During the special keynote event yesterday Apple announced all new versions of their productivity and creativity apps for Mac and iOS. All new versions of iWork and iLife which includes Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band are now free with purchase of new Mac or iOS device. These updates are also free for existing users who purchased the older versions.

I own a Mid 2010 27-inch iMac which has been serving me well all these years. OS X Mavericks the tenth major software release for the Mac was also made available for free to iMac models dating back to 2007. After multiple failed attempts to download the software update due to Apple’s sever overload and then finally succeeding I was able to install OS X Mavericks.

After installing the new software update when I launched the Mac App Store to download other software updates I noticed Keynote as one of the app among other apps listed that had available updates. Now, this was interesting to me as I never purchased Keynote app for the Mac.

When I purchased the Mac I downloaded trial version of iWork (Apple did not have Mac App Store back then) and then later purchased only Pages and Numbers app as a digital download. Keynote app was still installed but never worked as the trial had expired.

After installing Mavericks I noticed under the “Purchases” tab it listed Keynote app with a purchase date of today. After the app was updated I launched it and it worked flawlessly.

In the past I’ve got lucky even with iCloud. Just when rumours about Apple announcing a cloud based service reached an all time high I registered for a free trial of MobileMe service. Since the trial was for 60 days and within a weeks time Apple announced iCloud I got extended storage of 25GB for one year without ever paying for the old MobileMe service.

iWork apps are also available on iCloud as web apps and now feature collaboration. The shift in Apple’s pricing strategy by listing its creative and productive suite of apps as free would certainly help in more customers experimenting with these apps and thus increasing its usage worldwide.

Following the transition from Apple’s paid MobileMe service to the free iCloud service, the Cupertino based company provided users with an additional 20 GB of storage as a thank you for sticking around as a user. These users were expected to be downgraded back to the standard 5 GB of storage after their free complimentary year expired.

Standard users receive 5 GB of free storage, and have the option to purchase additional storage as needed. On Friday, Apple emailed these customers and mentioned that they are once again extending the complimentary storage to September 30, 2013.

When you moved your MobileMe account to iCloud, we provided you with a complimentary storage upgrade beyond the standard 5GB that comes with an iCloud account to help you with the transition. Originally, this storage upgrade was set to expire on September 30, 2012.

As a thank you to our former MobileMe members, we will continue to provide you with this complimentary storage upgrade at no charge, for an additional year, until September 30, 2013. No action is required on your part. For complete details, please read this article.

Thank you again for using iCloud,

iCloud Team

Users will receive storage based on their payment plans under the MobileMe service, causing the complimentary upgrades to range from 10 GB, 20 GB, or 50 GB. Late last week, many users reported that they were experiencing storage boosts up to 25GB, which led to speculation that Apple may be rewarding its users for paying for MobileMe previously. It is likely that the date on these upgrades from last week were a glitch, with an expiration date of the additional storage set to September, 30, 2050.

{via MacRumors}

Apple offers its employees a number of perks, for keeping the company’s retail stores operating smoothly on a daily basis. The latest perk Apple is offering is slightly odd, to say the least. The Cupertino company is offering their retail employees an upgrade to 50GB of free iCloud storage as opposed to the 5GB offered on a standard account.

The free storage is reportedly $100/a month value and is similar to the free MobileMe subscription employees received until it was scrapped for iCloud. According to MacRumors, Apple employees were given a $500 discount on any Mac except the Mini and $250 off of an iPad.

Apple continues to offer its retail employees free services and discounts on products, likely to keep morale high and keep the employees up to date. Some who don’t use the products, aside from the required training may not know as much about the product as an employee who use it regularly.

{via MacRumors}

Apple discontinued MobileMe, the cloud service prior to iCloud and integrated in the emails as well as contacts and photos. Now, with iOS 6 beta 3, Apple appears to be transitioning users from me.com email address to iCloud.com.

icloud.com email addresses are now available for iCloud mail users. Users signing up for new Apple IDs, or enabling Mail on their iCloud account for the first time, will automatically receive an @icloud.com email address instead of a me.com email address. iCloud users with @me.com addresses that have been used with iOS 6 beta 3 will receive an @icloud.com email address that matches their @me.com address.

