The new service from Apple, called MobileMe, is set to be launched this week, right before the Friday release of the 3G iPhone. This means .Mac subscribers won’t be able to access the service for six hours on Wednesday, July 9, as the company will be making the transition.

www.mac.com will become unavailable between 6 pm and 12 am PDT; only iPhone or iPod Touch and .MacMail via desktop applications will continue to be accessible.

According to MacRumors.com, once MobileMe will be up and running, users will be granted access to addressbook, calendar, web-based email, photo gallery and storage capabilities. This new service is expected to enlarge Apple’s audience, as the new features (Push syncing, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 support) should come in rather handy to most users.

Existing .Mac subscribers will have their accounts automatically upgraded to MobileMe, while new subscribers will have to pay $99 for a twelve-month plan. However, iPhone 3G or Mac buyers will be able to get an annual subscription fee for only $69 on July 11.

Apple’s move does not involve additions alone: several .Mac features that, in time, turned out to be less popular than others, will be deleted. Examples of such features are iCards and Web Bookmarks.