[Robo]

Apple is basically the unGoogle. Google gives away a device (OS) to get people into their ad-infested cloud, Apple gives away the cloud to sell devices. No ads.

5GB free storage, not including purchases or Photo Stream. Nine big features: mail, contacts, calendar, App Store, iBooks, backups, documents, Photo Stream, "iTunes in the Cloud." Pretty nifty.

[Kickaha]

If a couple of my favorite app devs manage to get iCloud Doc support into their apps... I'm golden.

[Partial]

iOs is now as web enabled as Android. Hopefully it still feels as good as iOs 4. I could see more things executing in the background for synching like Android/WebOS, and those OSes don't feel nearly as swift.

I'm so unbelievably jacked up.

On paper, why would anyone buy an Android device now?

I will be a day 1 adopter of iPhone 5. That's for sure.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Partial iOs is now as web enabled as Android.

That's pretty much it, right? All the areas iOS devices were lagging, like notifications and cloud support, and even areas iOS devices wasn't lacking but we complained about anyway, like requiring a PC — iOS 5 and iCloud fix all of those. Multitasking is still better on webOS. But other than that?

[kieran]

What's happening with MobileMe?

Summary What's happening to MobileMe? Effective June 6, 2011, if you had an active MobileMe account, your service has been automatically extended through June 30, 2012, at no additional charge. After this, the MobileMe service will no longer be available. Products Affected MobileMe What will happen to the content I have on MobileMe? Apple has announced a new service called iCloud which will be available this fall and free for iOS 5 and OS X Lion users. When you sign up for iCloud, you'll be able to keep your me.com or mac.com email address and move your MobileMe mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to the new service. When iCloud becomes available this fall, more details and instructions will be provided on how to make the move. Can I create a new MobileMe account? You can no longer create a new 60-day trial account or start a new subscription using a code contained in a MobileMe box. However, if you have a Family Pack subscription, you can still create new family member accounts. Can I upgrade to a Family Pack or purchase additional storage? Effective June 6, 2011, you can no longer upgrade your Individual account to a Family Pack or purchase additional storage for your MobileMe account. I purchased a MobileMe box and have not used the activation code inside. Can I get refund for it? Yes. If you have an unused activation code from a MobileMe box, you can submit a refund request.

Boo. I was kind of hoping for a prorated refund, not an extension.

Oh well, as long as I get to keep all of my @me stuff, I'm happy.

[Xaqtly]

I'm particularly keen on photo stream. Taken as a whole, the necessity of cable-syncing pics I've taken on my phone is one of my larger peeves with Apple's infrastructure currently. iOS 5 and iCloud solves that pretty nicely.

I'm also a big fan of having contacts cloud synced, and docs. One thing I'm going to have to figure out is Mail. In order for Mail to be the same on both my desktop and my iPhone I will need to have a .me email address apparently. I'm not going to do that because I have my own domain - unless maybe there will be a way to transfer my domain and related email to .me and retain the domain name that way.

I dunno. It'll bear some study.

[SpecMode]

My MobileMe family pack account just renewed in April...so, effectively, I get two more months of that free (well, freeer, I suppose) before it goes away. Meh.

[Mugge]

Originally Posted by Robo Apple is basically the unGoogle. Google gives away a device (OS) to get people into their ad-infested cloud, Apple gives away the cloud to sell devices. No ads. 5GB free storage, not including purchases or Photo Stream. Nine big features: mail, contacts, calendar, App Store, iBooks, backups, documents, Photo Stream, "iTunes in the Cloud." Pretty nifty.

Coincidentally, Danish TV is airing Antichrist right now. Not that I'm going to take that as an omen of any importance.

I'm really looking forward to this, though, I still reserve the right to see it in action before I frolic about about it. But worst case: I'm not paying for my email anymore. But the prospect of having Mac, iDevice and internets so finely aligned is very exciting.

[nikstar101]

Originally Posted by kieran What's happening with MobileMe? Boo. I was kind of hoping for a prorated refund, not an extension. Oh well, as long as I get to keep all of my @me stuff, I'm happy.

Thanks for posting that. Its a bit of bugger though as my annual fee has just gone out!

So it seems all the MobileMe aspects that are not in the iCloud solution are disappearing. What about domain names linked to iDisk storage? There are a lot of unanswered questions!! Or will all the MobileMe stuff remain even though it hasn't specifically been mentioned?

One thing is for sure, is that this is a shot across Google's bows. I mean Apple have basically rolled up and told Google we are now competing with you and by the way we aren't doing ads! Maybe you should go back to search! LOL

[FFL]

Originally Posted by Xaqtly IOne thing I'm going to have to figure out is Mail. In order for Mail to be the same on both my desktop and my iPhone I will need to have a .me email address apparently. I'm not going to do that because I have my own domain - unless maybe there will be a way to transfer my domain and related email to .me and retain the domain name that way. I dunno. It'll bear some study.

