Confusion over sharing iCloud with my wife

[Jeff Hall]

We presently have a MobileMe Family Pack. My wife and I have used different iTunes IDs to make our app purchases (both are MobilMe e-mail addresses). We have several aliases for our MobileMe primary accounts.

We have 3 Macs: Macbook Pro (Snow Leopard, 32-bit), MacBook (Snow Leopard, 64-bit machine), Mac Mini (Leopard, G4).

We each have an iPhone 3GS.

Is it going to be possible to migrate to iCloud such that:

1. We can merge our iTunes accounts so that we only have to buy an app once that can be shared on all our devices, instead of doubling up.

2. Keep our contacts, photos, keychains, Safari bookmarks, and calendars separate. Presently, we sync our own book marks to our own iPhones. I don't care about my wife's hobby bookmarks!

Neither of us plan to upgrade to Lion anytime soon as only my wife's Macbook is 64-bit Intel.

I've read the transition FAQ, and it doesn't get this detailed.

It's probably too early to know, but thought perhaps a beta user might know what the real situation is going to be.

Thanks
-Jeff

 

[tibi08]

We presently have a MobileMe Family Pack. My wife and I have used different iTunes IDs to make our app purchases (both are MobilMe e-mail addresses). We have several aliases for our MobileMe primary accounts.

We have 3 Macs: Macbook Pro (Snow Leopard, 32-bit), MacBook (Snow Leopard, 64-bit machine), Mac Mini (Leopard, G4).

We each have an iPhone 3GS.

Is it going to be possible to migrate to iCloud such that:

1. We can merge our iTunes accounts so that we only have to buy an app once that can be shared on all our devices, instead of doubling up.

2. Keep our contacts, photos, keychains, Safari bookmarks, and calendars separate. Presently, we sync our own book marks to our own iPhones. I don't care about my wife's hobby bookmarks!

Neither of us plan to upgrade to Lion anytime soon as only my wife's Macbook is 64-bit Intel.

I've read the transition FAQ, and it doesn't get this detailed.

It's probably too early to know, but thought perhaps a beta user might know what the real situation is going to be.

Thanks
-Jeff

The intention of Apps is for them to be single-user licenced. I know that in practice the EULA allows you to use an App on any device associated with the Apple ID, but I would argue that is really for simplicity purposes.

So, in my mind what you are suggesting is that - effectively - two different users want to be able to pirate each others apps without paying for them. At least, that is how Apple will see it. Why would they support that?

 

[TheCookie]

The intention of Apps is for them to be single-user licenced. I know that in practice the EULA allows you to use an App on any device associated with the Apple ID, but I would argue that is really for simplicity purposes.

So, in my mind what you are suggesting is that - effectively - two different users want to be able to pirate each others apps without paying for them. At least, that is how Apple will see it. Why would they support that?

They wouldn't. At least not intentionally. But it might happen accidentally.

Take my mom, for example. She's had at least 3 different Apple IDs over the years, because she thought for a while that every time she got a new computer she had to register a new iTunes account. Apple might want to enable her to merge IDs so that she can use iCloud for all of the music and apps she's purchased over the years instead of forcing her to repurchase them. If they accommodate people like her, then they might wind up creating a backdoor for people like the OP.