Apple's MobileMe: Worth A Look

When Apple first launched MobileMe, its online e-mail and storage suite, in 2008, it was plagued by unreliability, outages, bugs and the general sense that it was a slapdash job of a product.

While Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has continued to tweak the software ever since, there really was not much in the way of overall improvement -- that is, until this year. MobileMe now has a redesigned look and important, new functionality added to coincide with the launch of Apple’s iPad platform. Apple’s inclusion of remote location, remote find and remote wipe functions between MobileMe and its mobile devices is a big deal for three main reasons:

• The sheer number of iPad and iPhone sales over the past three months means that the massive growth in the platform, so suddenly and so quickly, provides sweeping new security challenges, particularly in enterprises that have adopted these devices for business. The availability of remote security for these mobile devices is a workmanlike approach to protecting data.

• It’s dead easy. We’ve seen with other client security efforts in recent years -- notably Microsoft’s User Account Control -- that security tools that slow down or annoy the end user are security tools that will be disabled or ignored. Not so with MobileMe’s remote location for iPad or iPhone devices.

Simply register the device with iTunes (as you’d have to do anyway), separately set up the MobileMe account, and the software can locate and wipe the data from the system. If an iPhone or iPad has been misplaced in a work area or residence, MobileMe also provides an option of making the device send out a screechy, pinging noise that’s loud enough to locate it within a few seconds. If the device has been lost, MobileMe will locate it via GPS or cellular triangulation and show you where it is -- within about 500 yards -- via Google Maps. If you don’t like where it is, or it’s not in a secure location, MobileMe lets you click ’Lock’ or ’Wipe’ buttons that will keep the data it contains off-limits to others. Again, it’s push-button-simple to use.

• Compared with other alternatives, it could be considered cost-effective. A MobileMe individual account, which includes e-mail and storage for files, an image library, calendaring and contacts, runs $99 for a one-year subscription that can provide remote, mobile security for mobile devices. By contrast, LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software provides a single-user license for $59 per year, per laptop.

It must be noted that Research In Motion, with its flagship BlackBerry devices, has provided remote wipe and remote lock functions via its BlackBerry Enterprise Server -- and BlackBerry does remain an important mobile platform of choice for a wide swath of the North American commercial market. However, it appears that Apple has been able to provide much of that functionality without a lot of enterprise overhead.

While MobileMe is considered a consumer product and service, iPhones and iPads are increasingly used for business purposes. The availability of such a significant, easy-to-use remote security application to protect those devices and data means that it could be considered an ’add-on’ service for those devices.

The bottom line: Apple needs to consider an enterprise-level version of MobileMe, or at least its mobile security functionality, for commercial enterprises that have begun deploying iPhones or iPads. The technology is simple and sound and could go a long way toward easing doubts by businesses as to the security of the runaway successful Apple devices.

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