A little bit under the radar, a new app has hit the App Store that's an exclusive to MobileMe subscribers. If you've decided to line Apple's coffers with an additional $100 per year for that fancy me.com email address and online storage, this might make you feel a little better about the money you spent. Not a lot better, but a little bit better.
What is the iDisk App and Why Do I Want It?
To date, there have been lots of offerings on the App Store to store and access files on your iPhone - some of which hook up to an external service (like SugarSync) and others that do not (like Air Sharing.) Most if not all of these nifty little apps will allow you to send, share, and view files of multiple types right through the interface. The iDisk app does this also, but it's free for MobileMe subscribers, and takes advantage of that 20GB of space Apple gives you.
How Does It Work?
Simple enough. Just download the "free" app from the App Store and run it. You'll be met with a screen prompting you for your MobileMe username and password; enter it. Then you'll be unleashed into the main interface.
At the main interface, you can navigate through the files and folders that are present on your iDisk. I felt that navigation was notably faster than sifting through my iDisk in the Finder on my desktop, which I thought was strange, but welcome. You can delete and add folders as well. You can view most file formats directly through the app, such as Word or Excel documents, photos, etc.
Sharing is also made very simple. All you have to do is click the small sharing icon next to any file, and you can email the recipient with a link to that file - you can even password protect each shared file. Since you're not actually sending the file itself, you can easily share more gargantuan files with the greatest of ease. Above is a sample of what the recipient would receive from you if you shared a file.
There's also a way for you to easily set up access to your own Public folder as well as the public folders of others on MobileMe. Personally, I don't see getting much use out of this, but if you're a member of an Apple fanboy or fangirl club, then maybe you'll have a blast accessing each other's public files. I keep mine empty, so all of you MobileMe voyeurs, you're out of luck.
Conclusions
So, the iDisk app is pretty cool. So far, my motivations for being a MobileMe member have had nothing to do with the iDisk storage... I particularly enjoy the settings/keychain syncing features as well as the me.com gallery and email. Now, though, I might actually start using some of my completely neglected iDisk storage with this app, considering that's functional and easy to use.