All you have to do is host your domain (or at least its mailservers) somewhere that gives you IMAP email as well as POP, and then set up all devices to use the email address on an IMAP account.

[Xaqtly]

You mean I have to move out of the dark ages? NOOOOOOOOOOO well maybe. I know I can just do IMAP somewhere (but not with my current host service) but I thought I saw somewhere in the onslaught of info this morning that some of the wireless sync features in Mail require a .me address, not just IMAP.

I could be completely wrong about that, I just thought I saw that somewhere. But yeah, I really should go to IMAP anyway. Wasn't an issue before really, but now I have a desktop and an Air and a phone, all email-capable. And that f%&@%#$ iCade is probably going to make me buy an iPad.

[Brave Ulysses]

Strange to me that Apple would continue to use me.com for new email addresses when it is clear Mobile Me is a 4 letter word around Apple.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by nikstar101 One thing is for sure, is that this is a shot across Google's bows.

I think they saved/aimed a few of those shells for Instapaper and Dropbox too!

A lot of these apps were specifically filling holes where Apple was coming up short. After this morning, Apple seems to have filled many of them (or soon will be). It'll be interesting to see how some of these outfits/developers respond over time.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses Strange to me that Apple would continue to use me.com for new email addresses when it is clear Mobile Me is a 4 letter word around Apple.

Would probably help with branding/acceptance if they just moved everyone - existing and newcomers alike - to "***@icloud.com". As long as it had the same features, reliability, IMAP, etc. I'd give up my beloved "@mac.com" suffix for a bit of unity and ease. Would be nice to see this growing ocean of people with an icloud.com e-mail. That still says "Apple", so I'd be okay with it. I never liked "@me.com"...way too bland/generic.

As long as they'll let me be me with @mac.com, I'm happy to stay with it. Now that it's free, I imagine that'll be my e-mail until the day I croak.

[kieran]

I know Marco Arment, of Instatpaper, was posting things to Twitter earlier. I still think he'll be able to function just fine. Instapaper is a great service and I'll stick with it over Apple's implementation most likely.

There are plenty of small developers that have carved out a nice niche, even with Apple providing the same functionality. A good example si Frasier Spiers with his uploading plugins for iPhoto and Aperture that work much better than Apple's built in solutions.

[FFL]

I don't see myself or most of my clients currently using it giving up their Dropbox (though we will all be very happy with the iCloud music/photos content syncing).

But I won't be referring clients to Dropbox nearly as often once people start upgrading to Lion.

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by FFL I don't see myself or most of my clients currently using it giving up their Dropbox (though we will all be very happy with the iCloud music/photos content syncing). But I won't be referring clients to Dropbox nearly as often once people start upgrading to Lion.

I'm going to wait to see the performance before I drop Dropbox. Hopefully Apple had improved iCloud over it's previous incarnations, but lack of performance and stability in iDisk were the reasons I switched to Dropbox in the first place.

[Capella]

My concern is sharing with other people who are not on your iCloud account. I use sync as a way of collaborating with other people. If I can't put a file in my iCloud folders and have it accessible by other people who I authorize (maybe like in Dropbox where I authorize them by email, or maybe like in Google Docs where anyone with the link can see it) then the service is not useful to me as a full DB replacement. So I think that for acceptance by people who aren't us (read: aren't going to use it to keep our Apple computer and Apple mobile device in sync) to really take off, it should absolutely allow files to be collaboratively shared with others. If it can't do that, it's not going to chase out Dropbox.

[Brave Ulysses]

I wonder if iDisk is dead or if we will still have some sort of iDisk.

[Kickaha]

BU, that's a concern of mine as well - I would imagine that the functionality would be retained, but... it wasn't mentioned. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be rolled into the Documents syncing. Go take a peek at the dev API 'galaxy' slides from this morning - App sandboxing is mentioned. This would also make sense in light of Doc Versioning. Docs get versioned, they get to be auto-live with resumable apps, and they get synced.

I wouldn't mind moving to Dropbox for sharing files, but it would certainly be more convenient if it were doable from within iCloud.

Hunh. Just had a thought.

So imagine that all your docs are synced. You select any file in the Finder and under the Share menu, you select 'By Mail' which then pops up a dialog for what permissions you wish to give them on the file, and you enter in someone's email address. They get a link to the synced iCloud version of the file, with permissions as you stated.

Anywhere/anytime/anyfile sharing, and you don't have to 'put' it somewhere special like iDisk or Dropbox because your whole bloody machine is being synced in the cloud. You're just giving someone access to *a* piece of it.

Kind of like Windows' sharing capabilities, but across the globe instead of across the LAN.

Hmm.

