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- ThePottsDome, on 10/12/2007, -5/+27HEY STEVE ! Are you listening ? You know, Apple has done stranger things than this and Jobs just loves to hit us with giant waves every once in awhile. Just maybe......
- Kimi3013, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17I can't see Apple sticking extrenal adds on their site. It would mess with their cleaness style they're known for.
- angelp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19wow....I've never seen a clearer example of someone not knowing what the hell they're talking about. You deserve a reward for that, my friend.
- MrBabyMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Well, duh!!! This is the way .Mac should've been all along!!
- SnapETom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I can understand why .Mac costs money. iTools was pretty expensive to run, and Apple needed a return on its infrastructure investment. However, that time is now past. They've got their money back from subscribers and like other posters have noted, there are tons of competitors out there.
This would be another opportunity to catch lightning in a bottle like the iPod. It is a prime opportunity to "create cool." When iTools first came out, we all got email addresses that ended with "@mac.com." It was a fledgling little club that we belonged to, and it was a great conversation starter when someone gave you that address. "Oh, iTools. What Mac do you have?" When .Mac came out, though, the switchover left a bad taste in people's mouths. Usage plummeted, and there were constant rumors that Apple was disappointed with the number of subscribers. "@mac.com" now meant you were a paying sucker.
Fastforward to now, though. Online social networking is the in-thing. If .Mac gets the social tools, this is an opportunity to create that exclusive club again. It can create a similiar situation to the iPod. Sure competitors have beat the iPod in specs and price, but the coolness factor is something that no one has ever duplicated. Free .Mac can make the Mac itself the new cool. - MrUnderbridge, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Yeah, I don't think this would pass Macrumors' ***** meter.
Next thing you know he'll be saying Macs will have Intel chips and run Windows - Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Finally someone said it!! Frankly this is probably the only thing that pisses me off about being a Mac user. I got .Mac originally just for an eMail address, and I can't see me paying $126 (Europe) for many more years. Google is starting to offer similar products to .Mac, and they're free! Something has to give.
- alexsantos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I wouldn't say they're twice as expensive but they are way cooler machines. Run silently, Run two or more OSs at once via Parallels or BootCamp, the latter is free.
There are many more examples I can present but you do the research. Many of us who have have realized the benefits of mac, in fact it just gets better.
Apple Computer sells a rock solid computing experience far from being just eye candy. - p00p, on 10/12/2007, -14/+23Interesting article but link directly to the story, not the blog. And it's entirely speculation, so don't describe it so misleadingly.
- blatherskyte, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11"You see, the smallest change can make a huge difference in something like this."
Let us never forget that while Apple from the exterior is soft, lickable, clever and innovative --it is a business. Time and again Apple has pointedly shown how shrewd it is at the practice of making money.
"Free .Mac for everyone. It's the loss leader that will have people buying Macs like never before."
This logic doesn't work. Nobody buys a Dell because AOL is installed. Also, during quarterly earnings reports (10Q) Apple has never pointed out how much .Mac earns --or doesn't. It's generally lumped into "Software, service and other sales".
Apple does state, however, that net sales of software, services rose $197m / 44% during the first 6 months of 2006 compared to the same time in 2005 (page 30 of the 10Q). That's pretty amazing by itself. But, the last line of that segment is telling, "This growth was primarily attributable to increased net sales of AppleCare Protection Plan (APP) extended service and support contracts, Mac OS X, Apple-branded and third-pary application software, and Internet services." If you take those in order of importance, meaning return on investment (ROI), .Mac certainly looks to be ready for a loss leader award ribbon.
While I share your sentiment that .Mac is cool and would be moreso if it were free, I just don't see it. But hey, opinions are like a**holes...everyone's got one. - jswinehart, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Thats interesting, since specing out a laptop comparable to a macbook from say dell or hp costs the same or more than the macbook. Add better design, and ease of use on top of that and theres really no comparison.
- superterran, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10He's right.
I bought my 2GHz MBP after seeing that the Dell XPS with similar specs cost $200 more and had slower RAM. When you start to factor in the better screen, the 2MP digital camera, 1inch thick, better battery life, the laptop looks phenomenal, the mag-safe connector, it makes no noise... it seemed like it was too good to be true. Bootcamp would get me Windows, and since I always use a mouse with it anyways... I figured it would work out.
