Posts Tagged "mobileme"

How to cancel a MobileMe trial subscription

Posted on Jul 29, 2008 in Hints

Since a few people have asked me, here’s the lowdown on how to cancel a MobileMe subscription within the free 60-days trial period.

Apple accidently charges users for MobileMe trial

Posted on Jul 16, 2008 in Opinions, The web

And this is why forcing users to enter credit card details to test a free trial of your somewhat troubled online service is a bad idea – here’s one users experience after signing up for a trial:

“I have just checked my card account online and apple have put a £121 pending transaction on the card! that’s not even 1 years subscription.”

Link to the relevant Apple Support Discussion thread.

MobileMe trial now requires Credit Card & Opt-Out

Posted on Jul 12, 2008 in Mac, Opinions

In what I believe is a change from the previous .mac trial model, Apple is now requiring potential customers to enter  credit card details in order to test mobileme for 60 days. That in itself isn’t too bad, but the trial membership will now also automatically be upgraded to a full membership unless you cancel the subscription during the trial. I think requiring users to opt-out these types of trials always seems a bit dubious and isn’t the most user-friendly approach to take.

I suppose it helps to prevent people from “freeloading” by using multiple email addresses to use the service for multiple trial periods, but I find it hard to imagine anyone actually bothering to do that (especially considering some of mobileme’s features have excellent free alternatives). But I’m sure some people who have a more casual interest in the new services and want to ‘try before they buy‘ may be inclined to not bother signing up for a trial because of this.

Ideally I see a trial model where users are encouraged to enter Credit Card details, but are presented with a simple dialog window at the end of the trial period that offers a single-click option to automatically upgrade to a full membership. Sure, Apple would miss out on a few customers that simply forget to cancel the subscription, but I think the customers retained anyway would appreciate the entire experience all the more due to the “pro-customer” approach.

MobileMe predictions

Posted on Jun 1, 2008 in Opinions

So it looks as though this year the long-rumored .mac overhaul might finally be on the cards.

Not only did the 10.5.3 update introduce a placeholder for the word “.mac” in various locations across the system, the domains “me.com” and “mobileme.com” are both apparently being held for Apple. 
(Perhaps Apple will also try to nab one of those fancy new Montenegrin “.me” domains – “mobile.me”.)

So here’s my predictions for some of the changes we’ll see to .mac: