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MobileMe

MobileMe
MobileMe logo.svg
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Initial release January 5, 2000; 17 years ago (2000-01-05) (as iTools)
July 17, 2002 (as .Mac)
July 9, 2008 (as MobileMe)
Stable release
1.6.7 / October 12, 2011; 5 years ago (2011-10-12)
Development status Discontinued (services moved to iCloud on June 30, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-06-30))
Operating system Mac OS X
Microsoft Windows
iOS
Type Internet suite
License Subscription
Website www.me.com

MobileMe (formerly .Mac and iTools) was a subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. All services were being gradually transitioned and replaced by iCloud and the service ceased as of June 30, 2012, with transfers to iCloud available until July 31, 2012. Afterwards, all data was deleted, and the email addresses of accounts not transferred to iCloud were marked as unused.

Originally launched on January 5, 2000, as iTools, a free collection of Internet-based services for users of Mac OS 9, Apple relaunched it as .Mac on July 17, 2002, when it became a paid subscription service primarily designed for users of Mac OS X. Apple relaunched the service again as MobileMe on July 9, 2008 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2008, now targeting Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users.

On February 24, 2011, Apple discontinued offering MobileMe at its retail stores, with MobileMe retail boxes eventually removed from resellers as well. Additionally, Apple stopped accepting new subscriptions for MobileMe. On June 6, 2011, Apple announced that a new service called iCloud would replace MobileMe sometime in the fall. At the iPhone 4S special event on October 4, 2011, Apple announced it would finally launch iCloud on October 12, 2011, to replace MobileMe for new users, with current users having access until June 30, 2012 (on that day the service would cease).

MobileMe was shut down on June 30, 2012, with user data available for retrieval until July 31, 2012, when the site finally closed completely.

iTools and .Mac were designed primarily to provide Internet services for Mac owners. All members of iTools and .Mac received a @mac.com email address, showing the services tied to the Mac hardware. However, with the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008, the renamed service, MobileMe, began providing Internet services for OS X, iOS, and Windows. Members of MobileMe were given a @me.com email address (though users of the current @mac.com email address could also continue to use those, with both domains being interchangeable with the same email account), were also no longer restricted to OS X software such as Mail and iCal, and they could access personal data from any computer connected to the Internet using the web interface at me.com or a number of supported applications, including Microsoft Outlook, as long as the user used version 2003 or later. Apple support for MobileMe was available via chat and telephone (the latter restricted to US/Canada users only).


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