As a consumer, I wouldn't pay for this service.

As a businessman, I would have tacked it on to the (already overpriced) iphone data plan. Simple marketing is that people will get more excited about an included service than an add-on, and with the price as high as it is already they could have gotten away with tacking on an additional $5/month to EVERY iphone data plan and make a lot more money than the $99/year mobile me due to sheer volume. It would be a great marketing hook and probably even move more iphones off the shelf (not that they're just sitting there now).

I subscribe to MobileMe. My MacBook at home, my iPod Touch (no ATT service in my area so no iPhone) and my iBook at work all synch without my attention. MobileMe takes care of synching my mail, contacts, notes, appointments, to do lists and files as well as making them available online in one place.

My time has value, and I will gladly pay $8.25 a month for one service that takes care of keeping all my devices on the same page and give me access to the info on the web without me having to remember to click something before I leave a location.

The service is not perfect. To Do does not synch with my Touch, and I have had mixed success getting MobileMe to work on a PC. Notes do not synch on my Touch until I plug it into my MacBook. But until something better comes along I will keep renewing my subscription.

Everybody has a skewed perception of how much technology infrastructure costs now because of google.
It seems like everybody has the argument "because google is free and has the same features apple must be overcharging"
but this is not valid argument.

The truth is, technology is expensive. And i am extremely surprised apple can offer mobileme as cheap as they do.
The only reason google is free is because google is datamining your information.
With google you aren't getting a "Free" service. With google YOU ARE the product.
I don't know about you, but I'm going to steer clear of "Free" services.