Apple's .Mac Retooled, Relaunched As MobileMeApple's .Mac Retooled, Relaunched As MobileMe

At the 2008 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple unveiled a service that allows users to wirelessly sync and access information across multiple devices.

Dubbed MobileMe, it's a cloud storage service that enables push e-mail and real-time synchronization of calendar items, contact information, and other data on an iPhone without the need for a Microsoft Exchange server.

"Think of MobileMe as Exchange for the rest of us," said Phil Shiller, Apple's senior VP of worldwide product marketing, during a presentation at WWDC.

The Web-based MobileMe works with the iPhone's mail, calendar, and contacts applications in addition to working with Mail, iCal, and Address Book on the Macintosh and Outlook on Windows. Additionally, MobileMe offers online storage for documents, files, and photos.

During the presentation at WWDC, Apple showed how photos taken from a phone can be automatically uploaded to the Web-based MobileMe account for storage or to share with friends.

Apple also launched a site called Me.com, a portal where users also can manage their MobileMe accounts. MobileMe applications feature no advertisements and support a drag-and-drop interface, according to Apple.

The subscription-based service will be available on July 11. It's priced at $99 per year with 20 GB of storage, and subscribers can purchase additional storage capacity at $40 per year for 20 GB or $99 per year for 40 GB.

As expected, MobileMe is a replacement for the company's .Mac service. Current .Mac users will be automatically upgraded, Apple said.