Although Apple discontinued MobileMe on June 30, users still have a limited time to access their data. This latest change may not affect users a great deal, although emails would now have to be sent to iCloud.com as opposed to a me.com address. Apple’s final version of iOS 6 is expected for release alongside the next generation iPhone 5  during the month of October, when all iCloud user accounts will be forced to make this change.

{via MacRumors}

With the introduction of iCloud during last year’s WWDC conference, it was clear that Apple was taking a new path with their offering of cloud services. Steve Jobs, who was CEO at the time of the introduction, admitted that the MobileMe services offered up as cloud features were definitely not the best product that Apple had offered its users. Since then, Apple has gradually been winding down operations associated with MobileMe, making the normally $99 a year service into iCloud.

iCloud offers users an initial 5GB of free storage and then begins to charge based on GB of storage. Earlier this year, Apple gave users the option to remove their files and even offered discs of the Snow Leopard software through MobileMe accounts for users to make the transition to iCloud as smoothly as possible. Apple is still allowing users to transfer their files from iDisk and images from Gallery, but is doing so on a final notice, as the website now displays a red sign that reads, “MobileMe is Closed”.

Apple is offering users the option to transfer their iDisk and Gallery files because both of those features as well as iWeb publishing did not and will not carry over to iCloud. Apple’s replacement for Gallery is likely the new PhotoStream feature and iDisk is being replaced by the variety of storage options offered in iCloud.

The Cupertino company has yet to mention a specific date as to when MobileMe would be permanently shut down, but it will likely be shut before the public release of iOS 6.

{via MacRumors}

WWDC 2011 is now just an hour away, and we’re confident that this year’s event is going to be huge. Apple has already confirmed that CEO Steve Jobs will be back to present the keynote, which promises to lift the lid on the much-anticipated iCloud streaming service, the next major release of iOS, Mac OS X Lion, and maybe – just maybe – a fifth-generation iPhone.

If you’re not already incredibly excited, here’s our expectation’s for WWDC 2011:

iCloud

We believe iCloud will take over MobileMe and deliver a much-needed revamp to this mediocre service. It will maintain the current MobileMe features, such as email, calendars & contacts, and online file storage – which will all be offered free as opposed to the existing $99 per year subscription fee – but the biggest element of iCloud will be its music services.

As we’re already aware, Apple has been working with the major music labels to negotiate deals that will enable us to stream our music library to our iOS devices from the cloud. Instead of keeping thousands of storing tracks locally on our devices, we can instead stream them over Wi-Fi and 3G and save valuable storage space.

Some believe iCloud will also offer over-the-air syncing for our iOS and Mac OS X devices. Instead of having to tether our devices to our computers on a regular basis, we can just back them up to the cloud. When we create and save important documents on our Macs & PCs, we will be able to access them instantly from our iOS devices – and vice versa – thanks to iCloud.

iOS 5

This is the big one for me. Although iOS is a magnificent operating system, and way ahead of its rivals in many aspects, some of its features are desperately in need of an update. First of all, there’s notifications: no longer will we have to put up with those intrusive, unhelpful notifications many of us have come to loathe in iOS 4. A new notification system will be introduced that I hope will be a little more subtle and a whole lot more interactive. Though it’s unclear how the new notification system will be designed, I’m sure it will be significantly different than what’s currently in place.

Home screen widgets are also expected to be introduced with iOS 5. These will be ‘mini apps’ that stick to our home screens and remain open for as long as we want them to, providing us with a plethora of features and functions ‘at a glance’. For example, home screen widgets will allow you to view in-depth weather forecasts, control your iPod music, view your Twitter timeline or Facebook news feed, and read your RSS feeds – without having to open a single app.

iOS 5 could also feature social networking integration. Twitter is already rumored to be heavily integrated into the OS, enabling us to upload photos and sent out tweets without a dedicated Twitter application, but unfortunately details a sparse right now. My guess is that if these features are there for Twitter, they’ll also be there for Facebook.

In addition to these new features, there will also be some smaller changes that will make the iOS experience a whole lot greater. Over-the-air iTunes syncing, subtle changes to the UI, and better home screen folder management.

Mac OS X Lion

Apple has already lifted the lid on most of Lion’s new features, and the Lion beta is almost at gold master, so we don’t think Apple will announce anything new – though we will probably receive a release date. Some are speculating that Lion will go live in the Mac App Store today.

