Katie Marsal
For starters, anyone with a .Mac subscription will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe and see their iDisk storage doubled from 10GB to 20GB at no additional cost — though Apple warns that it may take up to 10 days before the additional space is reflected for all users. An email will be sent out to all .Mac subscribers ahead of the service change.
Once upgraded, users will be under no obligation to stop using their .Mac email address or their .Mac email aliases, both of which will continue to function indefinitely, as will .Mac iChat login IDs. In addition to their mac.com email address, users will also get an address at me.com with the same username and an iChat ID at me.com with the same user name.
Similarly, .Mac website URLs and Web Galleries URLs will continue to function as they do today, but will also be accessible from me.com. For example, both web.mac.com/john_smith/ and web.me.com/john_smith/ will both point to the same web directory. Users who have their own personal domain name pointing to their .Mac web directory will also not need to make any changes.
Emails stored on .Mac, as well as files on a .Mac iDisk and Backups to a .Mac iDisk will all be accessible from MobileMe and continue to function as they do today. Some other features, however, will be discontinued such as iCards, .Mac slides, and support for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther sync.
Apple will also discontinue Web access to bookmarks on June 30, 2008, after which users will no longer be able to access or update their bookmarks at .Mac. To avoid losing any existing .Mac Bookmarks, Apple recommends that .Mac users sync them with Safari on a Mac before June 30.
Bookmark sync between Macs and/or PCs will not be discontinued, as MobileMe will continue to sync bookmarks across computers as well as push them to the iPhone and iPod touch.
On a Mac, MobileMe will require the latest versions of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and either Safari 3 or Firefox 2. Windows PCs will be able to access MobileMe from Safari 3, Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7. iPhone features will require iPhone Software 2.0.
Additional information is available via Apple's .Mac Transition Overview and the MobileMe Guided Tour. Prospective subscribers can also sign up to receive a notification email when the MobileMe service goes live.
Update: Readers in the AppleInsider forums ask if they can purchase the current editions of .Mac at the discount price of $69.99 ($124.99 for the Family Pack) from Amazon.com and then have their account upgraded to MobileMe.
Apple say, "Yes. Just go to www.mac.com/activate and enter your code to get started. Your account will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe when it becomes available."
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Some other features, however, will be discounted such as iCards, .Mac slides, and support for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther sync.
Apple will also discontinue Web access to bookmarks on June 30, 2008, after which users will no longer be able to access or update their bookmarks at .Mac.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
I think I've been in the camp of over-paying for my .Mac service, but I was happy to do so. One of the warm-fuzzies that kept me from abandoning the pricey service, ok 2 of them, were the iCards and the web-access to my bookmarks.
The iCards were simple to use and unique to Mac. No ads, no BS, just an easy benefit to use. No other site to go to when I read an email online and wanted a more cheerful reply than simple email would be. Why remove? They must cost almost nothing to maintain, since the cards rarely changed and, oh nevermind. Just a big FU to Apple for ruining my day on that one.
The bookmarks I don't understand. Why dictate how I'm mobile? I don't have an iPhone or other computers that I own. But I'm on all sorts of machines at work, on the road and with friends/family. I loved always having access to the sites I use. Am I missing something in how this has been torn away?
I guess I should reserve any real passion in this reply for when service launches. But I don't like the sound of all this....
Interesting. I'm liking what I see in MobileMe. Now if only you could access your MobileMe pictures and stuff form AppleTV..
EDIT: Holy Crap, I got first post!
My .mac account expires in 90 days. After seeing me.com i will be upgrading to the family pack for my wife and kids emails etc.
I have been writing a lot of code using AJAX and it performs well on all of the browsers mentioned.
Looks like it's finally time to clean up my mess. Over 7,000 pics in iPhoto that needs to be trimmed and organized. iCal that goes back to 1999, emails about that old. If I can get though all of that MobileMe will probably be a blessing. Do the same for the wife on her MacBook and I night be allowed to buy an iPhone.
Could I buy the .Mac product from Amazon today, for the advertized $69.00....and use it to activate the Mobileme account later, say after the 60 day demo period?