by Earl Moore on July 11, 2008
It appears that what Apple introduced today was nothing less then total chaos 2.0.
The 3G iPhone activation has stalled with Apple/AT&T activation servers being slammed by the apparent load/demand. Tempers are rising as new owners of the 3G iPhone are experiencing long waits for activation. Some may even be leaving the stores without phones.
Owners of the first generation iPhones are also facing issues when trying to upgrade to software version 2.0. Error messages from overwhelmed servers or bricked iPhones are being reported during this process.
iPod Touch users are feeling the frustration as well. Users who want to purchase and download software version 2.0 are either facing continuing error messages from the iTunes store (if they’re lucky) or have stalled in mid-process with their “iPod Touches” for the moment bricked.
In addition, the new ‘MobileMe” web service has been up and down throughout the day. When up, the response time is poor almost to the point of being unusable.
It’s hard to believe that this level of demand was not anticipated and appropriate actions taken.
by Earl Moore on July 10, 2008
Unless you live in a remote corner of the world and never read any news on the Internet (then what are you doing here) you’ve probably know that the new Apple 3G iPhone is launching in the US tomorrow and launched in Australia earlier today, which for them is tomorrow. 
A small group of people have been waiting in line to purchase the first US 3G iPhones at an Apple store in New York City for over a week now. I don’t know where it’s decreed getting the first of anything is best. My thinking says you don’t want to be on the “point-of-the-spear” when it comes to new hardware or software/updates.
I’d just as soon let someone else work out the bugs and then get the .01 revision with all the fixes. This way I get much the same enjoyment without many of the headaches.
As a recap, Apple in conjunction with the 3G iPhone launch is:
- releasing version 2.0 of it’s operating system for the iPhone and iPod Touch handhelds;
- releasing iTunes 7.7 to support the new software and functions;
- introducing an Application Store through iTunes for 3rd party applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch;
- revamping Apple’s .MAC online web service to a new MobileME web service; and
- releasing Apple TV 2.1 to interface with the new MobileMe web site.
At this moment all of these new applications, web sites and software updates are in various stages of deployment. I’ve installed the new versions of iTunes and Apple TV and for the moment I’m waiting for Version 2.0 of the iPod Touch OS.
The new iTunes App Store came officially on-line just a little while ago and is being written about by almost everyone in the technical and Apple blog world. It looks very interesting and I’ve already seem some applications I’ll download once I’ve upgraded to the 2.0 update.
Apple’s .MAC site has been down since yesterday evening and the new MobileMe site is not yet online. The .MAC service has been less then stellar for a long time, needing updating, and I’m hoping there’s some real functionality improvement in MobileMe.
For me there’s not to be a new 3G iPhone just as there wasn’t an original iPhone…at least as long as AT&T is the lone service provider. 
Update 07/11/08 - As of at least 7am (no I didn’t stay up all night waiting ), it appears that Apple’s MobileMe web services are now online replacing the .MAC web services. Old email accounts and aliases will work (for now) using either @mac.com or @me.com domains. New accounts or aliases will only use the @me.com domain.
At first glance the MobileMe services look promising.
by Earl Moore on July 8, 2008
The .Mac status page has been updated to announce the date/time of the .Mac to MobileMe switch. The launch will take place on July 9th, 2008, between the hours of 6pm - 12am PT with “.mac” going offline at 6pm PT.
Apple indicated that Mobileme will be available as soon as possible during this launch window.
In related events, this coming Friday, July 11th 2008, will be the official launch of the Apple 3G iPhone.
by Earl Moore on July 1, 2008
Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.4 Monday fixing several issues with iCal, AirPort, Safari, and Spaces & Exposé. Perhaps the most important fix being an issue with corrupted Adobe CS3 documents when saved to remote servers.
Other fixes and reliability improvements were also released as part of OS X 10.5.4. This update is available via Software Update.
by Earl Moore on June 30, 2008
Apple’s upcoming MobileMe service, replacing the existing .Mac offering, has yet to be released. However, some users are reporting proper e-mail forwarding with the @Me.com alias.
I confirmed this with my own .Mac account. This morning, a test email sent to “[My .Mac Name] @Me.com” was correctly forwarded to my current .Mac inbox.
The complete transition of to MobileMe is expected to occur sometime around July 11th to coincide with the release of the Apple iPhone 3G.
