It’s official: What stays and what goes from MobileMe to iCloud

It’s official: What stays and what goes from MobileMe to iCloud -

In case you were an existing MobileMe subscriber wondering what services will and won’t make it through the transition to iCloud (or you’re just curious), Apple has posted an official FAQ detailing exactly what will make the cut, and addressing what will happen to iWeb and other services that don’t.

As you can see from this checklist, iWeb publishing, Gallery and iDisk are all getting the axe. Apple has said that it will continue to support iWeb publishing, posting and viewing photos in MobileMe Gallery, and reading and writing to iDisk cloud storage through June 30, 2012 if you’re an existing customer, even if you choose to transition to iCloud before that cut-off date. If you’re looking around for a hosting alternative for your site, check out Geoffrey’s rundown of some of the options available.

Services you can’t take with you if you transition early include syncing of dashboard widgets, keychains, Dock items and System Preferences. You’ll have to remain a MobileMe user if you want to continue using these features, but they’ll also be shut off for everyone on June 30, 2012. Apple points out that while the services listed above are ending, iCloud brings new features not available in MobileMe, like iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, automatic downloads for purchased content, and cloud backup and restore.

Services that you can take with you — including Mail, Contacts, Calendar and Find My iPhone — will still be accessible via web apps after the transition to iCloud, Apple says, which is a nice plus for users who want to be able to access their info, email and contacts on devices they don’t own.

As someone who’s been using MobileMe since the service was first introduced, I can honestly say that I’ve only ever used a couple of the services being discontinued (Gallery and iDisk), including the sync options. Even the ones I did use, I used only sparingly, and not recently. I think Apple’s making the smart move here, by cutting the fat as it shifts the focus to the much more generally useful services coming with iCloud.

(Via TheAppleBlog.)