.Mac began in 2000 as a service called iTools that offered iReviews, iCards, KidSafe, Mac.com Web/POP email, iDisk and HomePage. People flocked to the service because it was useful and it was free.
At Macworld Expo New York 2002 Apple announced .Mac, the upgraded version of iTools that provided email, Web sites, storage of digital photo albums, calendars and even a backup function – for US$99 per year. The price was a bit of a shock to iTools users and many elected not to buck up. In 2005 Apple increased storage capacity to 1GB of combined email and iDisk space, added Backup 3 and .Mac groups, but still had problems adding new users.
I have used iTools and .Mac since their inception and still find them incredibly useful – but not for the reason that most people do. I barely use my .Mac email account but I use several other features of .Mac all of the time.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.
.Mac began in 2000 as a service called iTools that offered iReviews, iCards, KidSafe, Mac.com Web/POP email, iDisk and HomePage. People flocked to the service because it was useful and it was free.
At Macworld Expo New York 2002 Apple announced .Mac, the upgraded version of iTools that provided email, Web sites, storage of digital photo albums, calendars and even a backup function – for US$99 per year. The price was a bit of a shock to iTools users and many elected not to buck up. In 2005 Apple increased storage capacity to 1GB of combined email and iDisk space, added Backup 3 and .Mac groups, but still had problems adding new users.
I have used iTools and .Mac since their inception and still find them incredibly useful – but not for the reason that most people do. I barely use my .Mac email account but I use several other features of .Mac all of the time.
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.
