Can I Create iCloud/Apple ID Account without pre existing Email Address?

Create a free email account, such as GoogleMail or Yahoo, and use that when creating the Apple ID.

You need an external email address for them to contact you. For example, something goes wrong with your payment (if applicable), or you need to get a reset password sent to you, and so your account's not working. In that situation they can't contact you on your @me.com address, so they need an alternative.

This may not have been the case with DotMac, but it is the case when creating an Apple ID (because when you create an Apple ID for iTunes or these forums or when registering hardware, it isn't a functioning email address).

And here's a suggestion - as far as email is concerned, why not get him his own domain, with associated email? It's not free, like iCloud, but it's not particularly expensive. If your surname hasn't been taken (though it certainly will have been if it's common) you could register it as the domain, so the address could be firstname@lastname.com (or co.uk, or .net, or whatever). It's a lot cooler than @me.com! But be careful about privacy - the whois information will give the private address unless you take steps to prevent it. UK addresses can be nominated as private, and won't show: USA address can't but some ISPs (such as GoDaddy) will provide a proxy arrangement to hide it.

No. This paradox appears to be real.

(And so is the fact that all of this is so cryptic. Hence, I'm am slow on migrating MobileMe to iCloud untill I understand the process and impact or considerations in formation of plan for my family members and their growing number of devices.)

GIVENS:

Apple ID (AID) creation requires an email...

"Enter your primary email address as your Apple ID. This will be used as the contact email address for your account. Please note that this email address must be verified before you can use certain Apple services.

Apple ID| example: steve@apple.com"

Ref: https://appleid.apple.com/

"No. Your Apple ID must be a full email address [in the context of creating an iCloud account] (e.g. name@example.com) in order to sign up for an iCloud account. You can change your existing Apple ID to be in the format of an email address if it is not already at appleid.apple.com. "

Ref: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4436 [existing Apple ID's are changeable]

“Yes [you can change the name of your AID].For example, if you get a new email address, you can change your Apple ID from your old address to your new address. For more information, follow the steps in this article. ”

Ref: (FAQ) http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895 [is, supposedly, changeable to a new email address]

The AID can be changed under “Manage your account” in the “Name, ID, and Email Address drawer”.

Ref: http://support.apple.com/kb/HE40

If the above is true, then a Suggested Approach is: Use a temp email to create an AID, to use for iCloud Setup, which will result in creation of a mandatory @me.com if your want to use Mail service. Then go back and change AID because you just got a new email address and temp email is free. Right?

PROPOSED PROCEDURE:

(Assumes a TempEmail, used as stand in, will be freed and is available to use.):

Title: How to create a free name@me.com email for iCloud for a person without an email address:

WARNING: I am unable to confirm that what appears to be an editable field will not produce an error if it contains a @me.com address. See older post, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3102518.

1) Temporary Email: Obtain an email address that is verifiable AND does not exist as an AID (use ones own).

2) Goto https://appleid.apple.com/

a) Option: Click “Find out” to verify the Temporary Email address is not used as and AID.

b) Click on “Create an Apple ID”.

3) Fill in the Apple ID field with the Temporary Email address.

4) Fill in the rest of the fields. Click Create Apple ID.

NOTE: I do not know what happens after Click Create, as I have NOT created an AID in a while.

Assumption, AID will be created under the TempEmail address with out errors.

5) Set up iCloud on your device, http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/, click on the device for specific instructions.
[Speculation!: specific iCloud services will be enabled for those selected services on the device in System Preferences. Given that handhelds are dedicated by user (as there is no ability to create OS user accounts in the iOS) then iCloud services will be setup for that user on that device, but desktops like iMac with a full OS will sync with the active user account under which the service is set up. End Speculation.]

6) Create a name@me.com: Ref: Instruction per, https://www.icloud.com/, then click Help on the bottom. Click Mail in the Pop-up, then, Setup iCloud Mail, then Set up a name@me.com email address, reads as follows:

“If you used an existing Apple ID to set up your iCloud account [?], you still need to set up an @me.com email address in order to use iCloud Mail [! mandatory?]. (This case doesn't apply if you moved an existing MobileMe account to iCloud, since you already have an @me.com email address.)

- To set up an @me.com email address from OS X Lion v10.7.2:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences,then click iCloud.

Select the Mail checkbox, and then follow the onscreen instructions.

- To set up an @me.com email address from iOS 5:

Tap Settings >iCloud, turn Mail on, and

then follow the on screen instructions.

After you set up your @me.com email address, you can use it to sign in to iCloud. You can also sign in [to iCloud] using the Apple ID [TempEmail] you used to create your iCloud account.

