Google Chrome, Windows announcement and MobileMe

07.09.09 - 9 a.m.

This isn't the first time I've written about MobileMe and what Apple needs to do to stand out from the crowd, but based on everything that's happened in the past few days, Apple needs to get a move on.

Let's recap.

Google announced it's working on Chrome OS, which will end up being an operating system that it says will be put in netbooks sometime in 2010. They said that the Chrome OS will be better suited for netbooks than Android, even though some netbooks are expected to utilize Android at some point soon.

Then, there's rumblings from sources that I don't necessarily trust and care much for talking about some sort of announcement from Microsoft on Monday that could compete with the Chrome project. Some sites have suggested that Windows 7 might be a small step before something ridiculously big from Microsoft. Yada, yada, yada.

Enter what we care about most here, Apple and the iPhone and, in this case, MobileMe. Chrome is all about having everything at your disposal. The cloud, as we've come to know it. Google hints that Chrome users won't have to wait for a computer to boot up - that everything will be available instantly and wherever you are.

Google is good at making sure you can access what you need on the go, even if it doesn't bring push to the iPhone and give the iPhone as much love as some other devices. But it knows what it's doing. Apple has tried to make great strides with MobileMe, and after some of the big problems it had after the .mac transition was complete, the service has really become pretty decent. It's mostly reliable, it's usually speedy and it offers the ability to do cool things such as find a lost iPhone.

And Apple has been talking recently about a server farm in North Carolina - so expansion is clearly always at the forefront of everything they do and tech companies do in general. But Apple needs to be thinking ahead - and I'm not saying they aren't - but they really need to be thinking about the cloud.

Here's an example that I think is relevant.

Take iWeb ... Apple's entry-level product for creating Web sites. I would love to use it to create a blog, however, it does me no good to edit it when I'm away from my home computer that has iWeb installed. I always said that I didn't understand why there was no Web-based component of iWeb.

Well, in the future, everything is going to have to be Web based. I'm not the first one to write that. Soon, the norm will be taking everything we do everywhere we go. The days of us oooh and ahhhing when a contact syncs immediately between MobileMe and our iPhone will be a thing of the past and it will be expected.

But it goes so far beyond there. Folks want to be able to turn on their machines wherever they are and see what they want to see and need wherever they are. The entire cloud philosophy is an amazing thing and while I'm sure Apple is working toward a complete cloud world, they need to hurry. Google is closing in and if there's one company that I worry about being true competition for Apple, it's Google.

Apple and Google live together now, happily, but I don't always see it being that way. Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO and Apple boardmember is going to eventually have to leave the Apple board, I would think, because of the conflict of interest that will present itself with a separate operating system.

I'm not breaking news here ... I'm simply stating that Apple needs to turn MobileMe from something cool that a lot of people have to something amazing that everyone has and can't be without. They have to start by knocking some serious coin off the price - $99 doesn't work. It needs to be cheaper. Much cheaper. It needs to be bundled with hardware (Macs, iPhones, etc.). Everyone needs to use it. And everyone needs to start using it now.

I believe that Apple has invested way too much in MobileMe to have anything less planned. But there has to be more.

I want to see the end of wired syncs with the iPhone. I want Web-based versions of iTunes and iPhoto -- everything the same wherever we are. And while I understand that takes time and is likely down the road anyhow, Apple needs to beat Google to the punch.

Again, maybe it's stating the obvious, but reading all about Chrome really has me thinking about it.

Oh, and I'll mention this too ... I said this to a co-worker today.

You heard it here first ... I think Google's announcement is the beginning of the end of the power Microsoft holds on the computing industry. I can actually see a day when Google and Apple beat Microsoft in the OS wars. I really believe what's needed to make that happen has already started.

What do you think? The comments are open, but I respond faster these days on Twitter.

Thanks for calling.