I love the idea behind MobileMe: to have a virtual desktop with all my addresses, messages and calendar entries up-to-date, when working somewhere else or travelling places: Sync Central with all the right tools whenever and whereever you need them. And most definitely the best design and usability of all. So despite a number of complaints about MobileMe’s sluggish behaviour or other accessability issues the advantages are overwhelming… Or are they?
MobileMe Vs. Real-Life E-Mail Needs
Because if there is one thing that is vital for most webmail client users, it is the freedom to pick your own signature e-mail address for sending, the one that you may have been using for a decade or more (like myself). Even more so if you have several addresses, because you’re using your business address and the one for your sports club or for the Apple discussion forum from the same client.
Contrary to all major webmail services I know, MobileMe does not allow to send e-mails with any other than your @me.com address, not even as a “reply-to” option. Even though I can see that there might be one or two reasons for this (e.g. digital signature handling), it makes the whole service useless.
Completely useless, because it defies the all-in-one place principle, as I have to use some other provider to do my daily chores using several different signature identities. And that makes the otherwise seamless integration with Address Book and iCal useless as well, unless you install some insane sync-across-multiple-providers scheme. Bye-bye, Sync Central.
Bye-Bye Sync Central
I know I am somehow repeating what others have criticised before me, but it is the only reason why I cancelled my MobileMe account and swapped to Google which is ugly and not half as swift to use. But Google provides good address book and calendar integration and even syncs with my Mac’s AddressBook and iCal.
If anyone knows whether Apple’s roadmap will introduce third-party from addresses, please let me know. If mended I will be back to MobileMe instantly.
PS: A solution would have to allow personal domains used for e-mailing purposes only. A domain hosting offer wouldn’t do, as most websites need scripting power that MobileMe / iWeb doesn’t offer.