MobileMe

MobileMe is going away forever. Current users have until the end of the month to download photos and files from iDisk, Gallery and iWeb before the service disappears. Final warnings are being distributed via email to subscribers after Apple announced the end of MobileMe last year.

MobileMe users were granted storage space online for $99 per year. Now with the advent of iCloud, which offers 5GB free, Apple decided to close down its precursor. Those planning to transition their MobileMe content to iCloud must complete the process by June 30 to prevent the loss of data.

You may have heard that Apple now offers the Find My iPhone service for free to iPhone 4 owners who have installed the iOS 4.2 update. When set up properly, the service locates and even sends messages to the lost device. Find My iPhone can also remotely lock or erase your iPhone.

Setting up the service no longer requires a paid MobileMe subscription with Apple to use. To set up Find My iPhone on your device follow these instructions.

MobileMe subscribers can now navigate to an improved landing page at me.com from their iPhones. Apple has added more functionality to what once was just an instructional page.

Although the mobile browser version is improved, for complete features such as adjusting MobileMe account settings users will still have to access me.com from a computer web browser. iPhone apps such as MobileMe iDisk and MobileMe Gallery still provide more options than the iPhone version of me.com.

Now that you have your shiny new iPhone, should you spend another $99/year to subscribe to Apple's MobileMe service? MobileMe has replaced Apple's former .Mac service and now includes many useful features for iPhone users.

Apple is offering a free 60-day trial of the service, which includes 20GB of iDisk storage and 200GB of monthly file transfer bandwith. Here are some iPhone-specific features of MobileMe.

For those iPhone users with a MobileMe account, Apple has released a free application called iDisk. This utility allows iPhone users running iPhone OS 3.0 and later to view and share the contents of their MobileMe iDisk on the go.

iPhone supported file types are viewable in landscape or portrait, and can be zoomed in using standard pinch gestures. Using the Share button, MobileMe subscribers can send emails with links to large files without even downloading the file. Public folders are also accessible using the iDisk application.