[funkboy]

Notice the e-mails in your inbox that are pushing .Mac? I've never seen Apple hype something this strong with e-mail advertising, but apparently Apple is letting loose with .Mac.

I don't want another thread thinking pro-and-con about .Mac, that's been discussed to death, but do you think Apple's really worried about the adoption rate on this? I've at least received 3 or 4 emails from them explicitly asking me to sign up for .Mac (in various ways, of course).

Does anyone know how successful .Mac subscriptions have been so far? I'm surprised Apple's sending this many e-mails out advertising it...

[alphamatrix]

I've been thinking about that too, Steve Jobs or who ever made this decision has gotten boxed in, they assumed that the 49 dollar starting deal would get most people to sign up. If the subscriptions really are down by the dead line, we arnt there yet, right? Then they have a problem, because if they make it free agian its gonna be hell for the people who paid and if they dont .Mac might just die.

[mitchell_pgh]

trying to stay on topic... it's hard... Ugh... OK...

Yes, they have been sending them (3 so far), but all of them are to temp .mac accounts (so it really isn't spam, or is it?)... I guess they are nervous about people signing up, but they should be. I feel many people don't need .mac, they used iTools as a spam free Hotmail account alternative with a cool Apple only (ish) 20MB server space perfect for sig files and small images etc.

I tend not to like anything where you get a deal at the start and then the price goes up... I'm sure Apple will just bill your credit card for $100 when the year is up unless you cancel it... (Ugh, so AOL of them...)

[Mr. Blur]

I keep hoping that all the push is to get as many people signed up before they cave in a bit and announce that you can keep your basic email for $20 a year or something like that.....I don't really like the idea of dishing out $49 (which is about 80 canadian pesos to me...) but if I have to, it'll be at the last minute....

Now, those comments aside....I'll put on my snarky wannabe-mod hat and ask why this is in the OS X forum instead of maybe the lounge?

[Jim Paradise]

I sent a reply saying I considered the messages as spam since I didn't sign up for a newsletter and I've had the account since, well, iTools was introduced... this is what I got as a reply:

From: [email protected]
Date: Wed Aug 14, 2002 05:05:07 PM America/Montreal
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: .Mac spam mail
Reply-To: [email protected]

Thank you for contacting [email protected].

.Mac does not provide support via email, you have two options for .Mac support:

1. .Mac Online help at: http://www.mac.com/help.

2. Support via the Tech Exchange, an online support discussion board, at: http://discussions.info.apple.com/. Find relevant information by searching, or click ".Mac" under System Software Discussions and browse recent posts. You can also post your own topic to the Tech Exchange to start a new discussion.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

The .Mac Team
Apple Computer, Inc.


Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

iTools Product Team
Apple Computer, Inc.

A hell of a lot of good that email did me.....

[Developer]

Originally posted by Jim Paradise:
I sent a reply saying I considered the messages as spam since I didn't sign up for a newsletter and I've had the account since, well, iTools was introduced... this is what I got as a reply:

[...]

A hell of a lot of good that email did me.....

Doesn't it have an unsubscribe link in those messages?

[JKT]

The stupid thing is that I want to sign up for the $49 first year (I actually do like and use iTools/.Mac and the $49 is good for the first year... just hope it gets better for the second otherwise I shall look elsewhere), but I'm waiting until the trial deadline along with everyone else that I know of who is also wanting to sign up. Why? Because if you pay for your account now, you lose that X no. of days left of your free period and you start paying (and your year subscription starts) straight off the bat. You'd have to be desperate for that extra 80MB/Virex etc to sign up now. I'm just hoping Apple's servers can cope with the demand come the 30th September.

To get back on topic - I'm getting a lot of the SPAM too. In a way it is a good thing as some of it is quite instructive (todays was about how to use iPhoto to publish to your homepage - I already knew it all, but a newbie might not realise that this kind of thing can be done). However it is also very in-your-face buy me, buy me, buy me...

[Gul Banana]

I, too, am going to be getting .Mac anyway but am annoyed by what is amounting to spam. There's no sort of unsubscribe link, but I guess to do that you'd just stop using your "trial .Mac account":/
At least it'll stop soon...

[BrunoBruin]

You might also consider that they might be sending the e-mails so everyone gets the message that they have to sign up if they want to stay a member. People can really be idiots. On October 1 there are going to be thousands wailing "Apple cut off my e-mail! I had no idea they were going to do this! I'm gonna sue!"

