I wish to transfer my Apple ID to a new iCloud account

First select create an apple id:

Input this info...

Choose get a free icloud email address...

And that's all there is to it now. I know you of course did use to need an outside email address, and still can actually do that if you chose, but no longer have to. You would use that new icloud email address to sign in with.

If you want to create a new iCloud account you will have to create a new Apple ID in order to do so (for which you will need a different non-Apple email address). Your current ID and iCloud account cannot be unlinked.

If you want to abandon your current iCloud you will have to export all your data and re-import it into the new account. Mail messages can be downloaded to a mailbox on your Mac.

Calendars have to be treated one at a time, and you do it in Mail application on your Mac. Select a calendar, and from the File menu choose Export...>Export. Then when you come to import into the new account, from the File menu choose 'Import...' then 'Import...' from the sub-menu. A navigation pane will open: navigate to and choose your exported .ics file. iCal will ask you where to import this to. Click the drop-down menu and select the iCloud version of your calendar (make sure not to choose the 'On My Mac' version). Import. Your calendar contents will appear in the iCloud version of the calendar but this may take some time. You need to leave iCal running until the rotating icon at the top of the sidebar disappears.

Contacts - in the Contacts page on the iCloud website, select all contacts then click the cogwheel icon at bottom left and choose 'Export', then when you have the new account signed into do the same and choose 'Import'.

If you want to create a new iCloud account you will have to create a new Apple ID in order to do so (for which you will need a different non-Apple email address).

This is no longer the case. You can create an icloud account and email address without a non-apple email address. You are given the option when you sign into icloud (in system preferences >> icloud) to create the account.

Imp68 wrote:

This is no longer the case. You can create an icloud account and email address without a non-apple email address. You are given the option when you sign into icloud (in system preferences >> icloud) to create the account.

This would appear to be a change - but what would you sign into it with? Being on Snow Leopard it's not something I can check out, so it would be useful if you could clarify the process. Assuming you either don't have an iCloud account, or you do but you have signed out of it, you go to System Preferences>iCloud: what's the next step?

OK, thanks for clarifying that. Of course if people do this and don't then take the trouble to create a non-Apple 'rescue' or alternative contact address they are going to be in difficulties if they forget their password, but it does answer a desire that a lot of people have expressed to use the iCloud address as the ID.

Incidentally does this method apply on both Lion and Mountain Lion or only on the latter?

Ths simplest solution would be to create a GMail address - something which can't be easily guessed - and then go to http://appleid.apple.com and change the ID from the Hotmail to the GMail address. That would get rid of the Hotmail without your having to go through the hassle of shunting your data to a new iCloud account by the process I described above.

@Kam: Don't let what me and Roger are talking about confuse things... it's kind of a different item, and my apologies for confusing the issue a bit. But, I'd go with Roger's last suggestion. I totally agree with that, if you wanted a second opinion. 🙂

@Roger:

I'm honestly not sure if this works on Lion. I believe that it should, but I don't currently have a Lion partition to try it with.

I totally agree if people setup using this method they should get/use a seperate email address to use as a rescue address. It's nice having that extra option for resetting an apple id password, in addition to the security question method, if you don't have access to receiving emails to the icloud email address. One thing I'm seeing quite a bit these days, though, are people who go to reset their apple id password, using the email method, and the reset emails are sent to an address they no longer have access to... so they never receive the reset email at all.

That's so.