I've been using it for a month and a half now, as it turns out - Mac OSX was reason enough to upgrade - god I love my mac. Stable, quick, impresses everybody, easier to use, expose', runs Windows XP in a window as fast as my last laptop ran it outright... If I knew Mac was this good to begin with, I'd never even bothered with windows. Other than playing games, I don't do anything in Windows anymore - my desktop hasn't been touched in ages.
However, it's still nice to boot into windows and play Prey or Quake IV on your laptop. I'd do it on my desktop, but my laptop's a better gaming rig.
Did I mention I love my mac? If I knew why the hell I'd need a .mac account, I'd probably buy that too! - Septimus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Hope so. I don't want to pay for it anymore, it's really not worth it.
- cleverboy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Marked as "inaccurate". The description says "why Apple will", when the "explanation" is "why Apple should". It's nice to engage in wishful thinking or such, as long as its not mislabeled. I certainly agree with the points outlined in the blog though. I signed up for eWorld way back when, and Apple's still smarting from that I bet. Now they're being much more cautious about any major steps. I'd definitely use .Mac. I have friends who had a "free" year's worth of an account until that expired.
- bugfaceuk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"Next thing you know he'll be saying Macs will have Intel chips and run Windows"
Now youi're just being silly. - bbeahm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7That was kinda stated clearly in the article
- Boondoggle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6There is a lot more to .Mac than that. It is not expensive if you use all of the features.
- RSkwiat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7it would be interesting if .mac was included with iLife
- donnyb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Just make it better!!! More space and features would be great.
- siMac, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Yeah it'd be a big surprise for everyone that Microsoft copies Apple...
- angelp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@joeydeacon - That's one of the reasons people ridicule some Mac owners...because of statements like that. Quite frankly, you should hope people continue to buy Macs or find them desirable......that's how the company makes money and continues to innovate.
- CMiYC, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5This is not an article. It is some one posting why they think .Mac should be free.
Not every blog entry on the Internet is a news article. - johneffort, on 06/06/2008, -2/+6The blog mentions the problem of people unable to share their calender with their friends because they don't have a mac with .mac. Driving many people to Apple by freeing .mac is definitely not the solution. We don't need another vendor-lock-in. We need FREEDOM.
Freedom to choose whatever service we like to use our calendar/whatever and the freedom to share that data with any other people using whatever other service. We need to be able to see somebodies MS Live calendar in a .mac Calendar etc.
open API's and the like are the solution to the mentioned problem and heck, that's what Web 2.0 is all about.
Buying an apple because all your friends have one and you therefore cannot access their calendars is ridiculous - starmanjones, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5>done stranger things.
i don't know that it would be all that out of character for them to do offer it free. most of the macs existance the OS was free. and they bundle a hell of a bunch stuff with every mac. if everyone had a free account integrated into .Mac and iTunes... and they had a big studio like say... disney... they'd be set to do some movies and music. - felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The main reason I pay for a .mac account is for synching my calendars. I need to be able to have a calendar that multiple people can edit, and have it sync up with my Treo. Since I don't have an Exchange server, this was the easiest solution I could find.
I have to say that the iDisk is a very convenient shared storage space, because it mounts easily on anyone's Mac, and I don't have to play tech support for people that want to share files with me through it.
There are a lot of other benefits that I get from .mac - I'm not saying they add up to a $100/year value, but I'm not upset about paying for it, either. - jamms, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4er, ok. thats not too selfish now.
apple e-mail should be free, perhaps limit storage to 250mb like the introductory service offers. this would help grow the noticeably of mac users on the net and help bring people together on ichat. the rest of .mac should cost. why would apple just give away storage? it's just not a bright idea. apple doesn't sell ads on their users webpages, and they never will because it will outrage their user-base. - gregpc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What's going to get people to buy Macs like never before is already happening - they can now be totally adopted as the complete computing platform. Want to run OS X apps? - of course. Need to get onto a corporate VPN, run a Windows-only enterprise application or need Linux? - use virtualization. Want to run a graphics-intensive Windows-only application or game? - use Boot Camp. Name another system that is so flexible - and accessible - for the average user. Free .Mac is not going to lead more people to buy Macs. Just sayin'
- shadowmoses, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This really should have been the case from the start.....Anyway it will be very cool to have a free .mac account with every mac purchase and will defiantly help Apple swing users especially if they market it correctly....
- Rodzirra, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5"Amen... When will we all be free from the scourge that is .Mac!"