You can send iCloud email from any of the following addresses:

- Your iCloud email address (youraccountname@me.com)

- An alias”

7) Terminology, “name you use for your Apple ID” is the ‘AppleID’ and not the ‘Your Name’ in the Manage My Account in AID.

Ref: (How-To) http://support.apple.com/kb/HE40

- Goto My Apple ID, https://appleid.apple.com/, “Manage your account” and “Sign in” with the TempEmail to AID. You can edit values of any of the Tags that have the “Edit” link. [previous MobileMe’s with AID’s based on @me.com will NOT have option to change AID. This is true as I have one like this.]

Step 3 shows the Apple ID field to be editable. The How-To implies the AID value can be changed to ‘name@me.com’ that you just created in iCloud, from which one then infers that at next Sign In to AID the name@me.com must be used for the AID field and will be the sign in to iCloud.

Option: I also, assume that one could change the “Primary Email Address” field to the name@me.com as the How-To shows an edit button.

[Note: I cannot find information that confirms this can be done for any AID type except for the @mac.com or @me.com for which it cannot as their AID are already in the me.com form.]

EXPECTED END RESULT:

- New AID of the form name@me.com.
Option: with associated Primary Email Address the same if edited and allowed (unconfirmed).

- Freed TempEmail address.

- New iCloud account with the new AID login of the name@me.com form.

- New iCloud mail service set up on a device and a usable free iCloud name@me.com email address on the device’s Mail service.

IMPLICATIONS:

User:

be able to create an iTunes Store account associated with the AID of name@me.com form, and

be the rightful owner of any purchases under this iTunes Store account (AID), should one choose so unless using a different AID, and

be able to use their purchases on other devices by Authorizing them with the AID, and

be able to restore any purchases with the AID, and

be able to sync authorized deviced with a shared computer, (regardless of method used: individual user accounts and separate iTunes Libraries; OR sharing iTunes Library of a single user account by synching with a specific playlist)

Caution: AID’s can NOT be merged, therefore purchases under separate AID cannot be merged.

FYI (for later):

Optional method for creating a kid’s iTunes Store account without a credit card, who's spending can then be controlled by gifting:

A credit card is not required when an iTunes Store account is created using the “Redeem” link in iTunes Store from a Gift Card. The asiest way is to NOT have an existing AID as one will be created for you, and YES again it will need an email address (that will be the new AID) with the typically required CC grayed out. If you have an existing AID and creating iTunes Store Account by redeeming a Gift Card AND expecting the typically required CC grayed out (may not be), this may involve the intervention of iTunes Support. Then fund their accound by the various means of gifting available.

Ref: personal experience from about a year ago.

Peter.

P.S.: Just joined and I love my new Username that I cannot change.

Not sure how this works on OS X, but on a new IOS 5 device (touch, iphone), go to Settings->iCloud, and you can setup a new me.com address which becomes your Apple ID, no pre-existing email address required.

This is from my iPhone 4 running iOS 5.0.1:

Tap Settings

Tap iCloud

Tap Get a Free Apple ID

Fill in the all the fields (the DOB year may have consequences if a minor),

then Tap Next

Tap Get a Free @me.com email ad...

Tap in the Email field (used to say "example@me.com")

Type in any name you wish to use as your email address at me.com.

NOTE: I was not able to edit the @me.com domain. This will be a @me.com address.

The rest is First Name, Last Name, Password, and Verify. Then Next will be solid.

NOW, I did not continue from here on.

I assume the app will check on any proposed email name availability untill an availabla name is found.

NOTE: This will create an Apple Account, with the example@me.com email address as the Apple ID, and presumably enable the Mail service of iCloud for this addresss. If this Apple ID is used for any other services with Apple, then that single Apple Account will be associated with those services. This is primarily to understand consequences of actions resulting in having multiple Apple Accounts or having multipel Apple Accounts associated with different services.

Apple recommends a single Apple Account to be used for all of their services. Even this discussions account is AID, or registering a product, or your purchases (iTunes), or looking up available services for your product (say the AppleCare you bought gets associated with the product you bought at the checkout, so when the product is registered with the AID and you look up your product by serial number, Apple knows you by AID and your coverage. So if you take in your device and say ends up being toast, when you get a replacement you can recover ALL your purchases with your AID and all you emails since they are in the cloud, and possibly restore backup fro iCloud. This scheme actualy makes sense.)

This is only a partial confirmation you asked for, so technically it is useless.

So you are saying that once you create an Icloud account and set up a new email, this will also create a corresponding apple id under the new email?