there are a few things that left me with questions.

1. what happens with back to my mac?
2. where is the web video gallery?
3. is this the end of iweb in the ilife suite and the end of personalized home pages with mobileme?
4. are there any benefits to being a mac user over windows?

the idea of cloud computing is great but i wish that they didn’t take away stuff that was in .mac

I really like the idea of MobileMe, but what about my domain name?

I don’t want to be forced down the route of using a @me.com email address - as nice as that is. I want to use my own domain name. Will this be possible? - particularly in the context of push mail. If it is then that’s great. I know I can use it with my BlackBerry service. Is MobileMe likely to restrict push to users of the @me.com addresses only?

You can choose either or (I think) both domains:

.Mac to MobileMe transition FAQ:

Will I be able to use a me.com email address if I want to? - Yes. In addition to your mac.com email address, you will also get an address at me.com with the same username when MobileMe is available. For example, if your current email is emily_parker@mac.com, you will get emily_parker@me.com. You can send from whichever address you choose. The choice is yours. You will still receive email sent to your mac.com address so you won’t miss any emails.

As far as what other stuff stays and goes:

.Mac to MobileMe transition FAQ:

Are any other .Mac features affected? As part of this transition to MobileMe, some features are being discontinued: Web access to bookmarks (bookmark sync between your Macs and/or PCs is still supported), iCards, .Mac slides, and support for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther sync.

The problem I have with iDisk is that it is something that sits over to the side. What I was expecting was to be able to set my sync folders. By default it would be “Documents” with the ability to ignore certain folders.

This I don’t have to think about what will be added to the cloud - It will just happen.

Apart from that some nice additions - especially having a real, online, editable calendar.

I’m curious to find out whether third-party developers will be able to take advantage of MobileMe push syncing. My dream would be an OmniFocus iPhone app that syncs automatically with my Mac (and maybe even a web version). Developers can do .Mac syncing now, why not MobileMe? Anyone want to break NDA?

I can’t believe that they whiffed on the syncing of To-do’s and Notes. Why belabor the fancy stuff if they can’t even handle the basics? Color me disappointed (yes, I realize that’s a mixed metaphor).

It’s clear that this feature is not yet supported, but it’s one of the most obvious things that could be added.

As Andy I pointed out, Apple could easily have MobileMe be an alternative to iTunes. The “push” technology could also be used to track which podcasts in your list that you had listened to — and note what exact point you were if you paused a podcast on some computer/ipod.

The cloud could be monitoring what was on your various players, updating the music/videos/podcasts as your preferences specified. If it worked well, it would bring a fluidity/transparency to the whole synchronization game. Ultimately, the entire concept of synchronization would fade into the background (so to speak).

If I did have one immediate wish, it’d be that Apple could include iPod Touch software upgrades in your MobileMe subscription. We’re coming up on our third Touch upgrade in a year; those recurring $10-$20 charges are getting a bit old. This could also be a good inducement for Touch owners to sign up for this service (and this year’s “back to school” program guarantees that the number of Touch users will be rapidly increasing this summer).

I totally agree with all the points you’ve made on the .mac / mobileMe topic both here and on MacBreak but I’d just love to have a Calendar for all the family in one place. Here’s the issue I’m stuck with Windows/Outlook and a Blackberry (my thumb hurts all the time) at work. If my wife can put a family appointment on my Calendar at work from any device and I can do the same from my BB or Outlook I think they will have a tremendous following.

Let’s just look forward to Omifocus or Remember the Milk filling the missing ToDo sharing that’s also part of this.

Obviously we’ll have to wait and see how MobileMe performs, but I was struck because I already do most of this (just not via push) using Spanning Sync and Google Calendar Sync.

Jazzmandan, check out Google’s syncing tools. If your corporate IT policy allows it, I’m sure there is a syncing solution out there for you.

Anyway, it feels like an important technology step for Apple. I’m definitely looking forward to an OmniFocus solution for the iPhone.

Yes to all the big stuff above, it’s great to see this big step (finally…). Looks like Apple actually had a big list of Things That Suck About .Mac.

I’m looking forward to it coming and checking it out, I think they’ll get a huge pickup. They were very smart to link it to the revision of the iPhone.

Am I the only one that thinks they took a clunky name and replaced it with an icky one?

Not quite sure about using me.com as an email address. I know that Windows users are being courted here, and I’ll probably keep using the mac.com one, but I wonder a little about the branding here. It’s not quite there yet. I’m not going to even get into that logo and typography.

A few little things:

No mention of aliases transferring.

And in the faq:

“Your @mac.com ID will still work for iChat. You will also be able to use your @me.com ID for iChat. However, it will be separate from your mac.com iChat ID and will work only as long as your MobileMe subscription is active.”

So, presuming that new mac.com IDs are not continuing to be issued, the perpetual iChat ID looks like it will be no more. Wonder how that will sort itself out for iChat users who don’t pony up the 99 bucks.

Thanks for that Merlin. I might not have explained myself very well earlier.

I mean my own Domain Name - one I have gone out and bought (markaw.com). I want to be able to send and receive email using this domain name through the .mobileme service and have the benefit of push mail. At the moment it’s not clear if all IMAP accounts will benefit from push email. This alone would be the absolute reason for me to drop my Blackberry in favour of the iPhone.

This can’t be done with the current .mac service - hence my need of a Blackberry. I’d really like to see this incorporated into the .mobileme service.

Merlin, can you get a read on what the status is with to-dos (tasks to the Outlook users scoring at home) and note synching? Is this an area that is being left to third party devs (which I could totally understand since there is so much gesticulating about the proper way to do this stuff)? Was this just left out of the demo videos because it’s not feature complete yet? If you can get any sense of what the good word is from the proverbial ground at WWDC that would be awesome.

