Apple offering free Snow Leopard upgrades to move MobileMe users onto iCloud
Ahead of axing its MobileMe service, Apple is reportedly trying to lure customers onto iCloud by offering MobileMe users who are still running the older Leopard version a free upgrade to Snow Leopard. While the company is expected to discontinue the service on June 30th, the offer will allegedly expire two weeks earlier on June 15th.
In an email sent to MobileMe users, Apple reportedly describes a three-step process for switching from the old service to iCloud. First of all, it is necessary to obtain a free DVD of OS X Snow Leopard. Once a user has installed the new system, they are able to buy and upgrade to Lion through the Mac App Store. MobileMe accounts can also be brought over to iCloud by visiting me.com/move.
Although some features present in MobileMe aren’t available in iCloud, the service is still a great alternative to what will soon become just a legend. Last year, Apple announced that it will close iWeb, iDisk and Gallery along with MobileMe.
The service’s launch was rather shaky, prompting ex-CEO Steve Jobs to harshly criticize the development team. Late Apple co-founder said that it “tarnished” the company’s reputation, and that its members should take the blame “for having let each other down”.
At the unveiling of iCloud in 2011, Jobs called MobileMe not Apple’s greatest achievement. He promised that the new service will make up for the company’s previous failure. However, there is some problem with transiting to iCloud. This week, a small bunch of customers have failed to access their iCloud mail accounts.
Apple’s efforts to make users migrate from MobileMe to iCloud reflect its belief that the latter is here to stay, unlike its predecessor. In February, current CEO Tim Cook claimed that Apple’s strategy for the next decade will be build around iCloud, which now covers over 100 million users.
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38 Responses to “Apple offering free Snow Leopard upgrades to move MobileMe users onto iCloud”
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Apple offering free Snow Leopard upgrades to move MobileMe users onto iCloud
I have no desire to upgrade to Lion, in fact it’s the opposite.
Why not just make iCloud available on Snow Leopard??
i’m very much in this situation right now too. I’ll eventually get on Lion or Mountain Lion but can’t do it right now for various reasons.
If I can use the App Store in SL why not iCloud?
So my options are upgrade to Lion or lose my .mac account (or me.com, mobile me… whatever it has been called) that I have has since I first used it as a free beta app? For how many years now?
I don’t expect that is possible since iCloud is not just a web-hard, but a system-wide integrated service.
To illustrate, Mountain Lion is integrated with iCloud by some steps more than is Lion; the “Open…” box is set to be integrated with iCloud folders.
Also, I expect Apple will soon support backup the entire OS X system to iCloud, just like iOS does now.
That 4gb download of Lion is going to suck, especially for Canadians where Bell and Rogers (basically the only two ISPs) customers are limited to 2gb entry level service at bell (or 25gb for the next best) and 15gb with Rogers.
Just make a release of Lion on DVD.
Lion has always been available on USB Flash Drive
Here is the sticking point with web only software…Until everybody has access to decent BB speeds and Data allowances there are going to be people who get left behind….I know that optical media is on its way out, but Apple may need to look again at the policy they are currently imposing.
I just had my sister buy Snow Leopard 2 weeks ago so she could upgrade to Lion.. Should have waited a little longer so I would have known about this..
She’s not missing out on anything. Lion is laggy as hell and it chews up RAM as well. If she wants a computer that just works, she’ll appreciate Snow Leopard far more, even at 10.7.3, Lion still feels like a Beta test. It really is Apple’s Vista. The fact that Apple is pushing for people to get a free copy of Snow Leopard to get Lion is proof of that, they badly want people to switch to Lion, but the consumer knows better.
I have a 4 year old Macbook Pro. Lion works just fine for me on 4GB of ram. The fact that you compare it with Vista tells me that you didn’t experience the enormous amount of troubles the consumers and especially the businesses had to go when they upgraded to Vista. My only criticism of Lion is Mission Control. It sucks compared to Expose but I doubt people who have never tried Expose will notice.
And it’s not terribly surprising Apple wants more people on iCloud. iCloud to me is a more complete package than Mobileme ever was. Plus, if the customer has iCloud, Apple can just download their data off of the cloud to make replacements/repairs easier. The consumer in turn benefits from the better experience as well. That’s hard when you don’t have iCloud.
Just because it works fine for YOU, doesn’t mean it works fine for EVERYONE.
Just go to the Lion and Mountain Lion forums and you’ll see a lot of complaints about bugs, lag, etc.
A more complete package that removed about a dozen features?
I still don’t understand how Apple managed to make something worse than MobileMe.
