Two days ahead of its much-ballyhooed 3G iPhone launch, Apple is rolling out its new Internet service, MobileMe, Wednesday night. However, Apple said .Mac users won"t be able to access many of the online services between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m. Pacific Time Wednesday night while it tweaks the new service, with the exception of .Mac Mail accessed via a desktop application, iPhone or iPod touch.
Apple describes MobileMe as "Exchange for the rest of us." It replaces the .Mac online service that enabled users to check e-mail, publish Web sites and sync personal information such as e-mail, calendars and bookmarks. MobileMe stores e-mails, calendars and a picture gallery on an online server—or "cloud"—and pushes them down to an iPhone, iPod touch, Mac and PC. When changes are made on one device, the cloud automatically updates the other devices.