Does Steve Jobs have some jackbooted thugs who come to your home and force you to enter your credit card number on the .Mac online order form? Sheesh... I'd love to have it for free, too, but it's nowhere near a scourge on my existence. - DooDah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3well said, its about time it wasn't about money, but about userbility, the user experience and compatability.......
- thecha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have .Mac, come october if they don't improve it to compete with all of the free services which are better than .Mac, (gmail, flickr, youtube, myspace) I will be cancelling my account...
- alexsantos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Absolutely, if it were included with iLife that should be the solution. I could see Apple doing that for a year at which point they would charge again. But with every upgrade it should go free. If they do charge it should be much much much lower - 25% of the cost it is today.
- sastian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2your welcome :)
- yoelnino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2when it first came out, it was free. It is coming to a full circle now
- Boondoggle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So you can walk up to a brand new stock computer and within minutes of creating a user account on it have all of your links, emails and mail preferences contacts, calendar and keychain items up to date with all of your other systems?
I've got something like 200 keychain items. They all just work on all of my Mac systems thanks to .Mac.
I only need to remember my keychain password.
- Arkitan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I won't pay for it because it just doesn't seem worth it, but if it were free I would definitely use it, perhaps make it if you use .Mac with Leopard you turn on the Bit-torrent sharing thing, that would be a way for users to Pay for it, and Apple to still get something out of .Mac
- frem001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wont be renewing my .mac again unless they make it MUCH better than it is now.
- gorkish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't think .mac needs to be free.
I think apple needs to either sell or give away ".mac server" so that you can get all the nice .mac integration everywhere with services you currently are already using.
I already have a web host, email provider, and file server with oodles of storage for backups that is itself centrally managed and backed up. I run them all and I have to for the purposes of the other oodles of users I support. Why I would want to pay someone $100 to give me a service that is completely out of my control boggles my mind. I'm sure that I'm not the only one. - bethanyb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I understand why .mac cost money but it would be KICKASS if it was free.
digg! - Talguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i'm about to purchase a mac in the near future and have been looking at the advantages that a mac has with a .mac account an they look pretty good. If .mac becomes free that would be even better me since i'm still in college and have enough bills as it is.
- *jooloop*, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Or on cotton plants.
- ShyGuy91284, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1.Mac really is a great service. But I wouldn't ever pay money for it because everything it can do I could do without ripping my hair out as a fairly advanced computer user. But .Mac could probably be very useful and worth the cost to most non-computer geek Mac users who are willing to plop down the money for Apple's premium computers anyways (especially as a way to prevent the DSL installation guy from deleting all your files).
- Vermifax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've had .Mac for four years and I love it.
- neondiet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Ireland
"Something has to give"
It's already giving. I've converted some of my friends to Mac's, and I get them to register with the .Mac trial so they can get an account they can iChatAV with, but the European price is way too high I'm embarrassed to tell them to use it. So instead I invite them to Google Mail and set them up a google mail account. Then tell them to forget the .Mac email and just use google. I'll continue this policy until Apple do something about the price. It doesn't have to be free, it just has to be a sensible price and at the moment its 2-3 times as expensive as it should be. IMO It should be no more expensive than it costs to buy the iLife kit and preferably cheaper.
- jstene, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wishful thinking.
- cklol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow. IF .Mac was made free...that would be so awesome rofl.
- mc_hambone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Inaccurate headline and description - this is just a blog post saying how nice it would be if it were free (no, really?), but contains no facts pointing to anything substantial.
- iDad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While there are 'free' alternatives to .mac, the decision of whether to pay for .mac or use the free alternatives is not cut and dry, for example
... flickr has upload limitations that you need to pay $25 to remove
... I have not been able to find a free email service that supports both imap and mail forwarding (features I need)
... I find there is a time (i.e. $) saving with the ease of updating my .mac website with the built in tools .mac provides (and I just point my domain at my .mac website)
... my preference would be to have my personal site on .mac than on myspace
That said, after comparing alternatives, I think a more reasonable price for .mac would be $49/year or, as another suggested, include membership as part of iLife. - ripcord, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Free .Mac for everyone. It's the loss leader that will have people buying Macs like never before."
As much as I'd love that to be true, I just don't see it. Apple in the last 5 years has pretty much zero buy-in to this "loss leader" concept. I agree with the blogger 100% on everything except the idea that Apple is even considering this. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just renewed my .Mac but I won't be doing it again.
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