As was widely expected, Apple's MobileMe web apps -- me.com -- are back online after their scheduled maintenance, and sporting an updated look and some new features.

The new Mail has come out of beta and now everyone can enjoy server-side rules, which is terrific if way overdue. In the not-so-terrific pile, previously you could instantly switch between apps using a conventional menu bar. Now you have to figure out that clicking the cloud icon top left will bring up and icon bar which you can then click to switch tasks. Less discoverability and efficiency in one update? Not very Apple.

(They've standardized on the iPhone app icons to represent Me.com tasks, however, which is good. And they look great.)

Are you trying to new Me.com? What do you think?

UPDATE: Apple's MobileMe email announcement, after the break.

Service Update: New MobileMe Mail, Find My iPhone, and more.

Today we're making available to all MobileMe members an all-new Mail web application, a Find My iPhone app, and a new way to navigate between applications at me.com. Read on for details.

All-new Mail at me.com

MobileMe Mail on the web (now out of beta) has been completely redesigned with powerful new features such as widescreen view for reading email with less scrolling, rules to keep your email organized everywhere, and faster performance. For more details on these and other new Mail features, please read this news post.

Find My iPhone app and more

You can now download the free Find My iPhone app, enabling you to locate a misplaced device directly from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch while on the go. After installing it from the App Store, just launch the app and sign in to quickly locate your devices on a map and access the other Find My iPhone features — Display a Message or Play a Sound, Remote Lock, and Remote Wipe.*

The Find My iPhone web application on me.com has also been updated with a full-screen map view. Clicking your missing device on the map lets you access all the Find My iPhone actions to help you recover your device and protect the information on it.

Learn more about improvements to Find My iPhone here.

New way to get around me.com

We've also given me.com a new look and a new way to navigate between applications. Simply click the cloud icon in the upper left of the page, and choose from Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Gallery, iDisk, and Find My iPhone. To access account information, help, or to sign out, just click your name on the top right.

We recommend accessing me.com with Safari 5, Firefox 3.6 or later, or Internet Explorer 8. If you have questions about this update, please read this FAQ.

We hope you enjoy these improvements to MobileMe. Thank you for being a MobileMe member.

Sincerely,

The MobileMe Team

*Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe are not available in all countries.