MobileMe
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MobileMe announced for iPhones, Macs, and PCs -- .Mac is dead
The rumors were true, Apple just announced their new MobileMe service. Push mail, contacts and calendar data all in the cloud and synced back to your iPhone over the air. Works with the Mac's Mail.app, iCal, and Address Book as well as on PCs for those using Microsoft's Outlook. It's built around Ajax and fully "web 2.0" so that you can access the service from your favorite web browser while maintaining the look and feel of your desktop applications. Syncs photos from your iPhone too. Available at me.com for $99/year and 20GB of on-line storage -- 60 day free trial in early July. Dot mac (.Mac) is gone, baby gone.
.Mac and Me rumors: TUAW inside look at Apple's next-gen service
What's next for .Mac, Apple's much-maligned online service offering for OS X users? TUAW has learned that .Mac will no longer be sold by Apple after WWDC, as new users will migrate to the new MobileMe service (not too shocking, given the swirling rumors as of late). Existing users will have their @mac.com e-mail addresses forwarded to their @me.com address in perpetuity, which should provide some relief for nervous .Mac users who depend on that email.MobileMe is slated to include a host of new features, which we alluded to early in May; in addition, there will be new web interfaces for all aspects of MobileMe -- calendars will look just like iCal, Contacts will look just like they do in Address Book, etc. This is similar to the way .Mac Webmail works today, though we've heard that the new interfaces will be much snazzier (yes, that's a technical term). Apple should also be updating the .Mac dependent applications (iChat, iWeb, iPhoto etc.) to work with the new service. The new service will be backwards compatible with .Mac protocols for the time being -- so developers will not have to rush out updates as soon as they hear the official word.MobileMe is scheduled to be available sometime in late June/early July. We have also heard reports that the latest build of the iPhone beta firmware (2.0) has already undergone revisions to handle the new MobileMe service. Some of the features of the service on iPhone will include: over-the-air syncing of contacts, calendars, and photos. Interestingly, there is also a Windows version of MobileMe planned. Though we're confident in the source of this information, this is still a rumor until Apple reveals all. We should hear more information about MobileMe at the World Wide Developer's Conference starting on Monday (June 9th).
Apple buys "mobileme.com" domain name?
TUAW is hearing that Apple recently acquired the domain name "mobileme.com." This domain name, would of course agree with the recent rumors of the .Mac re-branding to gain the "Mobile Me" name. However, the domain name is currently in the hands of Apple's registrar, Mark Monitor.When you query the domain with a whois search, the following information is revealed about the domain name: Domain Name: MOBILEME.COM Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC. Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com Name Server: NS1.MARKMONITOR.COM Name Server: NS2.MARKMONITOR.COM Status: clientDeleteProhibited Status: clientTransferProhibited Status: clientUpdateProhibited Updated Date: 07-aug-2007 Creation Date: 23-aug-2002 Expiration Date: 23-aug-2009This rumor comes after Apple recently bought the me.com domain name.
'Mobile Me' the new name of .Mac?
As Mat noted last night, it's looking like a name change is in store for the .Mac service. CodingRobots.com and Deep Apple (via Daring Fireball) have found some additional interesting strings in the newest release of the iPhone SDK, building on strings found in other parts of the Mac OS X update (iCal, Mail and more) released Tuesday. Apparently, Mobile Me looks like it wil be the name of the new service: CodingRobots has a screenshot of the "MobileMe" string inside the SDK 2.0 release. Add in the 2006 AppleInsider report, noted by DF, that Apple filed a trademark application for the name "Mobile Me" in early 2006, and all signs point to the new branding for .Mac. What Mobile Me could offer is known only by Apple at this point, though Gruber speculates that Mobile Me might extend the over-the-air sync capabilities of iPhone 2.0 (as announced, limited to Microsoft Exchange/ActiveSync users in the enterprise) to the rest of us.
Apple going Mobile?
Amphetameme.org poses an interesting question: Is Apple planning to deploy a fully mobile solution for the iPod and Mac product lines? The blog looks at various pieces of evidence -- like Apple's recent "Mobile Me" trademark, Apple's status as a mobile reseller, and PortalPlayer's (the company that provides much of the iPod's guts) newfound interest in wireless technologies -- to construct an image of products that utilize "bluetooth, and an always-connected 'modem' service that will connect your iPod (and probably your iMac, your Laptop, your Desktop Mac) to iTunes (to start with) and to the net, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."They point out some interesting concepts, and I'd certainly like to see something like this happen -- in fact, looking at the world's growing dependency on wireless technology, it almost seems inevitable.Check out the article for their full analysis.[Thanks, Clark]
Proof that Apple will be launching a mobile service?
Take this with several grains of salt, but an anonymous tipster has sent the above photo to us of what appears to be an Apple branded SIM card (or an iTunes gift card modified to look like a SIM card). Our tipster says that Apple is about 85% ready to roll out a cell service using the moniker Mobile Me, which was recently trademarked. Apple will be using Cingular's network and Motorola's hardware.We are told that the service is on track to launch sometime in February (or so we are told).Update: I should point out that our source isn't claiming that the phone pictured is the fabled iPhone (it is a Samsung SGH x497). He claims that the SIM card is Apple's.Update II: Our friends at Engadget also got the same tip that we did, so check out their take on it.Another picture after the jump.
Apple trademarks "Mobile Me"
According to Apple Insider, Apple has filed a request with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the phrase "Mobile Me." The request is divided into four main sections. The first concerns, "...Computer services; computer data recovery; data analysis being computer services; computer programming; updating of computer software; maintenance of computer software, computer and communications networks, and computer systems..."Next, the request discusses "...providing digital music from local or global communications networks, including the internet, intranets, extranets, television, mobile communication, cellular and satellite networks; operating chat rooms..." The same phrase is repeated to include audio books, electronics games, information regarding music and "...seminars and training courses relating to science, engineering, computer systems and business."The remaining sections discuss portable devices, and are by far the most interesting: "...Portable digital electronic devices and software related thereto; handheld digital electronic devices and software related thereto; digital audio players, including digital music players, and software related thereto..."It goes on from there. Of course, it could just be an example of Apple wanting to protect ideas that may or may not see the light of day in the future.
