Apple has suspended MobileMe and iCloud push email services in Germany due to an ongoing patent dispute with Motorola over the services. While Push email will no longer work (for now, at least), users can still set their accounts to periodically fetch their messages automatically. Contacts and calendars, on the other hand, will continue to sync normally.
Even though Apple considers Motorola’s patent to be “invalid,” a German court did rule in their favor (although this will certainly be appealed), causing Apple to temporarily disable the services as a precaution.
As The Verge notes, MobileMe users will get the short end of the stick – their push services will be permanent disabled, even outside of Germany, whereas iCloud users will be able to access the service outside of Germany.
