Apple Confirms iCloud Web Apps for Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Find My iPhone

[niallstarling]

Excellent idea. I would be happy to pay apple for galleries (and more storage). It would be crazy to not offer this

What I think is weird is that Apple are dropping the features of MobileMe that allows you to share things with others - Galleries, iWeb, iDisc. Photo streaming is the last 1000 photos, so not so useful to share certain photos. iCloud is getting data to all devices, with no known features to allow public sharing.

Perhaps it comes, but seems an odd thing to drop.

 

[JohnDoe98]

What isn't clear is if they are dropping those features permanently. They claim those features will not be part of icloud this fall. Will they be back later this year, before june 2012?

 

[chadley_chad]

Boooooooooooo!

Nice one Apple, take away the only two things that made me pay for mobile me in the first place (iWeb and galleries).

Lack of support for user do it yourself creative stuff (like iWeb, FCP etc) shows Apple either thinks we're all dummies and/or doesn't so wants to control us anyway.

The loss of passion for Apple, already going down, just started going down faster!

Hopefully when Jobs departs we'll see some more creativity ... because product aesthetics aside, Apple lost the innovative, cutting edge new to market ideas a long time ago!

 

[Ed91]

I just found his tweets and its odd the Apple PR would tell him one thing, and then today announce something different. They could have said their usual "No Comment" remark instead of lying to Josh.

Image

The wording doesn't really tell us anything that goes against what Josh said..

Web access to iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Find My iPhone will be available at icloud.com this fall.

It's already known that MobileMe services are set to continue until mid 2012. The statement Apple made does nothing to assure the future of the web clients beyond MobileMe.

That said, I'm probably reading too much into this.

 

[shervieux]

Anyone know of a reliable and reputable web host? I switched to MobileMe because of shady business practices by 1and1—not something I'd like to repeat. I don't need anything fancy—just ad-free, really.

this one was suggested to me by some pastors and friends in the ministry for their music. http://hostexcellence.com They are out of Nashville, TN.

So far no problems and the people who suggested it said they never experienced any significant down times and are easy to work with.

Yeah it is a shame about MobileMe hosting. I am also in the process of evaluating Sandvox for design. So far what I like about Sandvox is if you switch themes, your pages do not become distorted stacking information on top of each other. I have 2 websites. 1 is for my business, one for my ministry. I am looking at wordpress for my ministry one, as I may only just keep the blogs.

Shame about Gallery too. I am looking into SmugMug. At least with SmugMug, they provide better security against people just copying your pics and you can set a margin if anyone wants to buy (so you make a profit). SmugMug also has unlimited storage and the PRO account offers SmugVault that allows you to upload and store your RAW, DNG, and PSD file types as a backup. No one can access your SmugVault except you.

 

[twoodcc]

not really surprised here. i'm ok with this

 

[shervieux]

This is becoming a sad day...

This is becoming a sad day.

1. goodbye Galleries
2. goodbye iDisk
3. goodbye web hosting.
4. Goodbye web interface when you are at another location and do not have your ipad or laptop with you and there are only windows applications around.
5. Lion and new iWork hinting at goodbye file structures and all documents will be stored within the application. So much for grouping all docs by project (emails, word docs, spreadsheets, other documents from other apps).
6. App Store only software (if they get rid of file structures then 3rd party software not on the app store may become the thing of the past). This is not happening YET. However while Jobs said you can still have 3rd party software installed the traditional way; he did say that file structures are going to go away eventually.

What is even more hinting at Apple becoming more closed environment is developers also now offering Windows applications for once only mac apps (ie Mariner Software is now in beta with Paperless for Windows - just to name one).

I am surprised how many schools are going back to Windows software for their video editing / photo, broadcasting, desktop publishing, etc. Reason - they can get custom high end machines (32 cores, 60gb ram) for less or about the same as a super high end Mac Pro. Plus there is some real nice apps that came out that blow away what is on the mac.

