Apple’s announcement at the WWDC was mainly of the 3G iPhone - an announcement that met somewhat lukewarm reception by fans and critics alike. Somewhat unexpected given Jobs’ ability to sell, perhaps it is open for dissection.

While a lot of people welcomed cloud computing capabilities, along with push email, addressbook and calendar features, common points of contention include:

• The price of the service. At 8.95 a month on top of the fees with the 2 year contract attached to the 199 USD iPhone, it seems a bit steep. Perhaps even counteracting the price drop announced.

• The wrapping of applications via the controversial FairPlay scheme, coupled with a centralized gateway to acquire the aforementioned is also a hot topic. With the slow but sure demise of DRM technologies, this may be a step in the wrong direction.

• While welcome to end users, enterprise implementations may be hindered by the fact that data is stored via Apple; some lament the lack of an implementation divorced from me.com.

It is not all for the worse, however. The MobileMe service has so far looked elegant, with features that are highly useful and intuitive - a stamp of Apple’s dedication to human interface guidelines, and implementations that just work.

This might also turn the gears towards a computing feature that is web-based. Recent developments in the IT industry suggest a return to its thin-client roots; where applications are accessed via a central mainframe, through transparent
browsers.

The hype’s temperature so far? No bangs, but large whimpers. However, critics do not doubt that the newly-announced MobileMe service will in fact sell; after all, we are all familiar with Apple’s track record at making products a commodity.