I’m with you guys. From my point of view it’s unbelievable to have something called a “smartphone” that can’t handle real-world stuff like task management and email flagging. While clear Apple is serious about making MobileMe a great tool for people who use the iPhone, there are some startling omissions in their game plan.

Yes, there will definitely be 3rd party apps built by companies that are more interested than Apple in solving basic problems of personal productivity.

The big question, for me, is why Apple wouldn’t find that an interesting problem to solve.

Occasional disappointment with .Mac? Are you kidding?

It’s been a constant disappointment, ridiculously over priced, and far surpassed by the competition. I’ve faithfully paid my $99 per year in the hopes that Apple would improve it and for the Syncing/Back to my Mac. I am excited and very happy to see that they have finally stepped up to the plate and seem to be ready to deliver a solid solution.

I can’t wait to give it a spin!!

MobileMe only supports push email for a single “@me.com” address, correct? And Apple wants us to pay for this?!

More sweeping condemnation of MobileMe here: http://tinyurl.com/524p4c

An ex-housemate of mine worked at the company that developed the A-GPS technology that the iPhone 3G is using, and I don’t think it’s going to be that big a battery drain. The chip won’t actually be running full-time, only when you’re using a feature that’s actively using GPS; if it’s able to talk to Global Locate’s reference network via wifi or the 3G network, it’ll usually be able to get a lock in a matter of seconds, and the chip draws less than 15 mW of power.

The only real disappointments for me in the iPhone 2.0 software announcement are that apparently the Notes application is completely unchanged (i.e., still no syncing, which I’d like just as much if not more than syncing iCal/Mail to-do lists), and to a lesser degree that the SMS app didn’t become a full-blown iChat app. (Yes, third party app new push notification blah blah whatever. But c’mon.) I’m still subscribing to Backpack’s (now defunct) $5/month plan pretty much just to have the equivalent of synced notes, though.

…whether it is possible to integrate or rather implement other email accounts like gmail via imap and or pop3 into mobile me. I mean does it just work regularly like in mail? and besides that I was looking for something like that and especially having it all together and not for example having spanning sync and all other things I use. and as for the todos and notes I really would like to see something coming, but I somehow started keeping all that in caledar and in my head. works quite well now. I have the nokia e90 doesn’t work too well with os x, so … well I am looking forward to it and probably wait on merlins next thoughts and posts.

We’ve all thought Mobile Mail.app could use a little help. Let’s remember, that Uncle Steve said it would be updated, during the Stevenote, in the iPhone 2.0 software. There is still hope. Stiff upper lip and everything…

Will the current iPod Touch be fully MobileMe functional, or will I need a Touch 2.0?

I am just not getting it. It seems a little better than .mac but the real issue to me is really the ubiquity of the service tied to the apple device. It really should be just like iLife and made to be part of the OS as a base. I am really confused why apple doesn’t seem to just make this a default tool of all new Macs and iPhones.

This integration of iPhone, iPod with Mobile me is superb and will be a great hit among masses.

Sachin

I have to say MobileMe really llooks great but there are some downsides that I’d be having a hard time to deal with:

• Though I can forward my personal domain email to @mac.com, I cannot customize the from-line of the webmail and iphone client composer.

• I would bet that the iDisk syncing is no more effective.

See I have been searching around for a real .Mac replacement and honestly could not find any. However I have found a perfect replacement for the iDisk and it is called getdropbox.com. If you do not know it, I bet you would be astonished by its performance (the have a demo video)

But then I’m the kind of person who like homogeneity and mixing Google Apps + Dropbox kind of is awkward to me. Unfortunately my .Mac subscription expires on July 10th… that is one day before Mobileme should be unveiled…I guess i’ll renew it…hoing I wont ask to be paid back.

Do keep posting on mobileme, this is very interesting to me

I have just let my subscription slide. Don’t get me wrong I love my Mac and am still a staunch advocate of Apple hardware and software; it is after all both slick and effective in most cases.

To be honest though; I subscribed for the additional features of iWeb and - of course - for iDisk. Both are buggy and both have vastly superior alternatives. MobileMe won’t be tempting me back, even though I have an iPhone.

I’m a die-hard apple fan. have been and always will be, I’ve even put “tinker with iphone SDK” on my todo list, but Okay, this is kind of a nuance comment of sorts, but I couldn’t help but noticing how many “empty sound spaces” there were in, albeit well-rehearsed and totally gnarly wwdc 2008 keynote, where the audience was supposed to clap and “whoo-whoo”. At one point I think Phil even reminded the audience that it was okay to clap. Another strange moment was when Jobs showed the browser speed comparions between 3G edge and wifi — an illustrious demo showing the advanced speediness of the 3G, but didn’t anyone else think it looked very strange to see 5000 developers in an audience staring at one man on a stage staring at a web page, watching it load for 59 Seconds (The edge speed). Theatrically that was so bizarre. Did anyone think the amount of clapping had lessened?

One thing that crossed my mind was that with bill gates basically resigned from the apple-microsfot chess game (apple clearly having won), maybe developers are demanding more from apple? Or maybe my recent acting worked made watching a webpage load just a “different” kind of performane? Who knows.

Either way, I’m stoked about apple’s progress and the sweetness of teh iphone. I MUST continue to watch wwdc keynotes and any other keynotes related to apple. Essential coverage of my favorite OS.

That said, what’s the best way to get consisten updates like this from apple? Just RSS their developer page I guess.