Earlier this week Apple announced a new service called iCloud, an online data storage feature that will allow users to wirelessly sync, transfer and store photos, contacts, calendar info, e-mail and more. And it will do it all at no charge for OS X, iPhone and iPad owners. However, MobileMe, Apple’s current cloud solution, already does some of these things. The iCloud service will allow up to 5GB of storage space, whereas the current service allows 20GB and costs $99 per year. What will happen to Apple’s current subscribers when iCloud kicks in?
Apple sent an e-mail out to MobileMe subscribers, like myself, two nights ago to explain the situation.
Dear MobileMe member,We’d like to share some exciting news with you about iCloud — Apple’s upcoming cloud service, which stores your content and wirelessly pushes it to your devices. iCloud integrates seamlessly with your apps, so everything happens automatically. Available this fall, iCloud is free for iOS 5 and OS X Lion users.
What does this mean for you as a MobileMe member?
When you sign up for iCloud, you’ll be able to keep your MobileMe email address and move your mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to the new service.
Your MobileMe subscription will be automatically extended through June 30, 2012, at no additional charge. After that date, MobileMe will no longer be available.
When iCloud becomes available this fall, we will provide more details and instructions on how to make the move. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn more about iCloud.
Sincerely,
The MobileMe Team
So you’ll get to keep all your info and migrate them to iCloud, but your MobileMe subscription will continue on until June 30. Though no mention of it was made, I’d assume that the 20GB of storage remains until then, too. Otherwise, that would be a complete waste of $99, especially for people who purchased or renewed the service recently like I did.
Are you a current subscriber? How do you feel about the free, new iCloud service?