On Tuesday Apple issued a press release where the company confirmed that during WWDC 2011 Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs will unveil Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud. The announcement came in as a surprise as Apple usually does not reveal major product / software announcements in a press release before the keynote event.

Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will kick off on Monday, June 06 at 10:00 a.m and Steve Jobs will be present for the keynote presentation to announce Apple’s “next generation software”.

It’s interesting to note that the press release very clearly mentions “iOS 5″ and “iCloud” as two out of the three major announcements. Previously, whenever Apple would hold an event to discuss the future of iOS the company never really specifically mentioned the version. Even though the rumor mill had been widely discussing Apple’s cloud services we were not expecting Apple to mention that it would be part of the keynote event in a press release.

It’s not clear why Apple PR chose to reveal these details however, one of the more obvious reasons could that the company probably wanted people to know what to expect from the event in order to avoid expectations regarding hardware. Obviously, Apple could still go ahead and announce the iPhone 5 / 4S.

We could just be seeing a preview of Apple’s “upcoming cloud services” and the service could be available as beta for the initial period and then roll out world wide in a few months.

We are expecting Mac OS X Lion to be available for download on June 06 while iOS 5 just like iCloud could be made available only to developers initially.

The next gen software for iOS devices is believed to revamp the notification system, introduce widgets and offer subscription based music streaming service.

Are you excited about Apple’s iCloud? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

We recently reported that Apple has closed licensing deals with three out of the four major music labels for their soon to be announced digital music locker service. This gives Apple great advantage over its competitors, Google and Amazon, who launched similar service without the license deals.

Music labels are always looking for new revenue streams and it’s possible that Apple probably had to pay a huge amount in-order to secure the rights for its new music streaming service. Apple’s iCloud service is widely believed to be tied to MobileMe ($99/year) which already allows users to keep their Mail, Safari Bookmarks, Documents etc. on their Macs and iOS devices in Sync.

BusinessWeek recently published a report in which they detailed Apple’s iCloud service:

Apple will be able to scan customers’ digital music libraries in iTunes and quickly mirror their collections on its own servers, say three people briefed on the talks. If the sound quality of a particular song on a user’s hard drive isn’t good enough, Apple will be able to replace it with a higher-quality version. Users of the service will then be able to stream, whenever they want, their songs and albums directly to PCs, iPhones, iPads, and perhaps one day even cars.

A patent application recently published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also revealed some features about iCloud service which the Cupertino Calif. based company could be looking into. The patent basically explains that any song you want to access from the cloud would require your device to store a minimum of 30 seconds preview. This would allow the user to skip songs without any lag as the preview could be used for the first 30 seconds while the track stored on the cloud can buffer and offer seamless experience.

During WWDC 2011 Apple is expected to share details about the future of iOS and preview Mac OS X Lion. iOS 5 is believed to finally introduce cloud based services which Apple has been preparing for since a long time.

Creator of Instapaper, Marco Arment said he wouldn’t call the new feature a competitor to his service until it syncs with iOS devices. With Instapaper’s big draw being its ability to stay in sync across multiple platforms, this was a reasonable statement to make. Problem is, that cross-platform syncing is now part of Reading List too.

A tipster has told 9to5Mac that Macs running the latest developer preview of Lion does actually sync with iOS’ Mobile Safari thanks to MobileMe bookmark syncing and, presumably, bookmark syncing through iTunes.

Using the new developer preview of Lion and an iPad the tipster discovered a new bookmark folder labelled Com.Apple.ReadingList. Inside are the contents of, you guessed it, Safari’s Reading List on the Mac.

What this means for Instapaper in the long run remains to be seen, though Arment has recently begun adding a social element to the service, presumably to stave off any competition that would arrive.

He probably didn’t expect it to come from Apple, or via Safari.

Apple.pro released photos of what they claim to be camera components of the new iPhone 5. The photos show what appears to be an updated camera module for the fifth gen iPhone that does not contain an integrated flash, giving reason to believe that the flash may be in a separate location than in the iPhone 4.

A few photos released earlier on in the week showed mockups of the LED flash. The pictures showed the flash on the opposite side of the actual camera module. This is something to look forward to in the next iteration of the iPhone, possibly meaning that the camera may be getting a boost.

