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Apple extends MobileMe accounts--again

In an apparent attempt to make up for problems plaguing the Web services suite's launch, Apple extends subscriber accounts by 60 days--on top of a 30-day extension.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Steven Musil
2 min read

In an apparent attempt to make up for the problems that plagued MobileMe's launch in July, Apple has announced that it will extend user accounts another 60 days for free--that's on top of the 30-day free extension Apple gave users in July.

In an e-mail sent Monday to MobileMe subscribers announcing the extension, Apple acknowledged that the Web services suite needs more work:

We have already made many improvements to MobileMe, but we still have many more to make. To recognize our users' patience, we are giving every MobileMe subscriber as of today a free 60-day extension. This is in addition to the one-month extension most subscribers have already received.

We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe's launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around. Read this article for more details.

The MobileMe Team

The linked article on Apple's support site explains the extension and eligibility.

MobileMe is the next evolution of Apple's .Mac service. It's essentially a cloud storage solution that allows subscribers to synchronize e-mail, calendars, contacts, photos, Safari bookmarks, Dashboard widgets, and more, among Macs, the iPhone, and the iPod Touch. It allows for 20GB of storage on Apple's servers, and it even cooperates with Outlook on Windows computers. Because it is Web-based, subscribers can access the online applications from any Web browser.

But from its launch on July 10, MobileMe had problems. Most notably, subscribers had trouble accessing the site, and some even lost e-mail. Subscribers also reported problems accessing calendars and contact information, which was caused by a misjudgment in demand, according to an Apple blog post.

Earlier this month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs admitted that it was a "mistake" to roll out the company's MobileMe service at the same time it launched the iPhone 3G and other big products, tech news site Ars Technica reported.