Why is Apple Changing .Mac to MobileMe?

This week at WWDC Apple announced the replacement for .Mac called MobileMe. With this change comes a new graphical UI on the web page, hooks for Windows and Mac users, and the new domain name(s). Apple has bought mobileme.com and me.com. If you are a current .Mac user you will be given a choice of keeping your current email address or migrating over to the new me.com address space. It is not clear what will happen to your current mac.com address should you choose to migrate. So, why did Apple make this change? Why not just release the new features on the old branding?

The answer is simple – target audience. I have been a .Mac subscriber since the day it was announced. I immediately grabbed my current .Mac email address and currently use it for iChat and for some email. Because my email address is so easy to guess it is inundated daily with so much spam that it is virtually useless for email — don’t bother emailing me there. Whenever I give someone my .Mac email address for iChat they immediately know that it is a “mac thing”. That immediately sets the target audience to just Mac users. By rebranding the product Apple can relaunch it and target the vast audience of users of iTunes. Those users can get all of the features of the new product line and not have a mac.

For me I plan to switch over to the new namespace when it becomes available next month even if it mean abandoning my current mac.com address.