Apple finally realized that .Mac users were bailing in droves because of the service's lack of recent updates updates and the march of progress to distant locales like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Windows Live Mail. In response, it has unveiled a
new version of its .Mac webmail offering. The service takes a lot of cues from the new batch of Ajaxy webmail clients, but also from Apple's own Mail.app. In fact, the app looks quite a lot like a desktop app with an interface that fits very well alongside OS 10.4 Tiger. It features IMAP syncing, organization by drag-and-drop, a new message pane just like Mail.app and Outlook's, a Quick Reply feature that lets you "Dash off a response without leaving your Inbox," address book integration, keyboard shortcuts, and Gmail-esque "message previews." Overall, it looks like it will fit in reasonably well with the current crop of webmail offerings, but keep in mind that .Mac still costs $99 per year, which gets 1GB of storage, including what you might use for iDisk backups.
So I want to hear from .Mac users: Is the new .Mac webmail really awesome? How does it compare to Gmail or Yahoo! Mail? Is it worth $99 per year when free webmail (Gmail, 2.8GB) and online storage services (Xdrive, 5GB) are out there? It's not rhetorical--I haven't used .Mac and I really want to know, is it really worth it, and if so, why?
Update: TUAW's David Chartier has penned a nice long review of the new .Mac webmail entitled
New .Mac webmail delivers, mostly. He concludes, "Let's face it: no one can please everyone, but this new webmail is pretty hot, considering everything .Mac is up against, like a segmented demographic and high expectations from the nerdier half of it."
Tags: .mac, ajax, apple, commercial, dotmac, gmail, upgrade, webmail
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Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsDavid ChartierOct 27th 2006 5:40PM
The new webmail is pretty slick, and it definitely has a couple of nice features above the other major webmail players. The real question here, however, is whether *all* of .Mac's services are worth the $99 - you don't just get webmail and slick, automatically syncing online disk space. .Mac ties into a number of other apps, like their well-hailed iPhoto and iMovie, as well as a nice WYSIWYG web page editor which *also* ties into the aforementioned apps. Don't forget application syncing, like contacts and calendars - and this syncing platform is open to 3rd parties, so all my junk drawer notes are synced, as well as my FTP favorites, etc.
On its own, this webmail sure isn't worth $99. All together? Yea, but that's the catch - you gotta take everything or leave it, and I penned a post @ TUAW about how they could split up the services and attract more attention (I also just renewed my .Mac account a few days ago). While it certainly lacks some über-1337 features, the real value is the integration of apps and functionality and the convenience the whole system offers.
.Mac certainly isn't for everyone, but it's still a pretty innovative and as-yet unmatched offering that packs a good punch.
Sasha S.Oct 27th 2006 5:42PM
I am .Mac user ans this latest upgrade - while nice during travelling - is not a major factor in my decision to stay with .Mac
I maintain my site with iWeb which have one button upload to (yes you guessed it - .Mac account), now iWeb can export made website to a folder and then uploading with FTP is not a problem - but still it is a convinience when uploading my blog to be able to use one button web publishing.
Other features like syncing, online backup and online publishing of calendars of my entire family - to mention just a few features I also use and find them very handy. I think .Mac is worth 99 euros (I am in Europe) but just barely. I am a reasonably satisfied user but not a very happy user. I think that Apple should offer more value - more storage space - 5GB would be nice - and ofcourse the biggest complaint of them all - improve speed (upload and download).
BradOct 27th 2006 7:21PM
I've had a .mac for a couple of years but I jumped on Gmail over a year ago because of it's ease of use and cost (none). I like what they've done with .Mac Mail, but I feel that it's too little too late to make me resubscribe next Jan.
My hope is that they make it free again and only charge you for things like the Backup service and premium stuff like that. I'd like to keep my .mac address.