Yes, there will be iCloud web apps

I still want to know what will happen to plain old iDisk. I work with a large organization that uses it extensively.

"Apple has to be smart enough to know that current MobileMe users occasionally have to access their data from computers other than their own, and locking iCloud users out from doing the same thing would be a huge misstep."

I sincerely hope you are right. I really do. But given that Apple so often chooses the less is more approach when designing their products and services (surely streaming AND downloads would be better than downloads only for iTunes in the cloud, right?) I would not hold my breath. Add in the fact that they are unceremoniously dumping iWeb, iDisk, and Mobile Me Galleries (the last of which is indeed very useful for sharing full sized photos) and that there was not a peep made about iCloud web access at WWDC (one would think such a feature might make at least some bullet list during a 30 minute presentation) I'm not holding my breath. There is nothing about it on ther iCloud website site either. There are lots of pictures showing Macs, iPhones, and iPads running native apps all synching up to cute cloud, and there is a single reference to the service synching with Outlook on a PC, but there is not one image that shows a browser interface. Web access was prominently displayed on the Mobile Me site from day one. Its absence on the iCloud site says a lot. Apple marketing does not piecemeal a website. http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/contacts-calendar-mail.html

I really want for web access to iCloud to be true because I am a heavy MM user. But I have come to realize over the years that with Apple you should always expect them to leave something important out for the sake of "clarity" or "simplicity".

i'm confused. when i watched the keynote from last week, i definitely remember Jobs saying that the key apps from MobileMe have been completely rewritten for iCloud. i'm not sure how this is unclear. now, it's true that he didn't show any web-interface demos, but he said that the MobileMe apps have been rewritten. he didn't just say "they're going to sync between your devices." he referred to them as apps.

i guarantee that there will be a web interface for those apps.

I use the web interface at work all the time since there are times that I'm not allowed access to personal cell phones and I sure as Hell am not going to add my personal email account info to my work station's Outlook. It's really gonna piss me off if there isn't a web based client to use when I can't access my iPhone (or don't have a wireless signal) but I do have access to the web. In reference to the Find My Phone/Mac app, I certainly hope the future version includes a way to add accounts to the app and have a master password. When there's 6-7 iPhone users in the family and several laptops, it's really hard to remember all the accounts and passwords if I needed to assist in a pinch and going back and forth between a password manager is tedious. I should be able to leave my wife, mother, kids, etc., in the app for quick access.

"Topolsky seems to be working under the assumption that because Steve Jobs said nothing about iCloud having a browser-based interface option at WWDC, it means such an option will never exist."

He's not working under any "assumption". Apple told him the web interface would be going away. That PR person could be wrong (Find my [apple device name here] needs a web interface and they just refreshed mail and calendar, so it makes little sense), but there is no assumption. Its what he was told...

One thing that was missing from the iCloud announcement and subsequent postings (rumour or actual) from any site that reports on Apple is the future of iWork.com.

I understand that 'native apps on all devices' is Apple's cloud model, but for those that are looking for an alternative to Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365, surely a continuation of the MobileMe web apps (mail, calendars, contacts, storage) coupled with iWork.com (word processing, presentation development and spreadsheets) would be an attractive offering.

The products are there now, I never understood why apple didn't offer iWork.com in the MobileMe environment at least to subscribers anyway... Also, if your phone and windows or google chrome book are all you have available to you at a certain time, surely working with a web interface would be better than your phone, at the very least for spreadsheets...