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Steve Jobs confirms iWeb discontinuation as iCloud envelopes MobileMe

Monday, June 13, 2011 · 8:57 am · 50 Comments

“One concerned iWeb/MobileMe user emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs to ask about the fate of the offering, and reportedly received confirmation that users will indeed need to find alternative hosting for their sites once MobileMe is officially discontinued,” Eric Slivka reports for MacRumors.

“All existing MobileMe users have received free subscription extensions through June 30, 2012, at which time the service will cease to exist and the transition to iCloud will be complete,” Slivka reports. “As usual, the authenticity can not be confirmed with absolute certainty, but we have examined the email headers and believe them to be legitimate.”

More in the full article, including the text of the email and Job’s one-word reply, here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Jax44" for the heads up.]

Categories: News

Tags: iCloud, iWeb, mobileme, steve jobs

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Comment Feed

50 Comments

Eric

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:11 am · Reply

I’ve got no problem with them discontinuing the hosting, since I never used MobileMe, but I wish they wouldn’t discontinue the software. It had it’s flaws, but there was so much room for improvement.

The problem is, like when I was talking to an Apple store employee about iWeb ’09, and I told him I was already using iWeb ’07 and asked him what features were added, he couldn’t tell me. Again, a lot of potential wasted.
- Where does it say ...
  
  Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - 12:09 am · Reply
  
  … that iWeb is going away? Hosting is going away, if this is to be believed. Nothing was actually said about iWeb, in the exchange.
  Even so … it may be time to buy an updated copy of RapidWeaver and figure out how to transition a site or two over. And it may be easier just starting from scratch with the same content and a whole new, if similar-looking, background. Having a year for the transition will ease the pain a bit.
  - Sorry ... I misread it.
    
    Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - 12:31 am · Reply
    
    It DOES say “website builder”. Which is a bit of bragging, applied to iWeb, but it’s about the only product Apple offers that even comes close.
    So, in addition to finding hosting … well, I have time. Just because Apple will no longer develop it or support it does not mean that I have to stop using it any time real soon.
disposableidentity

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:20 am · Reply

Website creation is one area where the hybrid desktop / cloud approach works perfectly. But the people have spoken. The vast majority seem to want to use solutions like WordPress instead.
Alistair Mackenzie

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:23 am · Reply

The software has effectively been discontinued since it hasn’t been upgraded in iLife ’11. However iLife ’09 is contained in the box set of iLife ’11 so its still available.
The main addition between iLife ’08 an ’09 was FTPing to any web space which meant you didn’t have to use Mobile Me hosting. There were also some widgets added.
eldernorm

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:24 am · Reply

Went to the original article.

Boy do so many people have absolutely NO CLUE.

Steve Jobs is the CEO of one of the most influential companies and the major stock holder in another one. The fact that he even reads customer / developer emails is amazing. The fact that he answers back is even more so.

Name me one other CEO that spends the time and takes the risk (of replying) that he does.

Its scary how many people are out there that have NO CLUE……

Then again look at how many choose to use a Wintel machine????? Well, maybe then there is evidence of the lack of clue-less-ness after all.

Welcome to Monday. LOL

Just a thought,
en
- Now, Now...
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:32 am · Reply
  
  Yeah, but does Steve Facebook like CEO of HTC to consumer requests? And look… more than one word! Amazing!!!
  
  http://www.facebook.com/HTC/posts/10150307320018084
  - Spark
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:41 am · Reply
    
    I didn’t follow and read your link, but you’ve got to be aware that corporate FaceBook pages are kept up by professional PR people. Chances are that any comments attributed to the CEO are written by others.
    - sherman
      
      Monday, June 13, 2011 - 2:44 pm · Reply
      
      And you think it’s not the same situation when ‘Steve’ answers his email? It’s amazing how many people think he actually writes back himself….
MYoung

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:30 am · Reply

No Galleries. No Aperture uploads and distribution. Huge bummer. What are these guys thinking? Apparently, Apple is okay harming those who love and rely on its best digital photo app, Aperture. Sad and seemingly unnecessary.
- Chris Barczys
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 11:52 am · Reply
  
  They are thinking that they put buttons in the toolbar to send your pictures to FaceBook and/or Flickr. Why should Apple spend money every month to duplicate a more popular service if they can’t add additional value? In 6 months this will be a non-issue. Just like the removal of floppy disks.
  - MYoung
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:18 pm · Reply
    
