Backup your data to the cloud: A complete guide

Essentially MobileMe is Apple's backup service, though it's quirkier than those mentioned thus far. Quirky, because it's not so bothered about backing up your hard drive to the cloud, as storing the most important and most useful bits of it and making them available to you wherever you are.

Here's what it does. First, it takes all your contacts and their associated details, plus your email and your entire calendar, and stores it all in the cloud for access across a Mac, an iPhone and/or a PC. Change any details on one platform and it's synced instantly to all other devices over the air, automatically. And any email you receive from the @me.com email address you're given will be pushed to your devices. This is similar to how the BlackBerry email service works.

But it also offers an online repository for your files -- the iDisk -- which functions as a network hard drive just like Jungle Disk. It's essentially an online drop box you can use to share files with friends, rather than a true backup service. You also get a pretty slick Web-based gallery for sharing photos, and this is built into iLife's iPhoto app on the Mac for one-click uploads. This all costs £59 a year for 20GB of combined storage (this includes all saved email, contacts, photos and any uploaded files stored and shared via iDisk).

How good is it?

It's a weird one, this. The iPhone supports Microsoft Exchange, and you may have Outlook installed at work and Entourage at home. If so, you probably already have a complete list of contacts, email and calendar synced over the air, and there's little point to using MobileMe.

But where the service comes into its own is when you don't use Exchange for personal use. Then, you'll get an email address -- yourname@me.com, for example -- and all mail is pushed to your iPhone and to your Mac's Mail app. Contacts on your iPhone and those in OS X's Address Book are kept in sync over the air, regardless of whether you dock your iPhone, and the same goes for calendars on the iPhone and in iCal. A well-designed desktop-like Web interface is available at Me.com for browsing all this data as it looks on OS X.

As a service it works beautifully, just as advertised. It's a great Exchange-like experience, but for personal stuff rather than business. As is often the case with Apple, however, the benefits are greatest when you stay inside the pre-built walls. So don't use Gmail for email, use MobileMe's address. Don't use your Nokia's contacts list, get an iPhone and use that. And for that reason the service once again proves its worth most if you're on a Mac, with an iPhone, and perhaps a PC you're forced to use at the office, for which you can use Me.com's Web interface.

The online file storage is a bonus, as is MobileMe's little online photo-gallery app. But it's no substitute for having a complete backup via something like Mozy as well, because MobileMe is more about backing up communication and contacts than spreadsheets, your Sims 3 saved games and iTunes library file. Be aware as well that you're limited to a 200GB per month data transfer limit. 

The ideal user? 

Let's be honest, it's Mac users who own an iPhone and don't -- or can't -- use Microsoft Exchange. The ideal user will want push email, an online drop box for backing up and sharing photos, and for all that information to be available on their Mac at home, PC at work and iPhone on the road.