I said I would remain on Apple (now that I am Apple only since 2008) unless they started doing stupid things. My Windows fanboys are pointing out some nice things in 7 and those who are beta'ing 8 have really shown me some nice stuff.

Not so sure I am liking the future. I am also one who does not trust this cloud for security reasons.

Also I no longer work with iphoto - publishing to FB does not work all the time, even with the latest updates; iphoto lost some of my photos and now I only have a thumbnail. I did not notice it until my older backups in time machine were already over written.

One other thing that ticks me off, is some of the software no longer works with the latest Snow Leopard Patch. I tried to re-install and it said "Not compatible with this operating system" This was an older version of Aperture and Final Cut, but not that old that would warrant me to upgrade just yet (budget).

 

[swissmann]

Anyone know of a good alternative to the iWeb app?

I've used Rapid Weaver a bit (but not in the last 5 years or so). I see some limitations.
http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/overview/
I've looked at sandvox which looks a lot like iWeb. I haven't used it though yet.
http://www.karelia.com/sandvox/
I didn't use either of these because iWeb was so easy.

Regarding other posts. I have used SmugMug and overall I liked them. I don't use them anymore because my sales were low and Mobile Me worked great.

I've dabbled in using Hype http://www.tumultco.com/hype/ which seems brilliant at what it does with a lot of room for growth.

Of course I've done old school layered photoshop files, slicing it up, and bringing it into dreamweaver but this is kind of a slow and painful process.

I was hoping that iCloud would beef up their web hosting features and that iWeb would follow suit. Keep the easy design process. Add in auto HTML 5 coding. Have some templates for common web forms. Link together with Filemaker for online forms. Support things like PHP. Automatically optimizes the site for when an iPhone looks at it and gives a mobile alternative.

I just don't see a solution out there that says just put it together visually and the program takes care of all the nitty gritty.

I guess things like facebook are too big and even though limiting for what I would like to do fit most people's needs. Seems like Apple is throwing in the towel on this one.

Thanks for all the suggestions on web hosting sites and other solutions. This is what I got from you so far:
http://www.site5.com/
http://www.squarespace.com/
http://www.hostgator.com/
http://www.dropbox.com/
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/

 

[birch25]

Exactly mine and many others situation summed up.


I do not understand how Apple are abandoning a paid service that many customers are happy and willing to pay, for a 'free' service without the option at least for upgradeable tiered service. Penalise those that are giving us money, to offer a somewhat dumbed down service to those that are not. How is this business sense is beyond me.

They are abandoning a product that most people do not like. The percentage of Mac users who have a MobileMe subscription is tiny. Apple is creating a new service (built on top of some of MobileMe's better features) that they expect to draw in more people. If iCloud is a hit, Apple will sell more Macs, iPads, iPhones and iPods which will gain them more money as well.

It's also certain that iCloud will be updated to include new features in the future. I would fully expect them to implement some of the lost features. They're just not there yet.

 

[mazurka]

Such a valuable app

I wish they would keep iWeb publishing.

So do I. Though I use an external host, hundreds of thousands of small businesses must be heavily reliant on the app itself, which now looks like it won't be updated. Such a shame. Just the thought of going back to Dreamweaver gives me a headache.

 

[pmz]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/9A5248d Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm surprised at some of the comments here, I thought Apple made it pretty clear iCloud was less about 'cloud storage' and more about 'cloud syncing'

The point if iCloud is to ensure all your devices, including iOS, Mac and PC devices are all perfectly in sync. All of the time. Not provide online storage so you can access data from your devices anywhere.

Because of this, you won't need cloud storage because all your content will be available on your devices.

There is no need for the Gallery feature because your photos will already be available on your devices. Why view them over the net when it's quicker and easier to view them directly from your device?

Personally, I think this is the safer, better way of approaching 'cloud' services.

You obviously don't get it.