    Chris…Perhaps you are not aware that Aperture already has buttons to export to FaceBook, Flickr, and MobileMe. While FaceBook and Flickr are doubtless more popular, neither can compare to the quality, performance, and options of Galleries in MobileMe. If one really cares about putting high quality, large size images on the web, then Galleries beats the other two by a mile. My only complaint about Galleries is that it doesn’t allow for multiple galleries, which would greatly improve our ability to organize photo albums.
    - Chris Barczys
      
      Monday, June 13, 2011 - 1:17 pm · Reply
      
      MYoung… I will happily concede that the quality of both Facebook and Flickr is less than the MobileMe galleries. I will also concede that the current versions of iPhoto and Aperture do not provide a mechanism to post a gallery directly to a non-MobileMe website (i’ll bet it will be in the next upgrade though). However, I still think this is going to end up being a non-issue. With the loss of the MobileMe websites those who need higher quality than Flickr and Facebook can provide will be transitioning to “full-featured web hosting” accounts. Such services will allow for far greater flexibility than the MobileMe galleries. Here are a couple of examples of what Im driving at.
      
      http://www.mb-photography.com/
      http://www.julienvandehoef.nl/
      
      I would argue that the gallery mechanisms used in either of these two sites is better, and more professional looking, than any MobileMe Gallery ever was. While you might be required to do more work on a site like the above, (although since both sites based on Joomla! I could be wrong about that) in my opinion they are a far better showcase for photography than the MobileMe galleries are. Your thoughts?
- Jafo
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 4:16 pm · Reply
  
  Could be that Aperture is seen form what it is, a professional product. Where Apple targets the consumer market with iCloud.
  From that perspective I can understand the choise.
Pirate

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:40 am · Reply

The loss of Galleries and iDisk are significant. The way iDisk was so well integrated into the OS and Gallery into iOS makes me winder if there’s more in development before the end of MobileMe in 2012.

iWeb and hosting strike me as different, and I’d assume Apple knew exactly how many users were actively using this service when the decided to kill it.
Frank

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:46 am · Reply

What about Back to My Mac? This Is probably one of the best features of MobileMe. I don’t have to use it often, but when I do, it’s invaluable. Should definitely be ported…and an iPad app should be made for it. Would be Apple’s dead simple take on VNC
- ban6dit
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:58 am · Reply
  
  Find my mac is supposed to be part of OSX Lion
  - TheConfuzed1
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:18 pm · Reply
    
    Back to My Mac and Find My Mac are two different things.
    
    Back to My Mac is a way to remotely log into your Mac, as if it were in front of you.
    
    Quite frankly, I think the idea of an iPad app to inteface with it is brilliant.
- ban6dit
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:58 am · Reply
  
  Find my mac is supposed to be part of OSX Lion.
Kelly mcneilll

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:51 am · Reply

I’ve been frustrated with the lack of updates to iWeb like everyone else here. I’ve been trying to find an alternative to iWeb to meet the software’s deficiencies. I’ve been trying several claimed alternatives to iWeb that offered more functionality but each of them were lacking in one of the more significant areas that I’ve come to really appreciate iWeb for.

I’m really excited to announce that I have found the alternative that we’ve been looking for. It addresses nearly all the issues people have brought up here yet its functionality is very familiar to iweb users.

The software is named Web Acappella. It’s made by a German company who created an English translation. My only two beefs with the software is that the translated text is good but obviously not written by a native english speaker. The other is that it just doesn’t feel like a Mac application.

For an iweb user though, the transition is WONDERFUL.
They offer a free version that has some limitations:
http://www.webacappella.fr/crbst_0_en.html
- Milan
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:50 am · Reply
  
  What is wrong with RapidWeaver?
  
  I tried to use iWeb several times and I couldn’t find where to start from.
  
  When I first used RapidWeaver I built the site in 10 minutes.
  - CanadianThomas
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 11:19 am · Reply
    
    funny, I was the other way around. I do agree though. Rapid Weaver is very good. Like Pixelmator is.
  - omalansky
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:17 pm · Reply
    
    RapidWeaver may be capable, but I found the interface very confusing. Just choosing a template requires the user to read the manual. But beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose.
Dash

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 9:52 am · Reply

Back to My Mac is part of iCloud.
- Derek Currie
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:05 am · Reply
  
  Not exactly. But Back To My Mac will not be killed.
  - h2a
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:20 am · Reply
    
    No, exactly. Back To My Mac is part of iCloud, and it lives in the iCloud preferences on Lion.
    - Dash
      
      Monday, June 13, 2011 - 11:41 am · Reply
      
      Indeed.
- omalansky
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:18 pm · Reply
  
