I first heard about Apple’s new MobileMe features last week, with the official release of the new iPhone OS 3.0 firmware update. Your new upgraded iPhone 3.0 software includes incredible features like locating your lost phone on a map in real time , displaying a message on a lost phone, and remotely deleting all of your personal info on your phone in the event that you have lost it forever. These features are all enabled through Apple’s $99 a year service called MobileMe.
Well, just a few days after the iPhone OS 3.0 was released, the first story about finding a lost iPhone has emerged, and it’s a good one. Kevin Miller was just a guy in Chicago for a Lego convention (really?), who happened to leave his iPhone behind in a sorta sketchy dive bar he had never been to before. He realized his mistake just a couple minutes later and went back to the bar, but alas, his iPhone was already gone. So what to do now? Fire up a laptop with a 3G card and find the phone!
Kevin tells his story very well, and it’s a good read. Check out the long version on his blog. Highlights include three geeks stalking a thief in a random Chicago neighborhood, and the pure awesomeness of new technology that works better than you expect it to.
If you have a habit of losing stuff, Apple’s MobileMe may be worth $99 a year to give you the piece of mind that your iPhone will never truly be lost. You also get other cool cloud-based services like 20GB of remote data storage, access to those files from your phone, and the ability to publish photos and videos to your storage account directly from your phone.
There are a few flaws in the iPhone finder service through MobileMe. First of all, a thief would only have to remove the SIM card to render this application completely useless. Also, thieves can currently access your Settings panel and turn off MobileMe with a simple switch. Apple needs to tweak these features by allowing you to remotely access certain settings on the phone and lock the phone down. These are minor glitches though, and most petty thieves would not know how to perform these actions, just like in Kevin’s case.
For the complete list of the features in MobileMe, and to activate a free trial, check out Apple.com.
