Perhaps it was the clean, new sheen of the display, but I was struck by how even this simple process has received Apple’s design polish and refinement. I took a couple screen shots to document the process, which I include here along with my notes.

The MobileMe me retail box comes with a slip of paper inside containing an activation key along with instructions directing you to www.me.com/activate to get started.

The first step is to enter the activation key, and either create a new account, reactivate an expired account, or renew an existing one.

I renewed my existing account, so I’m not sure where the flow goes if one of the other two paths are taken. It seems to me, however, that things could be simplified further, as it should be possible to combine renewal and reactivation of expired accounts into a single option.

Some confusion could be encountered when reactivating an expired account, because that option also asks for both a member name and password. My suspicion is that many people with expired accounts are likely to have forgotten or discarded their password, especially if the account has been inactive for some time.

After logging in with my member name and password, the second screen prompted me to confirm my renewal.

One click later, and my renewal was successful.

Simple, quick, and easy.