MobileMe Users Get 60 Free DaysMobileMe Users Get 60 Free Days

Apple is trying to mend some fences with dissatisfied customers by offering MobileMe users 60 days of service for free.

The company's wireless syncing service was supposed to replace its .Mac service and provide nearly instant data syncing between a user's home computer and an iPhone 3G. But MobileMe has been beset with difficulties since its launch in July.

"The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped," read a note on Apple's support site. "While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards. We are extending subscriptions 60-days free of charge to express appreciation for our members' patience as we continue to improve the service. "

The free 60 days will be available for MobileMe subscribers with an active account as of Aug. 19, the company said. The latest freebie comes in addition to a previous free 30 days of service Apple doled out to subscribers.

MobileMe was announced at the WWDC alongside the iPhone 3G, and it was described as "Exchange for the rest of us." But the service stumbled out of the gates, and customers have continuously reported problems visiting the Web portal Me.com, syncing data, and accessing e-mail.

In an internal e-mail that leaked, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs acknowledged that the service was "not up to Apple's standards," and reorganized the management team behind MobileMe.

"It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same times as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software, and the App Store," Jobs wrote. "We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence."

MobileMe is a subscription-based service that costs $99 a year. In addition to data syncing between devices, the service enables users to share videos, photos, and other data wirelessly.