“Apple’s transition from MobileMe to iCloud brings the promise of centralized, cloud-based storage for all your important data,” Chris Foresman reports for Ars Technica.
“Unfortunately, the transition hasn’t been smooth for all users,” Foresman reports. “Aside from Apple’s servers being overloaded with MobileMe account transitions, some are having issues reconciling Apple’s assumption that every user has a unique Apple ID and that every Apple ID is used for just one person.”
Foresman reports, “People who never used MobileMe and only ever used one Apple ID for iTunes purchases appear to be experiencing a completely smooth transition to iCloud. We haven’t heard of any serious complaints from users in this scenario. It’s the users with more than one Apple ID, users who have shared an Apple ID with family members, and users transitioning from MobileMe, however, who have reported a variety of problems making the jump to the cloud.”
“Despite the annoyance, some careful planning and a little patience can solve the problems for many users,” Foresman reports. “It’s definitely best to keep in mind that iCloud works best when each user has a unique Apple ID. There is still no fix for those who would like to merge multiple Apple IDs into one, but after talking with support staff, it looks like Apple might still be working on a solution.”
Read more in the full article here.
Here’s the problem. If you don’t run Lion, you can’t have iCloud synch your computer with other iO 5 devices or other computers in your family/business that can’t run Lion. I have a family pack MobileMe account and my family members, all of whom now are adults, have relied on email from their family pac email addresses. They use computers. Their computers are not Lion compatible but all run Snow Leopard. They can’t synch their information via iCloud and when I transition to the iCloud, they will lose their email addresses I just found out. My wife has her own MobileMe account and an iPhone 4. Her computer cannot upgrade to Lion. So she can only maintain her email account on her phone only. She’s very unhappy with that and does not see why she has to go buy a new computer just to have a device that runs lion just so she can synch her computer and her phone! I have two computers, one at home that can handle Lion but the one at my office can’t run Lion…and I need both computers and my phone to all be in synch to run my business properly and quickly. But that won’t happen unless I buy another computer for my office…a cost which I resent being pressed into by Apple choices. MobileMe users were totally aligned with Apple. We could have used Google services and may actually switch over as google will synch across devices we already own, except there are customers and lots of potential customers I don’t know about who have my MobileMe email address and that is an important part of my business. Ditto with my daughters and my wife. We are not very happy right now. How about Apple engineers get a patch for Snow Leopard to work with iCloud? Isn’t that the best way to make the user experience of loyal Apple users right?
I’m in the same boat. I have a MacBook Pro running Lion and an older PowerMac G5 (which is chugging along just fine) that is stuck back at OS 10.5.8. Both machines, my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 synced just fine using MobileMe. I upgraded to iOS 5, and thus iCloud, and my main machine (PowerMac G5) is the outcast by no longer keeping a current iCal calendar or Address Book.
I don’t understand why syncing with all my machines worked just fine with MobileMe but it can’t with iCloud. I’m also a Mac user from way back and had an iTools account. I’m in the same boat as those with 2 separate Apple ID’s due to upgrading services. It sucks and I would love the option to merge.
I would like to thank everyone for sorting out the problems with iCloud and Movile Me…. I decided not to even attempt the switch for another month or two at iOS 5 install knowing the transition could not be smooth having gone through such moves with Apple before…. Most recently Lion… Sure enough I can see I made the right decision…. They will sort it out… But I don’t need or have time to mess with it right now
Cross over went well, but there is no document uploading or syncing. Thankfully the Box app now gives you a free 50 gigs.
Wow…..read thins thread, and apple’s discussion group, it’s like MobileMe all over again!
I can’t even move my .me account to iCloud. I have been trying since Friday dozens of times a day and in the middle of the night and keep getting message: Please try again later. Due to high demand, we are unable to move your account at this time. You can continue to use MobileMe. No one else seems to still be having issues and if they are they aren’t posting anything online about it.
What a fuckin joke – CRAPple!!