Following the recent transition to MobileMe (from Apple's .Mac service), Mac users have started to notice poor syncing performance when it comes to their desktop computers. MobileMe does, however, sync beautifully when it comes to iPhone, iPod touch, and the MobileMe website. Apple now specifically underlines, on its support page, that "changes made on your computer may not immediately sync to MobileMe."

InformationWeek points out to a forum post on Apple's MobileMe support site: "This is definitely disappointing, and Apple's sales blurb is misleading if not downright wrong," a MobileMe user wrote. "They clearly state that 'When you make a change on one device, the cloud updates the others. Push happens automatically, instantly and continuously.' Whilst this is true for iPhones, iPod Touch and the new Web apps, it's not true for the Mac desktop applications."

Apple knows this and explains the issue as follows:

Symptoms

With MobileMe Push, you can choose how often your

computer syncs your contacts, calendars, and other sync data via MobileMe. If you select "Automatically", changes made on your computer may not immediately sync to MobileMe.

Products Affected

MobileMe

Resolution

Mac OS X

Selecting Automatic in Mac OS X allows your computer to immediately sync and update when there are any changes on the MobileMe servers. Those changes can come from your iPhone, iPod touch, the MobileMe website, or another computer. Changes made on your computer will be synced to the MobileMe "cloud" once every 15 minutes (or every hour in Mac OS X 10.4.11).

So, if you are using Tiger and were wondering why it takes even longer than 15 minutes to sync your address books and calendars, there's your answer.

For Microsoft Windows users, selecting Automatically in the MobileMe Control Panel also syncs your computer with MobileMe every 15 minutes.

Apple has also confirmed that the iDisk File Sharing feature of MobileMe will be delayed. The company did not offer a timeline for when the feature would be up and running.

MobileME is described by Apple as "Exchange for the rest of us." The service syncs data between all your devices and the MobileMe servers by applying / pushing the changes made to e-mails, the address book, or the calendars, to each device you use and view them on.