MobileMe: Some speculation about the transition to iCloud

I'll start this post off by stating the obvious -- there's a lot about how MobileMe services will transition to iCloud that we don't know yet. But I'm going to take a stab at some of the most pressing questions we've received from TUAW readers regarding the transition. As more facts come in, we'll update this post and/or let you know in a new article.

First, let's talk about what's available in MobileMe as it stands today. The details are in that graphic above, which is taken directly from the web-based MobileMe service. There are web-based versions of Mail, Contacts (Address Book), and Calendar (iCal); there's Find My iPhone, which has already become a free service; there's iDisk, a "cloud-based storage" solution; and then there are things like Gallery and iWeb hosting.

Speculation #1: Web-based versions of Mail, Contacts, and Calendar will be de-emphasized

I'd speculate that the web-based versions of Mail, Contacts, and Calendar will get less attention going forward, and might even disappear on June 30, 2012. Seriously -- who needs them? If you have a Mac or three, you'll sync Mail, Address Book, and iCal through the free iCloud service.

The same with your iOS devices, which will send Mail, Contacts, and Calendar changes to the iCloud, where they'll all be echoed to the rest of your digital world. For Windows users, you'll be using Outlook 2010 or 2007 to sync to the iCloud. The only scenario in which you might not be able to get to your "stuff" is when you're using a public computer of some sort at a hotel, on a cruise ship, or at a cybercafé in Spain. Of course, you don't want that to happen, so you'll have your iOS device with you. Hook up to Wi-Fi or use your 3G data service, and the problem is solved. That's why they call them mobile devices.

[The counterargument would be that dropping web-based access to PIM and email from iCloud would be a pretty big competitive disadvantage for the service, compared to Google and Microsoft offerings. It's equally likely that the web components will simply flip over from MobileMe to iCloud without any new features or engineering effort -- since Apple is already doing a passable job on them. –Ed.]

Speculation #2: iDisk disappears

Apple's already stated that iCloud will back up your content -- music, photos, apps, and documents. But there's nothing out there about what will happen to your other stuff. I personally have about 15 GB of iDisk storage available to me on MobileMe, of which I've actually used about 3 GB. All of my important data is sitting out in my Dropbox, syncing between my Macs and iOS devices.

I personally don't see the need for iDisk in this world of Dropbox, but there are others who may be using iDisk since they either don't know about Dropbox and similar services or don't want to migrate to them. I think iDisk is going to go extinct, but that Apple will provide iDisk users with a variety of third-party cloud storage solutions and warn them to migrate their data well in advance. There is a full year to prepare.

Speculation #3: Gallery is toast

Gallery was Apple's way of creating web-based photo albums of your photos for sharing with friends and relatives. Once again, I can't see a need for it in the post-MobileMe world. Apple has already provided an "out" to those who want to share their photos to the world -- iPhoto supports sharing pictures to both Flickr and Facebook. I don't know what Flickr's membership is these days, but Facebook has well over 600 million users, and a good number of them may be former or current MobileMe subscribers. Those two services are perfect for photo sharing, and I'd be willing to bet that the current number of photos hosted in Gallery is a tiny fraction of the number out on Facebook or Flickr.

Another reason I think Gallery is going away is the tendency for people to use iOS devices as a sort of electronic photo album. I don't know how many times I've seen my wife show off photos of our trips to friends or complete strangers using either her iPhone or iPad. It's a lot easier than telling them to go out to some long-winded MobileMe URL to see a gallery of pictures.

Speculation #4: So long, iWeb hosting

As the author of several editions of a book on iWeb, I have a vested interest in the future of this Apple product. However, the future just doesn't look all that bright for iWeb. The software hasn't been updated recently, and there is a lot of rumbling out on the Apple Support Forums about what will happen when MobileMe disappears.

My guess? Apple will once again tell MobileMe users that they need to find their own hosting. iWeb can publish websites to a number of hosts, so it's no big deal to republish on a new one. I even wrote a post almost two years ago about how to use free Dropbox space to host an iWeb site, so there's a solution.

Finally, a significant portion of the people who set up iWeb sites initially were putting together personal sites. Many of those people have probably gone the easy route and are either letting friends know about their lives via Twitter and Facebook, or have set up sites with free services, like Blogger or WordPress.com. Nevertheless, judging by the frustration and concern on Apple's support boards, this may be one of the trickiest transitions to manage.

Conclusion

Before some of our readers who are adverse to change go all ballistic on me in the comments, remember what I said at the beginning -- we don't really know what's going to happen to some of these services between now and the demise of MobileMe on June 30, 2012. All of this is speculation about what will happen, based on my personal perspective.

If you have an alternative idea, or you're a disgruntled MobileMe employee who wants to spill the beans, please let us know about it in the comments or send us a tip via the "tip us" button at the top of the page.

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I'll start this post off by stating the obvious -- there's a lot about how MobileMe services will transition to iCloud that we don't know yet

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Miguel Simoes

Speculation #1:
sorry but i dont fully agree with you

i work in an international company with only 150000 employees, which uses the windows xp system and the lotus notes email system, and as a standard mobile phone uses Blackberry. I am not alone with an iphone fighting with such IT organizations, the war is lost for sure, but i can win some small battles and survive, if i have the web calendar and web contacts available.

hopefully these webapp will survive in the new icloud service.

July 13 2011 at 2:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

rolandy

I too am a MobileMe member and have enjoyed the service. I do have some issues/questions/concerns with iCloud;

1) Paid Storage

I was really hoping that Apple was going to address the option to buying additional storage for iCloud, similar to what Google is offering:

20 GB – $5/yr
80 GB – $20/yr
200 GB – $50/yr
400 GB – $100/yr
1 TB – $256/yr
2 TB – $512/yr
4 TB – $1024/yr
8 TB – $2048/yr
16 TB – $4096/yr

I have read speculation that Apple may offer pricing like Dropbox’s, which I think is way too much compared to Google’s above, but this is all speculation. I would love to see this!

