dotMAC, Time For A Makeover?

By Om Malik July 9, 2006 37 Comments

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft… most technology companies are using newer technologies (collectively called Web 2.0) to enhance the consumer experience inside the browser. Apple, however, is yet to incorporate these technologies and enhance the user experience for the customers of its for-pay dotMac service.

The $99-a-year service in the words falls woefully short of Apple’s otherwise high standards. Unlike the intuitive iPod, iTunes and Mac itself, dotMac is a bit of a beast.

Given that I have my early morning coffee in an Apple Mug, use an Apple pen to scribble notes, it pains me to write this – despite its shiny good looks, dotMac is not an easy web-service to use, and is very un-Apple like. Which is a shame. With over a million users, it is not a small business, one with really high margins. (Some label it as an outright rip-off.)

Don’t get me wrong – there are a lot of good things about dotMac. The syncing of data between two or more Macs is a breeze, though there are free options available, if you are a do-it-yourself type. Still, lets start with three areas which I find seriously bothersome and could use some Ajaxification (for the lack of better word.)

iDisk, which Tao of Mac describes as “slow-as-molasses,” and I agree. [ Also, read Rui's full scale rant on dot.Mac, which is seriously indepth and worth reading.] I could not agree more. Even on blazing fast connections, it takes forever to manipulate files, folders in the native state. I have had to resort to keeping a local copy, in order to get over these problems. It is the web-based access to the iDisk which is troublesome, and highly frustrating. Tiny start-ups such as Box.net have come-up with a nice and blazingly fast GUI for their storage service, why can’t Apple?

Apple Mail on the web is a throwback to the late 1990s. After using GMail and new Yahoo Mail, you know the web mail has evolved many generations. The Apple Mail, however, is slow, and non-intuitive, despite all those fancy icons. This is another area Apple should be adopting some of the newer technologies to speed-up the experience.

iCal, is another part of dotMac, which fails to impress. Sure, it is great on the desktop, (and I mean great) but on the web, all it is just a page, you can read, but cannot interact. What it needs is ability for users to add new events, and have sharing.

Having said all that, I think what dotMac on the web needs is a major rethink. It needs to come to terms with the reality of consumer expectations. This is not to suggest, Apple should use Ajax for the sake of using it. The end users don’t care – they want a good, fast and easy experience. And as it stands, dotMac cannot claim to do that.

PS: Given that there is a big community of us Apple fans, I want you to think how you would improve dotMac, send me your screenshots for a later post. If I like one, I will send you an Amazon gift certificate. All screenshots should accompany an email and if possible your website/blog address!