i belive the reason for the insanity is two fold: security and cost.
security because for the 10 ways *I* can think of that weaken the security of user's data if they open the can of worms of allowing deleting users accounts 'because somebody asks really nicely' there are 20 more I can't think of. Just a month ago some random person figured out how to dupe an apple support rep to reset somebody ELSEs iCloud ID password and erased his entire cloud; iPhone, iPad, iMac, Powerbook. (think find-my-phone and 'remote erase').
If there was a 1 in 1 million chance apple was going to start allowing people to merge iCloud IDs it certainly vaporized that day. Although in a single case with an example like scotttt88 missspelllled his name, that sounds like a real easy example of how to con apple to allow intermingling of accounts. realize that there is no clean way to 'merge' the data associated with two different accounts. 'merging' really means 'erase one' and have the other 'take over'. it's just waaaaay waaaay too risky from a liability standpoint.
cost because there are dozens of 10s of millions of iCloud users, quite certain there are millions with multiple cloud IDs. unfortunetly there was a concrete decision made that is iron-clad: any @me or @mac email address is by definition an apple ID. you can never change an @me apple id it's considered DNA. Consider how many hours would be spend managing the issue rather than just having a bold stance that "we just don't do that", it would literally be 10s of millions of dollars (money well spent in my opinon but the bean-counters and lawyers often win)
in robert's case (user@domain apple ID and @me iCloud account) there is no getting around having two different IDs.
I have TWO IDs and effectively combined THREE into TWO with the tricks mentioned a few times above; rather than add a thrird email into the mix, i use name+iTunes@gmail.com for my apple ID official email. appleid@apple.com asks me every time i log in to merge my userid and primary email, which i have no interest in doing because that only doubles my purchase account quantity from one to two.
Pair of 9s:
I use a nearly identical setup for my apple IDs
I have a non-email apple ID; the same as my username here. I've been using the same username since the early 90s and no interest in changing it. I'm grandfathered in. In addition, when @mac and then @me were introduced, an ADDITIONAL apple ID was created WITH the @ that was a separate account (very stuipid move on apple's part, how they didn't see that was a bad move is surprising); anyhow it happened and there is no way to un-do it; even though the before the @ part is the same in my case, there is no PRACTICAL way to PROVE they are both me in reality or to combine those accounts without an amazing nightmare of concequence, so i'm stuck with those two separate user IDs.
So; most people are concerned with having more than one = iPurchases lost; not a fact; you can use up to FIVE on an iDevice so move on, water under the bridge; pick your favorite for NEW purchases and stick with it.
It is actually a GOOD THING to have purchases on a different account than the main iCloud account anyhow, so i purchase all my iApp stuff and iTunes stuff with my no@ apple ID.
you CAN use the no@ apple id as a cloud ID but then NOTEs do not sync (and i think one other; yeah of course MAIL doesn't exist).
When setting up an iDevice, i put in for the primary iCloud ID my user@me.com (don't use @mac if you are grandfathered; *some* applications won't work; what a pain!).
then you have to go to the STORE preference and LOG OUT and log BACK IN with your purchase ID.
in my case user@me.com is OUT and user is in (no@ no email).
I had an additional problem where my primary email address first@last.com was already attached as a secondary email to my user@me.com account so i couldn't add it to my no@ user, so i added it anyhow by adding +itunes like so: first+itunes@last.com then apple notices for either account go to my primary first@last.com email.
I never tried to add a +notation (tag it's called) email with @me at the end.
with the setup described by robert above, the only practical solution is to use the me@me.com for iCloud and user@mydomain.com for purchases if you care to have all your purchases in the same account.
the other practical option is to abandon the user@mydomain.com apple ID. all purchases made will stay forever, just switch over to only using the me@me.com for both iCloud and FUTURE purchases. unless you have four addidional accounts it's a one-time change and you only ever have to use the @me apple id forever, just make sure you set your passwords for user@mydomain.com and me@me.com apple ID the same because app-store and iTunes will frequently ask you for either password when an app bought with the old ID comes up with an update.
So; it's either manage two accounts or get asked for two separate passwords when updating apps, though neither is ideal both are actually very workable solutions.
I had like 4-5 different apple ID; i ended up re-ripping my AAC files into MP3 to remove the DRM so i could reduce how many passwords iTunes asked for. I still keep my no@ apple ID and fortunately I caught the error early on and was able to re-download my app store "purchases" (most were free) with my no@ address.
I think that a great-many people would be satisifed with the option of abandoning the non @me apple ID and just switch over to using the fully-functional iCloud @me ID. I think there is a belief that their purchases don't count etc. anything on your phone or in iTunes will sync and work just fine until you have more than FIVE accounts. you have to authenticate iTunes ONCE with the 'abondoned' ID and with iPhone a little more annoying because you have to put in the pwd every time an update comes in so twice as many passwords need to be entered (why i suggest setting them to the SAME value).
you can add the second apple ID as an EMAIL account on iDevice and just not use for any "iCloud" functions if it's an active email you use.
each person's case is unique so they have to evaluate which is the best solution, but there is a workable easy solution to not require 'merging' of apple IDs to get what you need.
I could abondon my no@ apple ID and only use my @me apple ID in a heartbeat. i coincidentally only made like one or two purchases on the @me and realized the goof before i had tons. I like having a no@ apple id and it's attached to the likes of this forum and my developer account so it's more complicated for me.
For most people wanting to simplifier their iCloud experience, the solution they should take is to abandon using any non-@me apple ID for their device, start purchasing with their @me apple ID and eliminate any reference to their non @me apple ID from their iPhone.
they would of course add as an EMAIL address if their non @me say me@gmail.com is their primary email; they WANT that to be set up for email (as exchange so they get push notification of course), but do NOT use for store or iCloud ID; non@me iCloud IDs are non-helpful.
the 'annoying' examples are when there are two @me apple IDs, especially when one is attached to a primary purchase account as in the scott example above.
if i understand the scott situation; he created an @me iCloud ID attached to his primary purchase apple ID but it's mis-spelled (and permanent). He also created a NEW iCloud ID spelled correctly but from apple's @me = DNA perspective that is entirely a different entity.
so Scott's clean solution is to ABAONDON the misspelled Apple ID and switch to using the new correct spelling for iCloud and purchases. There is no real benefit from having the misspelled ID associated with the iDevice!
The caveat; when doing app store updates, Scott will get an alert 'please enter the password for wrong@me.com' and additionally 'please enter the password for correct@me.com' but if he sets the passwords the same it will not be a big deal; i have 4-5 accounts on all my iDevices and in my case all the pwds are different and still not a big problem.
So; rather than trying to combine accounts, which will never EVER happen, moving on to reality and learn how to PRUNE the unnecessary accounts from the iPHONE or at least firgure out how to best use the two when it makes sense to do so.
scott may have to set up an email forward in the wrong@me to direct to correct@me.com to get updates but the reality is there should never be any; new purchases woudl be done at correct@me so though the account may have to be techincally 'active' so that iTunes can authenticate for downloads, he would never EVER have to use that account again for eternity.
-awr