MobileMe: Apple unveils over-the-air push email, contacts, calendars

Continuing its run of exciting news today, Apple has announced MobileMe -- similar to Exchange, it's a service that allows email, contact and calendar items to be pushed over mobile networks. This means you don't have to manually check for new emails.

It won't just operate over-the-air, but it'll also be synced between iPhone, PC and Mac. So if someone sends you an email while you're out at a show or at a restaurant, it'll also be waiting for you at home on your home computer.

The app will work with Outlook on Windows, and with Mail, iCal and Address Book on OS X. An online counterpart was also announced -- Me.com -- that provides a Web 2.0-esque, "desktop-like environment", within a Web browser, encompassing services such as email, address books and photo albums, to which photos can be added over the air.

It'll cost £59 a year, including 20GB storage, or £89 for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. You can sign up for a free 60-day trial at Apple.com. If you're already a .Mac subscriber you'll be automatically upgraded.

To use it with an iPhone or iPod touch, you'll need the new iPhone 2.0 firmware and iTunes 7.7 or later. This will sync with a Mac with OS X 10.4.11 or later, or a PC with Windows Vista or XP, and Outlook 2003. MobileMe is accessible on the Web via IE7, Firefox 2 and Safari 3. -Nate Lanxon