Apple disables push email for German iCloud and MobileMe users

The fierce legal battle between Apple and Motorola continued on Friday, with Motorola enforcing an injunction against Apple’s iCloud and MobileMe email push services in Germany. The injunction, which was granted to Motorola back in early February, has forced Apple to shut down these services in Germany at least temporarily as Apple  goes through the process of appealing the ruling in a German Appellate Court. German users of iCloud are being encouraged to visit the support section of Apple’s German site, which provides some temporary solutions and workarounds to keep the service running on their devices.

iCloud and MobileMe users within the borders of Germany will not be able to receive push mail notifications, and MobileMe users will not have synced calendars and contacts until they change the settings on their iOS devices. All received messages can still be accessed via the iCloud website in addition to the aforementioned settings tweak for iOS devices. Non-Mobile products such as iMacs and MacBooks are not affected at this time, as they do not access wireless data pushing services.

Engadget received a response from Apple, indicating that the company doesn’t consider this move a big deal, as users still have ways to access their email on iOS devices. Apple stated,

This ruling only impacts customers in Germany who use a Push setting to get their MobileMe and iCloud email. These customers will still receive email to their devices. Apple believes this patent is invalid and is appealing the decision.

For it’s part, Apple has posted the following workaround onto both it’s German and U.S. Support sites (for folks who are traveling to Germany).

For iCloud Mail:

1. On the Home screen, go to “Settings” > “Mail, Contacts, Calendars.”
2. Tap “Fetch New Data.”
3. Select a scheduled time to fetch new data.
4. The “Push” setting must be turned on in order to ensure the continued push for contacts and calendar service.

MobileMe Mail:

1. On the Home screen, go to “Settings” > “Mail, Contacts, Calendars.”
2. Tap “Fetch New Data”.
3. Select a scheduled time to fetch new data.
4. Tap “Advanced.”
5. Select a MobileMe account from the accounts list.
6. Tap “Fetch” under “Select Schedule.”
7. Tap “Advanced” to return to the previous screen.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 for other MobileMe accounts on your device.

We’ll hopefully learn the results of Apple’s appeal over the next few months. For now, following the workarounds posted above should have you German folks back accessing your email on your iOS device in no time.

[Via Apple Insider, Engadget]