Where's My Free MobileMe?
April 20, 2011
Nearly two months ago, we began hearing rumors Apple’s MobileMe service would be revamped and become a free product. In fact, one promising report indicated the change would happen sometime in April. Unfortunately, with just ten days remaining in the month, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
MobileMe, which serves as an email, calendar and photo service, costs $99 for a one-year subscription. We and others, however, had heard Apple was expected to change the service to include “digital lockers” for storing music, photos, and videos in a “cloud.” And with it, the service was going to be free.
On February 25, we reported that Apple was doing away with boxed versions of MobileMe and was encouraging people to sign up for a few 60-day free trial for the service on its website. This seemed like more evidence a revamp was coming and most likely, would be announced at this year’s iPad 2 event in early March.
Unfortunately, no announcement has yet to be made.
When these rumors began flying, many of our readers signed up for the service on the assumption that before the 60-days were up, the service would be free. We’ve received word from a few of these readers that Apple will charge them $99 for a one-year subscription within the next seven days.
While changes to MobileMe may eventually come and include a new pricing structure, this appears to be a case of extensive rumors simply being wrong.
We'd like to hear from our readers who signed up for the free trial. Now that a MobileMe revamp doesn't appear likely, at least in the short-term, do you plan on keeping the service? Let us know by using the comments below.
