Five Improvements I’d make to MobileMe
I was asked today if I could make five changes to MobileMe what would they be. I tweaked the question to a five point wishlist. as I have to say I am more than happy with my MobileMe service.
The ability to use two Macs and sync seamlessly with both makes MobileMe a big part of how I work. I have found though that even with ‘push’ mail I tend to use the sync services more than I use the email. Anyway, if I had the power to improve MobileMe here are there things I would update. 
1. Ability to you use your own domain with MobileMe.
Google offer this for free and with massive storage. I did think the ability to use your own personal domain with iWeb was the start of a move in this direction but it wasn’t to be. The ability to use your own domain not only looks more professional but it also means in a few years time if you do move email providers your address remains with your domain.2. The ability to sync mail rules with the cloud.
I have about a dozen mail rules that sort, colour, and even delete mail automatically. It would be great if these were applied at the server level rather than just at mail.app level. This would mean when I check my MobileMe email via the web interface or on iPhone it would all be filtered as it is on my desktop. Server sided rules are a big part of how Microsoft Exchange works and if MobileMe is ‘Exchange for the rest of us’ then we need server sided mail rules.3. Improved sync capabilities for larger files.
Perhaps this is just me but I am finding more and more conflicts with files greater than 10MB. With the massive storage available on iDisk users are going to have larger files in their document folders. I have a few files that are 30MB and ever so often I find I have a few conflicts with these larger files. I am alone with this issue ?4. Ability to access iDisk on the iPhone
How great would it be to visit your iDisk on your iPhone and view documents stored there ? Ideally we would be able to edit over the air but even the ability to access, read and perhaps email the files to others would be a great benefit to MobileMe users.5. Notes in the Cloud.
I love the iPhone notes application. I find I use it in most meetings, it is quick, and easy to use but I’d love to be able to sync notes with the cloud and access them back at my computer without having to email them to myself. I know there are other applications for note taking but the one provided with the iPhone is great, this feature would make it even better.
Again these are improvements I would make not gripes about the current service. I find MobileMe a great feature and I haven’t even mentioned the brilliant photo and video galleries it offers. To be honest if you own a Mac you really should consider a MobileMe account for the ease of photo and video sharing as well as the various sync and backup services it offers. More Information on MobileMe here.
What do others think ?
4 Comments
I very much agree with #2 and #5. Yes!
Have you ever bookmarked an RSS feed in Safari, chosen to sync Bookmarks in MobileMe preferences, then on an iPod Touch or iPhone selected that bookmark in Mobile Safari? It takes you to an address something like http://reader.mac.com/mobile/v1/http...
I would strongly desire some sort of a better RSS reader that “push”-synced with the RSS bookmarks in Safari so that when they were read on the mobile device they would be marked as read in Safari.
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I couldn’t agree with you more! I actually just ran across your site when surfing for information about syncing mail rules to MobileMe. I get a lot of mail. For simplicity, I like using one single mail account and just sort everything into folders by using rules. I’m very new to Mac’s and have been debating on switching from FastMail to MobileMe. I rely on my iPhone to check mail when not at the computer. Thus, to have the rules automatically applied at the web mail level would really keep my inbox and folders organized. I’ve become so accustomed to using FastMail, which sorts everything into folders and provides SMTP access so that I can use it on my phone and keep everything synced, that I’m trying to make sure that MobileMe will meet all of my needs before switching. However, I really like the sync features of MobileMe which keep my contacts and calendar synced on the web. Have you heard if Apple plans to update the sync features to include rules at the web mail level?
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You can actually access your iDisk from your iPhone/iPod touch with MobileFiles.app (http://www.quickoffice.com/mobilefiles/). The free version allows you to view (or delete) files on the iDisk and to download them to the iPhone for offline viewing. The Pro version offers more functionality, though I actually haven’t used it.
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I’d like to see the inclusion of an online MobileMe jargon buster for simple folks like me.
I would suggest to Mr Pogue that the publication of a Missing Manual for MobileMe would be a world best seller; Unless he suspects that MobileMe, like its late predecessor, Dot Mac, is likely to disappear suddenly in a puff of animated smoke from all the Macs in Macdom.
That said, I think MobileMe is a mighty useful compendium for Techies but too much of a behemoth for Model T. Forde afficionados who might readily choose flight from fight and trade the MobileMe Masserratti for a simple Email application.
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