MobileMe Debuts in Advance of Apple's iPhone 3G
Date : 10 Jul 2008 Category : Technology
NewsFactor NetworkThe rollout came in advance of Apple's release of the new iPhone 3G on Friday. MobileMe will let subscribers store and automatically synchronize e-mail, contacts and calendars between iPhones, Macs, PCs and iPods. The service includes 20GB of storage, double the amount available under the .Mac name.
Compatible with Exchange
Apple is positioning MobileMe as the answer to Microsoft Exchange for enterprise iPhone users. The service at me.com is compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2003 or newer, Outlook Express, and Windows Contacts. For Macs, the service works with Mail, Address Book and iCal.
"MobileMe is suited for the 3G network," said Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research. "Coupling the rollout of the iPhone and MobileMe is more than marketing. Consumers who get 3G iPhones will upload and download a lot of rich data like pictures and e-mail attachments; on the 2G iPhone the end-user experience would be painfully slow if it's not over Wi-Fi. The combination of the 3G iPhone and MobileMe, both optimized to run on a fast 3G network, makes a difference in their experience."
"A challenge for Apple is to migrate consumers who use core features of Exchange and already manage their calendar and contacts on their computers in an integrated way," he added. "For those not currently using Exchange, it might be more difficult for them to understand the core value proposition for syncing the management components of their life digitally."
Encouraging a Switch To Macs?
MobileMe might also appeal to Mac users and even encourage others to become Mac users, said Shiv K. Bakhshi, director of IDC mobility research. "MobileMe...