Oh come on, are you telling me people didn’t post a lot of complaints in the Leopard/Snow Leopard forums? Back when snow leopard was 10.6.0-10.6.3 (the same number of iterations as Lion today), I saw a lot of problems about crashes and bugs and people complaining about how SL was not a “better Leopard”. Same with the Leopard release. You wouldn’t believe the amount of Time Machine issues people had. People rarely post about good experiences on those threads. More people will post if they actually have a problem. The rest of us are too busy enjoying Lion to post our experience.
Big difference is that Lion probably won’t receive more than one more point update after Mountain Lion ships, meaning it won’t get much/any better than it is today. I personally had no issues with SL and I’m sure many had no issues with Lion, but for those who still do have Lion issues, the future is bleak.
He’s only kidding. Really. No one could post that with a straight face.
this is a major problem that apple will need to address in keeping everyone current. I know many people that don’t want to upgrade to Lion because they would have to buy Snow Leopard first.
Did you read the article? That’s exactly what this offer does: it’s a *free* copy of Snow Lion … So all those people you know can get to Lion from Leopard for $29.
My machine running Lion has been outstanding. Personal use for photo and video work, professional use for development, it’s on 24/7, no problems with my VM work, stable, etc.
U guys may hate to agree with me but icloud sucks.
Yes it’s still “new” by some people but it has a lot of catching up tO do to products like google.
I want to use iCloud but have u been on icloud.com?! It’s garbage! It’s like a college kid didn’t finish his senior project and left things half done!
Please fix iCloud and make it appealing apple !!!
iCloud isn’t a beta. It is fully released and integrated into ios 5. they just release updates for it that fixes bugs and things like that.
It seems like it would’ve been easier to offer the USB key version of Lion for $29 to MobileMe customers.
Lol, at first glance I thought it was some Microsoft advertising for skyfail or windoze… Look at all that blue sky! :-p
Does anyone know if the Snow Leopard Install Disks will require 10.5 to be installed on a computer or will they be full installation disks suitable for even a mid 2011 MacBook Pro?
This would be a great way to get a free LEGIT copy of Snow Leopard and dump Lion.
I know I a lot of people that are not upgrading to Lion. A very small group have valid reasons(hardware/software limitation) not to upgrade but most are just lazy or to cheap to spend the money.
If you don’t want to upgrade that is GREAT! Just don’t complain about being left in the dust.
Worked great for me, thanks Apple!
FYI it seems that even if you have moved to iCloud already it still gives you the option for a free disc. But your milage may vary.
This isn’t going to be good for IT departments.
Woohoo!
Free SL disks!
Sign me up. I’ve always wanted a backup incase my restore disks got scratched or damaged somehow. Anything to keep my system running the way it is on 10.6.8 is awesome, especially when it’s free.
Upgrade to Lion? Nope.
I’m going to stay at Leopard and keep Rosetta, k thanks bye.
Your loss. You are missing out on some incredible Apple technologies by insisting on living in the Rosetta Stone Age. iCloud is the future of the internet and data storage. My advice would be get with today before the past leaves you trailing so far behind you’ll never catch up.
How is this Apple’s recommended way of upgrading to Lion? Just sell Lion on a disc! Upgrading via App Store download is great, but it doesn’t make sense for everyone.
They already sell Lion on a USB key.
So if I were to get a new hard drive, would I have to install SL before Lion? Or could I just use the Lion DVD that I made a while back? I am a little confused on this…
Lion can be clean installed onto a new drive or Mac. It’s only if you want to upgrade an existing system, without formatting the contents of your drive, then you have to be running Snow Leopard.
So for somebody on Leopard, could they just get a copy of Lion from a friend/family member and then do a clean install and save $30?
In my experience, a clean install of an OS has almost always made my computer feel a little speedier. Plus for those who back up all their data, it may not be such a big hassle.
For the people that are bitching about apple and lion and iCloud. GFY. Go to bestbuy and buy a Dell. Then tell me how awesome the service is when it breaks down.
harsh.. I like your point though.:)
What about those who aren’t complaining, use MobileMe (.mac) but need to stay on SL? For those people the system in a way gets broken after we bought it.
* Question: Can you have SL and Lion on the same system?
I’m pretty sure you can just partition your HD install snow leopard on the blank partition and upgrade that partition to Lion. You would then have SL on one partition and Lion on another. I think that would work. Having lion does not mean you need to upgrade to iCloud either. You could probably stick with Mobile me and ignore iCloud.
Ordered one to use on my 2008 MacBook. I am on SL on that mac, but misplaced my DVD…..so this one will be useful just in case
My late 2011 MBP came with lion preinstalled
I wish apple gives lion DVDs free to lion users, it sucks getting 4 gig in slow speeds