MobileMe Online Only Now, Free Subscription Anticipated

A person reportedly on Apple’s payroll has leaked a screenshot showing that MobileMe will be exclusively available as an online service, and likely a free one too, should recent rumors prove accurate.

The person, an Apple Genius, leaked the image displayed to the left, indicating that MobileMe is online-only now.

An announcement regarding the new MobileMe is expected to drop on Wednesday, alongside the highly-anticipated iPad 2 unveiling.

Apple is known to have discontinued boxed copies of MobileMe subscriptions, with the company rumored to be moving the entire service to its North Carolina data center, which is expected to become operational any moment now.

The cloud-based service, currently charging customers $99 a year, hasn’t been very successful.

Apple currently advertises MobileMe as being able to “[keep] your mail, contacts, and calendar information in the cloud and uses push technology to keep everything in sync across your iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, and the web automatically."

"So no matter where you go or which device you use, all your information is up to date — no docking required,” reads the tech giant's advertising material.

Retail staffers going on record to talk about the activity inside the company’s retail stores have suggested that Apple is having trouble selling customers on the annual, subscription-based service.

Many industry sources have since alleged that Apple is seriously considering making the service free, while also expanding its features.

One of these new features is already confirmed, with Apple notifying MobileMe users that the upgrade to the new Calendar service is going live on May 5.

The new MobileMe calendar app includes what Apple calls “the best calendar service for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.”

It brings key benefits, like calendar sharing and publishing (including group publishing), event invitations with RSVPs, and a completely new web application.

An upgraded version of the entire suite of cloud-based services is expected to allow users to store music, photos and files online and have them accessible on all their devices.