  Neither Steve Jobs nor anyone else who has officially commented on iCloud has said anything about Back to My Mac.
  - h2a
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:47 pm · Reply
    
    Well. Those of us with developer accounts don’t need them to “officially comment” on it. We can see it with our eyeballs.
ploogman

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:00 am · Reply

Come on people. Steve Jobs does NOT respond to emails like that from the public. Please. We’ve been over this before.
- Steve Jobs
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:21 pm · Reply
  
  Yes, I do.
  - Moremac
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:48 pm · Reply
    
    you tell him Steve
Derek Currie

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:02 am · Reply

This is now old news and well known, no verification required. I wrote about it June 6th:

The Death Of MobileMe: What’s Being Lost
- Eric
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:07 am · Reply
  
  Thanks for the link, Derek! It answered some significant questions I had about the new iCloud service.
- Derek Currie
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:08 am · Reply
  
  Well, I didn’t actually address iWeb. But its only purpose (unless you hacked around with it) was to put limited quality web pages on MobileMe. Therefore, it’s dead alongside the other MobileMe casualties.
  - Eric
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:44 am · Reply
    
    Thanks. I wasn’t referring to iWeb specifically when I made that last comment, and it helped answer some of my questions about storage specifically.
  - sherman
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 2:55 pm · Reply
    
    It will actually let you put upload it to wherever you want. Not just mobile me.
    - Eric
      
      Monday, June 13, 2011 - 2:58 pm · Reply
      
      He’s right. I actually uploaded a site created in iWeb to GoDaddy.
Cold

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:19 am · Reply

I know Steve and Apple owe us nothing, but an official press release wouldn’t hurt would it?
- omalansky
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:24 pm · Reply
  
  I totally disagree with your comment. What Steve Job/Apple owe their customers is that the products we pay for should do the jobs we bought them to do. Every company owes its customers that. When Apple removes features from a product, it violates the trust of those who purchased it. Simple as that. Sometimes, as in a technology transition, changes that upset some people are unavoidable. But this “That’s the way the cookie crumbles” attitude that Apple seems to be taking stinks to high heaven.
HolyMackerel

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:33 am · Reply

Quick, buy shares in RapidWeaver!
Splat

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:38 am · Reply

If true I am sad to see iWeb go. I hope iWeb morphs into Pages and can be uploaded basically the same way. I used it and found it great for basic pages and as a first volley into page creation for kids.
- Eric
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:51 am · Reply
  
  Yeah, that’s a good point. I think MS Word has integrated a web design platform into their application, so maybe Pages can do the same.
doggonetoo

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 10:59 am · Reply

I wonder if Apple will put something into iPhoto to provide the gallery feature in the cloud.
Have to say I spent a while putting my website together in iWeb but then haven’t updated it for 4 years.
For the busy user, having a simple post to web button would be useful in iPhoto. Take an event, edit title and maybe a comment section and press go.
I used to use RapidWeaver before iWeb came out so many go back to it if the functionality has improved.
- Chris Barczys
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 11:59 am · Reply
  
  Both Aperture and iPhoto have the ability to upload to both Facebook and Flickr.
  - omalansky
    
    Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:27 pm · Reply
    
    Flickr’s presentation environment isn’t even a pale shadow of the beautiful user interface MobileMe Galleries provided. And Facebook is utterly unsuitable for anything but the most casual snapshot.
Janice

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 11:53 am · Reply

While iWeb is probably gone, those claiming that iDisk and photo Gallery are also gone are getting ahead of themselves. If those disappear, Apple will replace them with something else that provides similar functionality or (in Apple’s view) better functionality.
grhakl

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 12:21 pm · Reply

Who are these lucky/clever people who can get a reply from a simple email? Apple stole a very large amount of money from my credit card without any authority (thief stole my card details) and they have stubbornly refused to reply to any of my communications including hard copy mailed the old fashioned way. I love Apple products, now hate the people.
- Ouch
  
  Monday, June 13, 2011 - 1:40 pm · Reply
  
  Sorry to hear that happened to you, too. If your credit card info was stolen, In general, it’s not the merchants you get your money back from, it’s the credit card company (or the thief if caught). It’s a frustrating process, I went through it myself. Still, seems like someone from Apple should have told you that.
iMacNine

Monday, June 13, 2011 - 1:00 pm · Reply

I think they mean “.mac” or “iDisk” and not iWeb.

It must be great if Apple release a new version of iWeb that generates HTML5 sites and the iOS version as well!