for alert.

However, and possibly more important is Apple’s use of the word “push” and simply put the MobileMe service is not entirely push, because while the data going from your phone to the web is near immediate, the information coming to or going from your Mac or PC was only every 15 minutes at best.

So while Apple has apologized and offered the extension in good faith, I am not sure this really solves the issue, because many people were picking up MobileMe, because it was “Exchange for the rest of us” and simply put, that is not entirely true.

There is some hope though, a little further into the email from Apple they did state that they were going to “stop using the word “push” until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.” Which could mean that they are at least working towards that goal, which hopefully will happen sooner than later.

Of course, for most individuals every 15 minutes is truly enough, for me its not as much the small time delay but that Apple simply used the word “push” incorrectly.

For that I can only say, shame on you Apple.

For those subscribers who have not yet received their email from Apple you can read the full letter below.

[MobileMe 30-day Extension FAQ]

MobileMe services are now available

We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.

Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.

Another snag we have run into is our use of the word “push” in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe “cloud,” changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word “push” until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.

We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.
We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.

Thank you,
The MobileMe Team