Apple is expected to announce it’s next gen smartphone in September. It is widely believed that it will feature A5 processor and HSPA+ chipset which will make it capable of accessing the internet faster. Since most carriers market HSPA+ speeds as “4G” technology some analysts believe that Apple’s next iPhone will be called “iPhone 4S“.

During this years WWDC live keynote event the Cupertino based company will unveil the next major software release called iOS 5. According to many rumors we’ve previously reported iOS 5 will mark the introduction of new cloud based services (iCloud?) which will offer music locker service and a revamped MobileMe. In addition to this we could also see new notification system for iOS and deeper voice integration  combined with Siri’s AI personal assistant capability.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2011) is set for June, and as well as announcements for iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion, we’re expecting the company to launch its cloud-based music streaming service dubbed iCloud. Further evidence to suggest that this service is looming comes from Amazon today, who has now ceased sales of Apple’s MobileMe service. Usually Apple launches next gen iPhone during WWDC however, it is widely believed that this year we might see iPhone 5 launch in September.

iCloud is expected to be a part of MobileMe, which currently offers a cloud service for email, contacts, calendars, and online storage. Apple stopped selling MobileMe in its retail stores back in February and removed the product from its online search forms, sparking rumors that the service would be revamped and new features – such as iCloud – would be available when it relaunches. It also stopped users from signing up online, instead offering them a 60 day free trial, which could be to keep customers sweet while Apple makes the changes.

iCloud is expected to offer subscribers with a cloud-based ‘music locker’ that will allow them to store their music collection online and stream it from internet-connected devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This means we can have instant access to every single track in our music libraries without taking up a single megabyte of storage on our iOS devices.

Amazon and Google have both launched online music services of their own in the run up to Apple’s iCloud launch, however, we’re expecting iCloud to be a little different. Apple is rumored to be in talks with the major record labels, which suggests its cloud service will give users the opportunity to stream and purchase music they don’t already own. Whereas Amazon’s Cloud Player and Google’s Music Beta only provide you with the ability to upload your own music and listen to the collection you already own.

The CNET report notes a recent rumor claiming Apple may charge $20 a year for the service, but they couldn’t confirm with sources whether this figure was accurate. A similar service from Google is also expected to come with an annual fee.

Apple’s cloud-based music service will allow users to store their music and videos in a digital ‘locker’, enabling them to stream the content to internet connected devices, such as the iPhone and iPad – negating the need for content to be stored locally on the device taking up valuable storage space.

The service was expected to come as part of a MobileMe revamp, which would provide users with certain aspects of cloud storage as part of their subscription – just like iDisk. However, it’s now unclear whether the two services will be separate entities, or whether the annual fee could also incorporate the MobileMe subscription.

While Apple has informed music executives that work on the service is now “complete,” it has apparently only provided a broad description on how the service will work, keeping the specifics under wraps.

Meanwhile, Amazon recently rolled out its own cloud-based digital storage service called Cloud Drive. The product offers 5GB of storage for free and then tiered subscriptions that allow storage up to 1TB.

It’s long been rumored, but TheMusicVoid is claiming that Apple is once again trying to push MobileMe into the music world, with a new ‘Locker’ feature being its crowning glory.

It’s believed Apple is pressuring music labels into agreeing to allow users to store their own music on Apple’s servers, enabling playback anywhere via streaming. TheMusicVoid says Universal Music and EMI are basically a done-deal, where Sony is believed to be less keen on the idea.

These same sources tell me that although Universal Music and EMI are more or less pushovers, Apple may actually get some pushback from Sony. Sony Corporate has declared sensou on Apple and could hold out just to mess with them. However, considering the backbone of the typical record label executive when it comes to tampering in any way with about 70% of their digital revenue, don’t expect any profiles in courage.

The expected price-tag for this new ‘Locker’ is $20, with MobileMe itself possibly becoming a free service. Perhaps email and basic syncing would be free with music syncing and other premium features for a fee.

With Steve Jobs arguably being both the music industry’s saviour and destroyer at the same time it will be interesting to see how the music world as a whole takes to the idea of storing tracks online for streaming playback.

Is it really any different to Spotify or Rdio though? Maybe, maybe not.

This date fits in nicely with similar Apple events in previous years, which have typically been held around the beginning of April in order to prepare developers for a public release in the June or July.