2) iDisk

What will happen to the files currently stored on my iDisk? I store a lot of non-Apple type of documents and files. This has me a bit concerned.

3) Automatic Downloads

Great idea, however, there are some apps I don’t want to run on my iPad because they are made specifically for the iPhone (and I don’t want to use the 2X factor with them on the iPad). I’m sure Apple will have some way to allow you to select which ones you want downloaded to a specific device. (Of course I’m talking future purchases through the App Store, iTunes, etc.).

4) Combining Apple IDs

Prior to switching to MobileMe I had a different Apple ID. With my MobileMe account that now becomes my Apple ID. I wish Apple would allow us to migrate confirmed Apple ID’s with our current one. Case in point- I cannot automatically download a majority of my iTunes purchased tracks to my iPhone/iPad because they were purchased under another Apple ID…even though I legally purchased them through the iTunes Store. Very frustrating.

5) Movie Streaming on AppleTV

I was hoping to see a service similar to Netlfix with an all you can eat instant download of movie streaming with AppleTV for a monthly fee. I was hoping to discontinue my Netflix membership and go strictly with AppleTV for movie purchases and rentals. Also, have an app that can stream those movies to all devices (like Netflix)…wouldn’t that be awesome! Why of why???

I was a little disappointed that iCloud was not going to be released until IOS5, I was hoping that would go live beforehand. But I’m sure it is worth the wait. Knowing Apple, I’m sure they will throw some extras in the iCloud service before it’s final release…one could only hope!

June 10 2011 at 11:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mundys

I'd like to think that the Cloud would still include web apps. While calendar, contacts, and emails seems like a no-brainer, especially given the recent improvements, I'm really hoping Gallery has a place in the Cloud too. Not only do I want the Gallery to be retained, but I would like to see continued enhancements. How about adding some professional photo printing offered in iPhoto within the Gallery. The grandparents would probably love to simply click a few pics in the Gallery and have the hard copies mailed to them a few days later.

June 08 2011 at 4:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lukey C

My main concern is this - My itunes account (and therefore "apple ID" uses my @googlemail.com address, yet I use my "me.com" e-mail. I can't change my itunes e-mail address to me.com, I cant sign into iCloud with the me.com, I can only sign in using my @googlemail.com address - but then it only gives me option to CREATE a "new" me.com address, I can't use my existing one (i tried!). I have iOS5 on my iPhone4 and am concerned how they will link the two accounts!? At the moment I'm in some sort of limbo and unsure how the transition will work.

June 08 2011 at 3:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Lukey C's comment

Zach123

I think it might not make you make a new @me.com adress if you go to appleid.apple.com->manage your account-> login with iTunes store credintials-> go under Apple ID and Primary Email Address and click edit-> change email to your @me.com email.

June 12 2011 at 11:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mike

I think the web interfaces will remain for non-Mac users. Let's face it, a number of iPod / iPhone users are not Mac users. And no one should expect someone to use a Mac just because their phone is made by Apple. Other than providing IMAP, POP, etc.... Apple has no branded mail / calendar interface to PC / Linux users.

I've never used gallery or iWeb, so no opinion there, but they seemed dead when moved to MobileMe a few years ago.

From Apple's own announcements, the iCloud storage will be tailored to certain storage types. That is basically, photo stream, documents / app data from iCloud enabled apps, and backups. It costs Apple no additional storage to associate prior media and app purchases to your account, but they are providing that as well. So if you think about it... Apple has committed to providing, at most, 2x the storage of your iOS device on their system. This differs significantly from what iDisk provides today, an arbitrary file storage accessible through many ways....

Since Apple has only announced what I see as limited cloud storage and has left other items such as iDisk in limbo, I expect iDisk and additional storage (5000 photos, unlimited photos, etc) to be offered as a subscription service, probably at a cost less than MobileMe is today.

June 08 2011 at 1:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gavin Thomson

Gallery also hosts videos and serves as an archive of albums.

Flickr video, event he Pro HD option, is extremely limited at 90 seconds which does nada for most family videos, or a wedding ceremony.

Facebook is worse.

Also, Gallery allowed for combined video and photos as an "event", tying in with

YouTube is useless for discrete video sharing, especially of private events. This is critical for most users who want longer term archives of their albums.

SmugMug and Phanfare are viable options, but can be difficult to sync from iPhoto or Aperture.

June 08 2011 at 12:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

dg7007

Here's a direct quote from an email I received from Apple:

"When you sign up for iCloud, you'll be able to keep your MobileMe email address and move your mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to the new service."

So any email address you are using now should continue to be active. All Apple has to do is maintain the registration on the mac.com and me.com domains, which costs about $10/year. Why would they upset users over $20?

Also seems to me from the iCloud web page on the Apple site that the web apps aren't going anywhere.

June 08 2011 at 10:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

kevin

I never used anything but the email address!yeah,it cost me 80 bucks for an email address!now I'm spared having to cancel it,but will the address change to bsmith@icloud.com?

June 08 2011 at 10:56 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jae

does anyone know what will happen with preference syncing? it's the one mobileme feature i really liked but was never willing to pay 99 dollars for.

June 08 2011 at 10:35 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

kyussmondo

I don't know what all the fuss is about. All the above is just speculation. I am guessing they are going to keep stuff like webmail.

Secondly. If you upload pictures to Facebook then you can share a link to people who are not even Facebook members, same with Flickr and Picasa. Apple doesn't need to focus on doing everything. Just getting a few things right.

June 08 2011 at 9:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply