MobileMe for Business?

Anyone use MobileMe for a small business solution?

I am looking for a software solution for email, scheduling and customer database management on MBP, iphone and ipad.

For now I am the only user but maybe 1 or 2 more in the future.

I am also considering Salesforce but if anyone has suggestions please let me know.

 

Eh... I have had mobile me for quite some time now and its really just not that good. If you can ensure that everyone is using apple products (phones, laptops, etc..) then you may have better luck than me. Attempting to connect to mobile me even for mail is sometimes difficult with Win7. Also I have had lots of issues attaching files, even small ones like single page scans.

Thats my 2c opinion as a mobile me user, not exactly a business user, but an end user.

 

I have no experience using mobileme in a business setting.

That said, I've used Mobileme for personal use, and I agree it's not really that great. If you want all the various things it offers in one package, fine, but otherwise you can get better alternatives for each of the individual components (gmail > mobileme; dropbox > idisk; orbicule > findmyiphone). The one area where I'm indifferent is calendar support - I don't find google calendar any better really, but that may be because I use neither google cal or mobileme calendar.

But that said, there are a lot of rumors of Apple planning on updating MobileMe this year (possibly this summer). It might be worth waiting to see what the new mobileme will be like.

 

I personally find a hosted exchange service (I use exchangemymail and have since my Blackberry days) to be better for my uses (and maybe yours?) than MobileMe. Two-way sync between email, calendar, and contacts. No disk storage space like iDisk though, but you can use something like Dropbox (free) for that.

 

i disagree with everyone's comments.

I use mobile me for about 20iphones..2 ipads....and about 15 computers, as well as a mac server.

i agree that there are a couple technicalities and glitches, however, i have found ways around most.

As far as windows seven is concerned, i agree that a windows based computer is a bit of a pain, and you do require the proper synch service and mail program. That being said, you could simply on a pc just sign in and deal with the email portion of things online. (super simple) just make sure that your mobile me synch services are up and going.

using a mac pc and mac devices is super simple and a delight. In the past sharing calendars was a real pain in the butt, and if you set up alarms for meetings, i would ping every single user. which was a pain. Also, i had to be hosted on Mac server.(at least the simplest way.)

Recently, the mobile me upgrade allows for users to share claendars with other users, where you can invite people, and view their calendars and schedule meetings for multiple individuals. I would have to agree that the only glitch i see at this point is when you send invitations, it doesn't always work and its still a bit of a pain. the way around is if someone sets up a meeting for themselves and invites you, when you click on the accept meeting they will be notified, however on the pac computer itself it always seems to show an error and won't add. providing you tell the individual by accepting meeting, the individual should duplicate an entry and drag and drop to your calendar. (by the way this is always easier then written...it is super simple)

As far as the to do list is concerned, it is beautifully integrated in mac computers, however not really on the iphones. My office uses a program called omni focus, which is a great program and its also cheap. (20 a phone if im not mistaken) and it has full to do lists that can be shared between multiple users, and also alerts, or can alert others when tasks are done. on my server, it actually shows all completed items, and so forth, which can be used for billing.( omni also has a product for service orders if i recall, so when you fill out the screen on the iphone, it sends direct to server for instant billing, which can also be automated. Furthermore, the omni focus, when it is on a mac computer, can also be integrated and synched to mobile me. i guess im biased i love the programs and the phones, but im still waiting on a couple of things that they should address, which i think they will soon.

fire me an email if you have specific questions or if you want more info. [email protected]

 

plus...think about it...the mobile me is instantaneous, where google calendars sometimes miss entries, and can take up to 20 min or more to even update....i didn't like the google way.

 

True, Omnifocus syncing is extremely convenient to set up over MobileMe. But, Omnifocus also allows cloud syncing over its own private servers (in beta), syncing over your own private server, and any number of other means, so you're not really missing out if you don't have MobileMe. Syncing Omnifocus over MobileMe is probably the easiest to set up, but the others don't involve much extra work either really.

As an aside, Things, the other major GTD product for Macs and iOS, does not sync over MobileMe, but also has its own cloud syncing service.

 

i disagree with everyone's comments.

I use mobile me for about 20iphones..2 ipads....and about 15 computers, as well as a mac server.

i agree that there are a couple technicalities and glitches, however, i have found ways around most.

As far as windows seven is concerned, i agree that a windows based computer is a bit of a pain, and you do require the proper synch service and mail program. That being said, you could simply on a pc just sign in and deal with the email portion of things online. (super simple) just make sure that your mobile me synch services are up and going.

using a mac pc and mac devices is super simple and a delight. In the past sharing calendars was a real pain in the butt, and if you set up alarms for meetings, i would ping every single user. which was a pain. Also, i had to be hosted on Mac server.(at least the simplest way.)

Recently, the mobile me upgrade allows for users to share claendars with other users, where you can invite people, and view their calendars and schedule meetings for multiple individuals. I would have to agree that the only glitch i see at this point is when you send invitations, it doesn't always work and its still a bit of a pain. the way around is if someone sets up a meeting for themselves and invites you, when you click on the accept meeting they will be notified, however on the pac computer itself it always seems to show an error and won't add. providing you tell the individual by accepting meeting, the individual should duplicate an entry and drag and drop to your calendar. (by the way this is always easier then written...it is super simple)

As far as the to do list is concerned, it is beautifully integrated in mac computers, however not really on the iphones. My office uses a program called omni focus, which is a great program and its also cheap. (20 a phone if im not mistaken) and it has full to do lists that can be shared between multiple users, and also alerts, or can alert others when tasks are done. on my server, it actually shows all completed items, and so forth, which can be used for billing.( omni also has a product for service orders if i recall, so when you fill out the screen on the iphone, it sends direct to server for instant billing, which can also be automated. Furthermore, the omni focus, when it is on a mac computer, can also be integrated and synched to mobile me. i guess im biased i love the programs and the phones, but im still waiting on a couple of things that they should address, which i think they will soon.

fire me an email if you have specific questions or if you want more info. [email protected]