Before Apple releases new iOS firmwares to the public, it’s important for third-party developers to ensure that their applications and games are compatible with the upcoming release, and that when users upgrade the software on their devices, they won’t encounter any problems when running their apps.

The MobileMe revamp is rumored to introduce content streaming to iOS devices, social networking and geolocation features, as well as improvements to existing services.

Earlier rumors had suggested that the iOS 5 software, along with MobileMe changes, would be announced together with the second-generation iPad at Apple’s keynote at the beginning of this month. However, neither of these subjects were featured at the event.

{via MacRumors}

The new MobileMe service will apparently allow you to store music, TV shows, and movies purchased from the iTunes Store in the cloud, allowing you to then stream this content to your iOS device saving that valuable storage space for apps, games, photos, and everything else. Whether or not this will be a free service is yet to be confirmed.

This new streaming service sounds very similar to the one offered by LaLa before Apple purchased and then closed the company back in 2009. It enabled users to upload music to an online locker and then stream that content to a device of their choice. Since Apple purchased the company, there has understandably been speculation that it would one day become a part of iTunes and continue to offer a streaming service, however, we’re yet to see anything take shape.

Content streaming to iOS devices is certainly something I think we can expect to see from Apple soon, whether it’s integrated into MobileMe or part of iTunes. As a leader in the digital music industry and a company famous for being at the forefront of incredible new products and services, I’m quite surprised they haven’t already made a streaming service available.

With all the fuss surrounding Apple’s new line of MacBook Pros and the first developer preview of OS X Lion today, there was another little bit of news that you may not have noticed. As of February 24th, Apple has discontinued its boxed MobileMe packs, igniting new rumors that the company will introduce a free or tiered version of the service imminently.

The screenshots below were published by 9to5 Mac earlier today, and are taken from Apple Retail showing that both the single and family packs of MobileMe are ‘end of life’ as of today along with the previous-generation MacBook Pros.

A announcement about Apple’s plans for MobileMe is expected on March 2nd when the company will unveil its second-generation iPad. Many believe the service will be available for free, with possible paid subscriptions for more storage space and other add-ons.

If you haven’t already purchased a MobileMe subscription, we’d strongly advise you to hold out until an official Apple announcement.

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) shareholder meetings are always great for finding out little bits of interesting information, and the one that took place today was no exception. According to attendees AppleInsider, Apple informed shareholders that the new data center the company recently finished construction on in North Carolina will support both iTunes and MobileMe services.

At 500,000 square feet, rumours have been rife since construction began as to what the new data center could be used for. Suggestions that Apple was working on a streaming, subscription model for iTunes made sense, as did claims that MobileMe was to drop its existing $99 price tag. Both possibilities would lead to increased data running through the Apple servers but we’re still no nearer to knowing just what the new facility will actually be used for.

Speculation will obviosuly continue now Apple has confirmed the center will house both iTunes and MobileMe services, though it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the whole thing could just be as mundane as needing more room for all those HD movies our Apple TVs stream.

Fingers crossed it’s more than that!

Despite recent reports that suggest Apple is working on a smaller version of its iPhone, “people briefed on Apple’s plans” have told the New York Times that although the company is looking into offering a cheaper model of the device, it will not be smaller than the current size. One source said that the company is hard at work on the next-generation Apple smartphone and that it will be similar in size to the iPhone 4, and another confirmed there wouldn’t be a smaller device, because:

A smaller device would not necessarily be much cheaper to manufacture and because it would be more difficult to operate.

One source, who is direct contact with Apple, also added that the company doesn’t want developers to have to rewrite their applications. This is something we pointed out in an earlier article regarding the smaller device – due to its smaller screen, and probable slower processor, current App Store apps and games would not be compatible.

The Times article cites a senior Apple executive who said making multiple iPhone models would not make sense for the company. During the private meeting the executive also confirmed that the company would continue to sell previous-generation devices at a discounted price.

It is believed that Apple is developing a less expensive iPhone in an attempt to compete with popular low-cost Android devices. Piper Jaffray, an analyst of Gene Munster. Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, believes a cheaper iPhone available without a contract is critical to Apple’s growth overseas:

If they are going to be a player in the global market they have to have a prepaid option.

