me.com
It’s the rumored new name for Apple’s over-priced .mac service. I pony up the $99 every year to keep my .mac account active, mainly for the photo and video sharing features integrated into the iLife suite of apps. It’s not really worth it but it sure is convenient.
Gruber has been reporting on the new domain and all of the major rumor sites have been speculating major changes to the service.
What I’m hoping for is Apple’s entry into the social networking arena.
I know it sounds crazy to think that Apple would stoop so low as to join the ranks of MySpace but I’ve managed to convince myself that it could be a huge coupe for Apple. Here’s the logic behind my insanity:
It’s easy to publish from iLife. Imagine customizing your me.com page in iWeb instead of ghetto-hacking it like MySpace. Publishing images and videos from iLife are just a 1-click process. How about sending pics (and maybe even video) directly from your iPhone to your me.com page. It would be super easy. Taking it a step further, say you’re watching a podcast on your AppleTV and you want to tell the world about how amazingly awesome it is. A few clicks of the Apple Remote and it’s on your me.com page with the latest episode embedded and ready to watch. The possibilities are limitless.
Factor in the Apple/Google partnership and you’ll see all kinds of embeddable apps integrated into the service.
Some of these ideas are more realistic than others. Heck, you can even do some of them now with a little HTML & CSS knowledge.
So why would Apple want to get into this game? Easy, to sell Macs. We all know how hip and trendy Macs are these days, and their numbers are on an uptrend with no end in sight. If you want to be cool, you’ll have a me.com page. If you want a me.com page, you’ll need a Mac.
But maybe not. I could totally see Apple letting Windows users have access to most of the features mentioned above. They’ll fall in love with them and end up ditching their PC’s and coming over to the light side once they see how much easier it can be on the Mac.
Of course I could be completely off my rocker as usual. I guess we’ll find out in a week… the longest week EVER!
