.Mac becomes MobileMe

Coming July

9 June 2008 19:34 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Apple has rebranded its .Mac email service and evolved it to allow users to get information from where ever they are in the world.

“Think of MobileMe as ‘Exchange for the rest of us,’” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push email, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get.”

The new service promises to constantly sync new information when added from a Mac, PC or iPhone allowing users to seamlessly sync their mail, contacts, and calendar information.

"MobileMe stores your info up in the cloud so you can get to it anywhere using any of your devices - Mac, PC, iPhone - it will push information up and down to keep everything up to date all the time", said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

The contacts app incorporates lists, live search, and Google map integration while the Mail app allows panels to be resized, multiple message to be selected like a real application all from a browser window.

Challenging Google and its online calendar application the Apple MobileMe calendar app has the typical day, week, and month views. Colour coding and drag and drop events is supported as well. will the gallery app will allow you to view shared images.

However rather than require you to sync devices via a hard wire connection, the service promises to work over the air.

MobileMe, available on July 11, is a subscription-based service with 20GB of storage for £59 per year for individuals and £89 for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. Users can sign up for a free, 60-day MobileMe trial at www.apple.com/mobileme and current .Mac members will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe accounts. MobileMe subscribers can purchase an additional 20GB of storage for £30 or 40GB of storage for £59 annually.