Is MobileMe Worth It?

Ever since the early days of Mac, there have been questions as to whether or not the Apple service is worth the $99 sticker price. With the addition of Find My iPhone, many are now saying it is. So is it for you? That depends on what you want.

Let me start off by saying that if you simply want email, MobileMe is not for you. It is designed to connect your products and allow you to share your files with people across the world. With products like Google's Gmail available for free, there is no reason to pay for email services. Plus, Gmail offers a calendar feature that will sync with iCal, so if you are just wanting email and calendar features, MobileMe is not for you.

Then why should you pay for MobileMe? After all, the cost hardly seems justified when you can get similar features from a combination of Gmail, a photo sharing website and various file hosting sites. However, the assessment of MobileMe is not as black and white as it would seem.

First, there is always a price to pay for convenience. Personally, I would rather sign in one time and take care of everything in one convenient location. For others, this may not be a big deal, but when time is of the essence, I find that an integrated solution is well worth the cost. Additionally, MobileMe's features are nicer looking and easier to use than those of competitors - not to mention the significantly larger capacity offered by Apple's solution. A single user will be given 20GB of combined capacity for the $99 sticker price, and with the $149 family pack, users are given 40GB of capacity. MobileMe then allows you to allocate that space in any way you wish.

Then we get to advanced features like website hosting, Back to My Mac and Find My iPhone/iPod Touch. If these are those you would take advantage of, then MobileMe is actually quite a value. Connecting iWeb to MobileMe is a cinch, and there are no annoying capacity issues to worry about. In addition to helping you find your iPhone or iPod Touch, Find My iPhone is also a protective feature, allowing you to remotely wipe your iPhone clean to protect your information if you lose it. Need something from your computer but don't have it with you? Use Back to My Mac to remotely access that computer.

Now for the most overlooked feature of MobileMe - ad-free, snoop-free email. If privacy is important to you, then look no further. While free email services like Gmail scan your emails to find advertising opportunities, MobileMe email is private. Nobody will be searching through your emails and reading information that is only intended for you and the recipient(s). To me, this is one of the selling points of Apple's solution. In a world where privacy is near impossible, MobileMe gives you all the privacy you want with integrated solutions that allow you to control who sees your information.

Add in push sync with various devices, and $8 a month seems like a bargain if you will make full use of the features offered by MobileMe. If you will not be using at least some of the advanced features and have just one Apple product, there are probably less expensive solutions out there for you. For me, MobileMe is worth the price. Try the 60-day free trial and test drive it for yourself.