MobileMe update to revamp service pre-iPhone 4

A scheduled maintenance update for MobileMe this evening may bring about a series of upgrades timed to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 4 next week. The online service's beta webmail implementation is now expected to become official and to add push delivery at the same time. While push has already been present on the server side and on iOS devices, the update would represent its first obvious presence in the webmail client and a closer parity to Gmail, where it already exists.

The overall interface may get its own adjustment as the always-present, multi-icon toolbar may be condensed into a single switcher that expands to show all the available service options.

In tandem with the web service, Apple is also set to launch a native app for Find My iPhone, its recovery tool for lost or stolen iOS devices. The software would be free for MobileMe users and would have all the same controls, ranging from basic mapping to the options of pushing messages and remote wipes. It would follow on the heels of a slew of iOS apps like the official Apple Store app, but unlike the others would be universal and scale up to the iPad's larger dimensions.

Despite possible evidence, though, no clues have been given of previous rumors that MobileMe would become a free service. A change was purportedly coming as soon as WWDC but has so far gone unseen. The timing suggests either that the rumor was simply inaccurate or that Apple didn't want to introduce free access at the same time as it was launching new iPhone hardware. In connection to the rumor, speculation has maintained that Apple would drop the $99 yearly fee to thwart Google. [via Mac Rumors]

By Electronista Staff