Apple’s announcement today of its MobileMe product is yet another validation for the cloud sync model (and another competitor for the incumbent providers).
The MobileMe offering is quite broad, as well as the expected file, contact, calendar and mail syncing, it also covers gallery and location based services (which is logical given the GPS features of the iPhone 2).
The MobileMe website is a nice offering, it has a familiar interface, much like the native individual apps would have (ie MobileMe mail looks just like a desktop mail app) – MobileMe thus bridges the current gap between the cloud based syncing offerings and application themselves.
Mobileme is priced at USD99 per annum with 20GB of storage. How the market place reacts to that pricing remains to be seen – 20GB is pretty light for a service that encourages photo sharing – but extra 20GB storage chunks are available at USD49.
Check out the introductory video here.
Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. 