One of the Times‘ sources also spilled some beans on the work Apple is doing to improve its MobileMe service, which many subscribers have been unsatisfied with for a while. It seems we could see a free, “more versatile” version of the service that would allow users to wirelessly sync data, including media, across all of their Apple devices. This ties in with rumors that the cheaper iPhone will not feature any physical storage, and that all of its data will be pulled from ‘the cloud.’

{via AppleInsider}

The rumor mills are in full swing now that the subject of free MobileMe and the “iPhone Nano” have hit the mainstream press (again). Particularly because of hints appearing in the Wall Street Journal; as that is considered one of the conduits that Apple uses to feed reliable teaser information to the public.

Briefly, it seems that a reliable set of sources have leaked the information that Apple is working on at least one idea for a smaller iPhone; the “iPhone Nano”. The “Nano” will either look like a screen from the current iPhone 4, but with the top and bottom surround cut down like an iPad, so that the entire device just looks like an iPhone screen – or small iPad. Or it will be tapered like the MacBook Air, but the same height as the iPhone 4. This is all depending on which rumour site you believe, or mockup you have seen. Nothing is confirmed yet.

Since that rumour hit the internet, and percolated around for a while, a few other ideas and rumours have popped up. One is the recurring rumour that MobileMe will become free. Remember that one?

Another is that the “iPhone Nano” will come without RAM! Which is patently stupid as any device must have some RAM. But the idea here is that MobileMe and Apple’s server farm will stream content to these devices real time; hence they won’t require much on board storage. And most likely not be able to install apps? That seems an unlikely strategic decision from a company like Apple.

Apple is certainly planning something big with its server complex in the US. But there are now so many projects attributed to it, it seems that it might be overworked already from day one. It is likely that Apple is simply preparing for more and more digital downloads to always-on internet mobile devices, and all the content they hope we’d like to buy in the future. And perhaps, just perhaps they might start throwing “MobileMe Lite” packages our way for those that want to drop one or two features for a free taste of some of MobileMe.

Whilst it’s likely that Apple are working on a smaller, cheaper phone to rival the smaller, cheaper Android handsets out there. It is still anybodies guess if Apple will actually release one. But if the WSJ’s source is correct then it is going to hit this year alongside the iPhone 5. I know my wife would quite like one if they do.

As for the rest of the stuff about less RAM, and free MobileMe. Well, anything is possible. But what is less RAM these days? 16GB thumb drives are around $16.00 at retail today. And Apple has the best terms available to it for buying Flash storage. It seems very unlikely that the “iPhone Nano” will come with a crippling small memory capacity – and without the ability to store at least some content of its own.

MobileMe being free is a favourite rumour. But all that has been said about MobileMe this year so far is that “it’s going to get much better”. And that is in an email from Steve Jobs himself.

So what do you think? “iPhone Nano”, never gonna happen? Or have you ordered yours already? Have your say in the comments…

Those that hate MobileMe quote its inflated price for features which can be obtained for free elsewhere on the web… from you know who. And quite often those that actually use MobileMe agree with that assessment and even add that the service is slow, unreliable and buggy.

And yet, many of us, myself included still use the service, and pay handsomely for it. Despite “Find My iPhone”, one of MobileMe’s most coveted features, being free now.

According to Mr Jobs MobileMe is set to “get a lot better in 2011″. This could just be Steve hyperbole, or even a fake email exchange; Steve’s PR have denied a few emails have come from him recently. But assuming it is true, Jobs is most likely referring to Apple’s new Data Centre coming online next year, and a host of new features, and better infrastructure being brought to bare on our $99 a year White Elephant.

Are you excited to see MobileMe get some love from Apple? Or have you heard it all before? Have your say in the comments.

{MacRumors}

Free MobileMe Service

In the last 12 months I think at least twice the discussion of MobileMe becoming a free service has been brought up here at Touch Reviews (maybe even by me) and elsewhere in the media. If I don’t hear the rumour at least once a year I am surprised.

But, just like the iPhone, if we all talk about it enough, perhaps one day it will become true!

Apple doesn’t often give anything away free. And certainly not normally without losing some kind of lawsuit somewhere anyway! But it has to be said that there are increasing numbers of clues popping up both online and in recent Beta iOS builds that give this rumour some credence again.