People are pissed, for good reason. I'm one of them. iCloud is fine, but so far it's worse than MobileMe and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather pay for MobileMe than have iclod for free.

I use iDisk and Gallery because they're unique and insanely useful. So do hundreds of thousands of others.

Just deleting our $&@% is really, really $&@%#€.

 

[pmz]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/9A5248d Safari/6533.18.5)

This is becoming a sad day.

1. goodbye Galleries
2. goodbye iDisk
3. goodbye web hosting.
4. Goodbye web interface when you are at another location and do not have your ipad or laptop with you and there are only windows applications around.
5. Lion and new iWork hinting at goodbye file structures and all documents will be stored within the application. So much for grouping all docs by project (emails, word docs, spreadsheets, other documents from other apps).
6. App Store only software (if they get rid of file structures then 3rd party software not on the app store may become the thing of the past). This is not happening YET. However while Jobs said you can still have 3rd party software installed the traditional way; he did say that file structures are going to go away eventually.

What is even more hinting at Apple becoming more closed environment is developers also now offering Windows applications for once only mac apps (ie Mariner Software is now in beta with Paperless for Windows - just to name one).

I am surprised how many schools are going back to Windows software for their video editing / photo, broadcasting, desktop publishing, etc. Reason - they can get custom high end machines (32 cores, 60gb ram) for less or about the same as a super high end Mac Pro. Plus there is some real nice apps that came out that blow away what is on the mac.

I said I would remain on Apple (now that I am Apple only since 2008) unless they started doing stupid things. My Windows fanboys are pointing out some nice things in 7 and those who are beta'ing 8 have really shown me some nice stuff.

Not so sure I am liking the future. I am also one who does not trust this cloud for security reasons.

Also I no longer work with iphoto - publishing to FB does not work all the time, even with the latest updates; iphoto lost some of my photos and now I only have a thumbnail. I did not notice it until my older backups in time machine were already over written.

One other thing that ticks me off, is some of the software no longer works with the latest Snow Leopard Patch. I tried to re-install and it said "Not compatible with this operating system" This was an older version of Aperture and Final Cut, but not that old that would warrant me to upgrade just yet (budget).

Honestly you sound like you have no idea what you're doing, and there's not a damn thing in windows 7 or 8 even remotely interesting. It's garbage.

iPhoto "deleted" some photos? Lol guess again.

 

[scuac]

So do I. Though I use an external host, hundreds of thousands of small businesses must be heavily reliant on the app itself, which now looks like it won't be updated. Such a shame. Just the thought of going back to Dreamweaver gives me a headache.

Ok, I might be not reading the news correctly, but I have seen many comments here (including the one I am quoting) that seem to imply that Apple is doing away with the iWeb application (the one that comes with iLife). I have not found this in any Apple announcement, only that the iWeb publishing service from MobileMe is being canceled.

Did Apple actually say they are discontinuing the iWeb app?

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Well that Apple Doc just creates more questions?!

I use iDisk to host my website. Apparently iDisk won't be available anymore yet I can use iDisk "through" June 2012. What the hell does 'through' mean? Through to, through and beyond, through till the end, through what? If you go 'through' something you go beyond that point. What is it Apple. iDisk or no iDisk?

They really do piss me off at times!

 

[dlsife]

I'll bet there's some form of Galleries that makes it into the final product. I have a hard time believing that they'll abandon that outright.

 

[steadysignal]

exactly what i just wanted to ask - what about aliases, **** i switched 2 months ago from gmail all of my email addresses to mobileme. don't really want to go back to google life w/o them has been nice so far

and should continue to be.

keep your data off their servers as best you can...

 

[osxhero]

Can't wait to move to iCloud.

 

[hitekalex]

I'll bet there's some form of Galleries that makes it into the final product. I have a hard time believing that they'll abandon that outright.

