Apple today announced MobileMe, a new internet service that delivers push email, contacts, and calendars to native applications on the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Macs and PCs. The service, which replace’s Apple’s .Mac service, also provides desktop-like web applications including Mail, Contacts, and Calendar, as well as Gallery for viewing and sharing photos and iDisk for storing and exchanging documents online. MobileMe will be available on July 11, and includes 20GB of storage for $99 per year for individuals and $149 for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. A free, 60-day MobileMe trial will be offered as well, and current .Mac members will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe accounts.
“Think of MobileMe as ‘Exchange for the rest of us,’” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push email, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get.”