Earlier “sightings” of options in iOS that allow users to create a “free” AppleID are a little bit of a red herring. It has always been possible to have a “free” Apple ID. In fact my personal Apple ID is used for any number of services from Apple. And if I cancelled MobileMe I would still need one.

I have personally seen some fairly strange package descriptions in my MobileMe account panel over the years when I have renewed. One year I had a “Complimentary Package” even though I had paid in full for it. And I have in fact even been gifted a year by Apple before now. On that occasion my annual package was still listed as a normal paid package though. So Apple does have, and already has experimented with different package designations for MobileMe internally.

MacRumous have uncovered some curious messages hidden inside system files of iOS which tend to suggest that Apple are building the possibility of dealing with free “MobileMe” accounts into their mobile OS. This is a little different from the free AppleID rumour, because the messages specifically mention a “free MobileMe service” in several of their strings.

Some people think Apple are going to make a limited amount of MobileMe’s functionality available to all. And that is possible.

In fact that certainly seems the case from one of the messages also found inside iOS 4.2..

This Apple ID cannot be used for MobileMe Mail, but you can use it for other MobileMe services.

Some see this as perhaps pointing to the syncing services that come as part of MobileMe being made free for all users.

Another option is that Apple will give 12 months subscription to MobileMe away with certain new products. This would make great sense from Apple’s point of view. MobileMe is an overpriced service, for what it actually delivers, and is being rapidly made to look more and more expensive by rival free services from other service providers. Like Google and the syncing service provided by them with Android OS.

To Apple, though, MobileMe is still a revenue stream, and a service which costs them money to provide. So still technically being able to provide it to customers with a dollar value attached to it might be important to Apple’s esteem and their bottom line. Specifically because if you only get a free 12 month MobileMe subscription with a new iPhone, iPad or Mac then you are going to be much more likely to buy at last one new product from Apple each year.

What do you think? Free for all? Or free with a catch? Or not free at all? Have your say in the comments!

Apple updated their MobileMe app in early July, and included in the update was a revision to the MobileMe service which adds the ability to “Play audio from your iDisk while using another app”.

The feature is very basic at the moment, as it doesn’t allow traditional iTunes syncing, cover art or playlists. But if you stop and think for a minute it kind of gives us a hint to Apple’s future plans.

It also kind of means that MobileMe is not going to be free anytime soon…

Have you tried playing music from your iDisk? Let us know about it in the comments…

MobileMe Gallery is a free app which enables members of MobileMe service to view pictures on their iDevice.

Features

— View your entire gallery including password protected and hidden albums
— Flick through photos and pinch to zoom in for more detail
— Rotate iPhone to see photos in landscape
— View your friends’ gallery photos and movies
— Access previously viewed photos when offline
— Easily share a link to an album from iPhone

iPad users would still need to use the same gallery app which can be scaled up since it is not a universal app as yet.

This service is particularly handy if you lose your iPhone down the back of the sofa, or even if it is stolen. People have reportedly caught iPhone thieves using “Find My iPhone” on MobileMe. It is also possible to remote wipe an iPhone using this service.

Apple have been busy releasing a slew of Apps for the iPhone in recent days. We reported last week on Apple’s iPhone app that allows Developers to track their app sales on the move. We also reported on Apple’s iPhone app for scheduling Genius Bar appointments, and ordering equipment.

Today Apple have realised a Universal “Find My iPhone” app which will work on any iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Presumably if you lose your iDevice you can use a friends, or if you are incredibly spoilt your “other” iDevice to find your lost one! It is then possible to “Remote Lock”, or “Remote Wipe” it.

It is unclear if looking for your current iPhone using the “Find My iPhone” app on that very iPhone is likely to crash the internet, or open up a wormhole! We suspect not. But it would be fun to try!

Do you think an app on an iPhone for finding your iPhone is a strange idea? Let us know in the comments?

Last month we reported that Apple’s MobileMe service could soon be free and today some MobileMe users are reporting a change in their ‘Account Type’.

If you are a MobileMe user you might notice a change in your preference panel under account status tab. The account status now says ‘Full Member’ which suggests that Apple might be looking at offering some free MobileMe services.

Apple’s WWDC 2010 kicks start on June 07 and it will be interesting to see if Steve Jobs will annoucne the new free MobileMe service during his opening keynote.