Wednesday, December 31, 2008

iPhone: MobileMe vs. Google services

Via Macintouch, a reader compares two competing solutions, to which I add inline comments and emphases:

MobileMe

... MacInTouch Reader

Quick comparison: Google services vs Apple MobileMe

COST:
Google: free [jf: Google Apps custom domain is currently $10/year for 100 people]
MobileMe: $99/year [jf: MobileMe family pack is $93 on sale now for 5 people]

SUPPORT:
Google: web-only, no access to live staff
MobileMe: web-only, no access to live staff

RELIABILITY:
Google: pretty damn good
MobileMe: pretty damn bad

SYNC SERVICES:
Google: limited
MobileMe: dangerous

iPHONE SUPPORT:
Google: okay, iTunes sync required
[jf: Pretty bad honestly, but that's because Apple won't provide a phone API for Calendar items]
MobileMe: great when it works

WEB SITE HOSTING:
Google: Google Sites enables you to build sites with rich functionality
MobileMe: Hope you bought iLife... the web based HomePage tool is dead and gone!

PHOTO SHARING:
Google: Picassa -- fast, feature rich, and free
MobileMe: Hope you bought iLife...

VIDEO SHARING:
Google: YouTube
MobileMe: Hope you bought iLife...

My extras

CHAT SUPPORT:
Google: Flaky video on OS X
MobileMe: iChat 10.6 is good

CALENDAR SUBSCRIBE/PUBLISH
Google: Superb.
MobileMe: None

FILE SHARING/WEBDAV
Google: None except the feeble Google Apps/PDF sharing
MobileMe: Excellent.

ABILITY to INTEROPERATE with iPhone/EXCHANGE services
Google: None
MobileMe: Good in theory, I have no actual experience nor do I ever read of anyone doing thsi.

If Apple were to open up the iPhone APIs it would be a total blow-out for Google, with a nasty hit on MobileMe revenue.

Gee, I wonder when Apple will do that ...

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