Mary Jo Foley's got the roadmap for Microsoft's MobileMe-like Skybox service for mobile phones over the next year or so. Skybox 1.0 and 1.5 are standard syncing services, but 2.0 sounds incredible.
Skybox 1.0 will go into beta later this month and be free, thanks to ads on its web port. As we'd heard earlier, it syncs contacts, email/SMS, calendar and pictures, plus it has automatic backup and restore. Skybox 1.5 sounds mostly similar, but it'll split off into paid and free branches.
Skybox 2.0, which is apparently on the same timeline as Windows 7, is where it gets interesting: Totally remote management of your phone, or "from the cloud," if you want to put like that. Micro-management even—you can change your apps, pictures, music, even your ringtones and background, all entirely remotely. At that point, Skybox will be more integrated with Windows Live services, whatever that means. If you think it sounds like its Live Mesh syncing service you're not alone—no one knows how the hell it fits into that picture. [ZD Net]