Apple Launches iCloud Beta [PICS]




Apple has unveiled the beta for iCloud, the company’s new suite of media streaming and cloud-based services.

The new beta, which is available to all users with an Apple ID, features web-based version of Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Find my iPhone and iWork. They are accessible if you visit iCloud.com while using iOS 5 (available to Apple developers) or Mac OS X Lion. It does not include Apple’s cloud music services, including iTunes Match.

Update: Some of our readers are having trouble accessing iCloud with Lion.

Apple also unveiled the pricing structure for iCloud. The first 5 GB of storage on the service are free. An additional 10 GB will cost $20, 20 GB will cost $40 and 5 0GB will retail for $100. It’s more expensive than Amazon Cloud Drive, which gives 20 GB of space for $20 and lets users store an unlimited amount of music for free.

We’re playing around with the iCloud beta now, and while we’ll have more to report, our initial conclusion is that the iCloud beta is a modified version of MobileMe. It includes similar interfaces, which isn’t a surprise. The addition of iWork support is a welcomed addition though, as is the simplistic and universal interface for all of Apple’s cloud services.

We’ve taken some screenshots of the beta and embedded them below. Check them out, and let us know what you think of the iCloud beta in the comments.

Mashable reporter Christina Warren contributed to this report.

iCloud Beta Login Screen

This is the login screen for the iCloud beta.

iCloud Icons

iCloud’s beta includes Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Find My iPhone and iWork.

iCloud Contacts

This is the interface for contacts.

iCloud Calendar

This is the interface for calendar.

iCloud Mail

You need an @me.com email address to use iCloud Mail.

iCloud Keynote

This is the opening screen for Keynote in iCloud.

iCloud Numbers

This is the opening screen for Numbers in iCloud.

iCloud Pages

This is the opening screen for Pages in iCloud.

iCloud for Mac OS X

This is the iCloud icon for the Mac OS X version.

Install iCloud Screen

This is the first screen you’ll see when you attempt to install iCloud for Mac OS x lion

More About: apple, icloud, iOS, itunes, iwork, mac os x, mac os x lion, mobileme

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