Apple's iCloud website went live Monday but only as a "beta" version and is only available for existing MobileMe customers with the Mac OS X on their desktops and notebooks.

The iCloud service allows users to share data across multiple Apple devices and over the Internet. It was announced earlier this year in June but there was no word when it will actually become available over the web. On Monday Apple allowed developers their first taste of iCloud.com the home of the service's web applications.

The new web applications include Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Apple's lost iPhone discovery tool "Find My iPhone" and iWork, Apple's office application suite. Many of the new web apps have similar features to iOS interface.

Apple also announced the pricing for the service. Users will get free 5Gb of iCloud storage with additional fees for more gigabytes. An additional 10Gb will cost $21 a year, 20Gb for $42 per year and 55Gb for $105 per year for Australian users. This is only a few dollars higher than the U.S. prices of $20, $40, and $100.

Australians will not have iTunes Match at the iCloud launch. The iTune Match feature is a U.S. only service that allows users to store ripped songs, or songs that aren't bought from the iTunes store, without having to re-upload every song.

Apple still hasn't announced when the iCloud will be available to everyone else but the service is said to be released with the iOS 5, which is due out "this fall".