I work in public relations, trust me, you can tell people something 347 times and when crunch time comes, they will stand there and say "Huh? I was supposed to do what?"

[Group51]

I have recieved 3 or 4 of these messages. I simply can't afford to spend so much money at once: X.2 + QT6...that's my limit. Next month I'll get .Mac, and PSE 2.0.

The only good thing about the mails is that they tell you how long till the 'trial' runs out. Once I've read that number, I hit delete.

[ruttopia]

Yes - Apple is going to get inundated with .mac subscriptions next month. I too (along with everyone I know as well!) am waiting until the end of my subscription period to make the best of it. I'm hoping Apple will come to their senses and keep it at $49 a year after that - I will have to reconsider at $100 next year ... that's very steep for what they offer. But if they add a bunch more stuff it might be worth it. Of course, iCal is going to be VERY useful to me and the interface to webmail is TERRIFIC. Their site has gotten much more responsive since .mac was announced (the first few days was horribly slow).

We'll see - but next month Apple better be ready to start charging a LOT of credit cards ...

[Eug]

Spam, without an unsubscribe link. Annoying.

[calamar1]

Originally posted by Eug:
Spam, without an unsubscribe link. Annoying.

It's worth noting that Hotmail periodically emails you to give you tips on stuff, and to advise you to clean out your mailbox every now and then, and also to remind you of their pay services. i don't believe those have an unsubscribe link.

[mitchell_pgh]

I wonder how many people would pay $5 for a 10MB + 1 email WebDAV acount? That could be an interesting little ISP idea...

[KidRed]

Originally posted by Eug:
Spam, without an unsubscribe link. Annoying.

Do you get apple news letters? Then it's not spam. And to further educate you, spam is repeatedly receiving mail from the same person without ever signing up for any kind of newsletter or giving them your email address. We all know, you have to give your email address when downloading itunes. So this is not SPAM, it's just annoying.

[elppa]

Originally posted by Jim Paradise:
The .Mac Team
Apple Computer, Inc.


Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

iTools Product Team
Apple Computer, Inc

An iTools revival on the cards?

[jaxxe]

Originally posted by BrunoBruin:
I work in public relations, trust me, you can tell people something 347 times and when crunch time comes, they will stand there and say "Huh? I was supposed to do what?"

I'd like to second that one! I used to work for an ISP, doing billing and processing renewals. No matter how many renewal notices you send out telling subscribers that they're accounts will expire, there are always more than a boat full who will complain when their services is cut-off as they failed to renew by the expiry date.

[Eug]

Originally posted by KidRed:


Do you get apple news letters? Then it's not spam. And to further educate you, spam is repeatedly receiving mail from the same person without ever signing up for any kind of newsletter or giving them your email address. We all know, you have to give your email address when downloading itunes. So this is not SPAM, it's just annoying.

I have never signed up for any Apple newsletters. I have never given my email address when downloading free Apple software actually. To be honest, I always give some fake email address, specifically to avoid this problem.

It's worth noting that Hotmail periodically emails you to give you tips on stuff, and to advise you to clean out your mailbox every now and then, and also to remind you of their pay services. i don't believe those have an unsubscribe link.

True, but Hotmail is still free. .Mac will not be, and I do not plan on subscribing, even to the Trial acct.

Anyways, I can understand Apple's reasoning for sending me the spam. I just don't have to enjoy it.

[Footy]

There is a way to stop the "spam" from Apple about .Mac but you have to sign up to find out how.

I only recieve one but their .Mac-voodoo worked on me and I signed up right away.

[Nebrie]

Originally posted by Eug:

True, but Hotmail is still free. .Mac will not be, and I do not plan on subscribing, even to the Trial acct.

You're only getting the spam because they want you to convert your free account to a paid account. How is this different from hotmail?

If you're still worried about it, just mark it as spam in Mail's built in spam filter

[Subzero Diesel949]

Originally posted by Nebrie:

If you're still worried about it, just mark it as spam in Mail's built in spam filter

How ironic...that feature eventually gets used against them.

[Eug]

Originally posted by Nebrie:


You're only getting the spam because they want you to convert your free account to a paid account. How is this different from hotmail?

If you're still worried about it, just mark it as spam in Mail's built in spam filter

Well, the difference lies in the fact that hotmail isn't cutting off my usual service.

Anyways, thanks for the tip. Maybe I'll do this or maybe I'll just stop the mail service altogether, since I won't be using it in the future anyway.