I believe it. These days, most people share their photos on social media (Facebook), and there is always Flickr and Picasa for 'heavy duty' sharing. I am sure Apple has done their research and concluded that the amount of people using MM Gallery is miniscule.

 

[Simon2206]

Is the Notes app included?

Does anyone know if iCloud will include syncing of the Notes app I have this switched on with the MobileMe account and it's great for sharing shopping lists and other random notes between mine and my wife's iPhones !!

 

[bergmef]

Anyone use smugmug? That's who I'm looking at for a replacement to galleries.

 

[niallstarling]

No Galleries, No iWeb

Ok, I might be not reading the news correctly, but I have seen many comments here (including the one I am quoting) that seem to imply that Apple is doing away with the iWeb application (the one that comes with iLife). I have not found this in any Apple announcement, only that the iWeb publishing service from MobileMe is being canceled.

Did Apple actually say they are discontinuing the iWeb app?

Fromn the Aperture site on apple.com it seems clear they are not continuing Galleries:

"Export. Easy.
When you’re ready to share your photos, you can send them to Flickr or Facebook with a couple of clicks. Or take advantage of a variety of export plug-ins to upload photos directly to sites including SmugMug, iStockphoto, and PhotoShelter. Because Aperture is integrated with the Mac OS X Media Browser, you can easily include photos from your library in iLife or iWork documents. Or make them “to go” by syncing them to your iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV"

MobileMe and Galleries references taken out. No reference at all to iCloud

Also, they didn't update iWeb at all last time, so safe to say it's going...

 

[scuac]

Fromn the Aperture site on apple.com it seems clear they are not continuing Galleries:

"Export. Easy.
When you’re ready to share your photos, you can send them to Flickr or Facebook with a couple of clicks. Or take advantage of a variety of export plug-ins to upload photos directly to sites including SmugMug, iStockphoto, and PhotoShelter. Because Aperture is integrated with the Mac OS X Media Browser, you can easily include photos from your library in iLife or iWork documents. Or make them “to go” by syncing them to your iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV"

MobileMe and Galleries references taken out. No reference at all to iCloud

Also, they didn't update iWeb at all last time, so safe to say it's going...

Sorry but I don't see how any of the above relates to the iWeb application going away. That is all about the MobileMe services going away. And if you mean they didn't update iWeb on the last iLife cycle, they also didn't update iDVD, is that also going away?

 

[ilp]

Gosh-I'm also going to miss gallery. So simple and elegant.

I'm both sad and bugged.

I'm going to miss Gallery as well, though I stopped using it two years ago, because I didn't want to keep paying $99 a year for MobileMe.

Gallery is an example of a well-done, easy, simple, elegant photo sharing. Flickr is an overcomplicated overengineered solution. Sadly, I switched to Flickr, but I'm looking for alternatives.

Apple really has an opportunity to set it a up notch in this space, and looks like it's not taking it.

 

[niallstarling]

Galleries

Sorry but I don't see how any of the above relates to the iWeb application going away. That is all about the MobileMe services going away. And if you mean they didn't update iWeb on the last iLife cycle, they also didn't update iDVD, is that also going away?

It didn't, I clearly said at the start of my post that the MobileMe Galleries are no longer quoted and that Apple are now saying you can share photos through 3rd parties. Pretty odd if they were to continue it through iCloud.

As for iWeb, the fact the are taking away hosting and lack of updates shows it not exactly loved by Apple. It could be argued that they have already dropped it as it can't be bought through the App Store. Maybe it won't be in the next boxset DVD too, time will tell.

And yes, same maybe for iDVD

 

[Boich]

Still think trying to sync all my music (40GB) and pics (80GB) not to mention films onto all my idevices is a non starter, and streaming isn't there yet either as even in London you can't always get access to the internet. Thats clearly where we are going.

Would it be easy (and secure) just to attach a spare harddrive to one of my macs and make it accessible online to replace iDisc? I have reasonable (10MB) upload speeds?