[Kraetos]

Originally Posted by nikstar101 One thing is for sure, is that this is a shot across Google's bows. I mean Apple have basically rolled up and told Google we are now competing with you and by the way we aren't doing ads! Maybe you should go back to search! LOL

Pretty much. I've asked my iPhone-owning friends before: "would free MobileMe entice you to ditch Gmail?" The answer is usually a resounding "yes!"

[Capella]

Originally Posted by Kickaha So imagine that all your docs are synced. You select any file in the Finder and under the Share menu, you select 'By Mail' which then pops up a dialog for what permissions you wish to give them on the file, and you enter in someone's email address. They get a link to the synced iCloud version of the file, with permissions as you stated.

Hell yes. This is exactly what I want to happen. (With the caveat I said above that it works with anyone on any OS.)

[Kickaha]

"Apple ID authentication for file sharing
An Apple ID can now be used to log in to a remote Mac for file sharing. If others need to access a folder on your Mac, you don’t have to create separate user accounts. Just add their Apple IDs to the list of authorized users, and they can log in with their credentials."

HMMmmmm...

[Kraetos]

Also, 5GB is pathetic, and I'm assuming that there will be higher priced options. $1/GB/Year is pretty standard and I'd cancel my $200/year Dropbox account in a heartbeat if iDisk was brought up to Dropbox standards (which it looks like it will be.)

[Bonn89]

Originally Posted by Kraetos Also, 5GB is pathetic, and I'm assuming that there will be higher priced options. $1/GB/Year is pretty standard and I'd cancel my $200/year Dropbox account in a heartbeat if iDisk was brought up to Dropbox standards (which it looks like it will be.)

How do you figure that 5 GB of storage, for free, that only applies to documents, app data (but not apps themselves), calendars, contacts, and email storage is pathetic? Dropbox only gives you 2 GB for free (although you can absolutely get more space for free, but not 3 GB worth), and Dropbox counts stored photos, music, and apps against your total.

For what iCloud is supposed to do, 5GB for small stuff (docs, email, app data) for free is a goddamned steal.

Besides, in no part of the Keynote did Jobs even suggest that iCloud would offer iDisk service or an equivalent. If you ask me, iDisk is dead. iCloud's Document sync is for Mac/iOS apps to get data back and forth between the same app on different devices, not general purpose storage. We have Dropbox to fill the gap left by iDisk.

[Kickaha]

Does it include the email storage as well? Oh wait, I don't *use* my @me.com email for much of anything, so it wouldn't count anyway...

Yeah, go to your user directory, and take a look at how much disk space you're using.

Now subtract:
- any Applications
- Music (pretty much the whole folder)
- Photos (again, pretty much the whole thing, correct?)

How much is left?

On my work machine, after taking out the above, I've got about 3.2GB left that would be suitable for syncing. (ok, ok, so I have 70GB of proprietary client data, but that's not going to get synced in any case, that's what the work servers are for...)

At home, just off the top of my head, I think it's about 12GB, but over 8GB of that is redundant backups of some early research data that I still need to clean and cull.

At both work and home, I'm within the 5GB free range.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Kickaha Does it include the email storage as well? Oh wait, I don't *use* my @me.com email for much of anything, so it wouldn't count anyway... Yeah, go to your user directory, and take a look at how much disk space you're using. Now subtract: - any Applications - Music (pretty much the whole folder) - Photos (again, pretty much the whole thing, correct?) How much is left? On my work machine, after taking out the above, I've got about 3.2GB left that would be suitable for syncing. (ok, ok, so I have 70GB of proprietary client data, but that's not going to get synced in any case, that's what the work servers are for...) At home, just off the top of my head, I think it's about 12GB, but over 8GB of that is redundant backups of some early research data that I still need to clean and cull. At both work and home, I'm within the 5GB free range.

Video is a big question mark at this point.

[Kickaha]

True, I thought of that after I hit Post. I don't take a lot of (any?) video, so it's not a dealbreaker for me.

For others, I can see it being a big issue, but I don't know that bandwidth is really there to support massive video uploads/syncing, except to push them to YouTube when they're finished products.

(I'm ignoring purchased/ripped media for the moment... I suspect that will come along in the iTMS at some point as well.)

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Kickaha True, I thought of that after I hit Post. I don't take a lot of (any?) video, so it's not a dealbreaker for me. For others, I can see it being a big issue, but I don't know that bandwidth is really there to support massive video uploads/syncing, except to push them to YouTube when they're finished products. (I'm ignoring purchased/ripped media for the moment... I suspect that will come along in the iTMS at some point as well.)

I'll be very curious if the Camera app syncs videos shot with the app and if iMovie projects get iCloud saves.

[Kickaha]

I wonder... iMovie does live edits, correct? So if the raw track + edits were saved, then you could have versioning and vastly reduced data storage.