Apple Offers MobileMe Users Another Free 60 Days

Apple is offering a 60-day extension to MobileMe accounts to make up from problems users have suffered since the service's launch. This is the second such extension that Apple has offered; in mid-July, the company offered a free 30 day addition.

MobileMe replaced .Mac, Apple's subscription-based online service. Users are given custom e-mail addresses, a Web site address, Web publishing and file sharing tools and syncing technology that works with Macs, PCs and iPhones.

Apple launched MobileMe at the same time as the introduction of iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, and the launch was fraught with difficulties -- users could not access e-mail, a large initial downtime, issues related to syncing and more.

MobileMe's launch was problematic enough that Apple CEO Steve Jobs sent an internal memo to Apple employees calling the service "not up to Apple's standards." Jobs also indicated that Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes, was to take over management of the service.

"We have already made many improvements to MobileMe, but we still have many more to make," reads the new e-mail. "To recognize our users' patience, we are giving every MobileMe subscriber as of today a free 60 day extension."

Apple indicates that the 60-day extension is in addition to the one month extension most subscribers have already received.

"We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe's launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around," read the e-mail.

Apple has posted a new Web page on its support site with details about the 60-day supplemental extension.