iCloud provides the ability to share applications, videos, music, data, and other resources among Apple devices and consume those from the cloud. One account covers as many as 10 devices (including iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch, etc.) It handles contacts, calendars, emails, music, e-books, e-magazines, documents, photos, and apps. If you make a change or purchase on one device, then all your devices will have it. Have all your key data backed up automatically as well. Apple basically becomes your core cloud services provider, offering the synchronization and storage of those files and resources that matter most to you as an individual.
> > > > My iPhone: a Story of an Infinite Storage
We’ve had clouds at home for some time now, such as the use of SaaS services like those provided by Google. However, iCloud is certainly an IaaS-oriented service, and the ability to use a mass-marketed IaaS cloud is new. David Linthicum claims the term “Home Clouds”
I use iPhone for more than 3 years and I love working with this device. When I bought my iPhone 3G (which I accidently dropped in to the toilet after three months, but nevertheless lived for a year more afterwards… amazing, isn’t it?!) and my lovely iPhone 4, I never picked the one with the biggest storage.
I never understood why I need to pay on storage for my pictures when I find them on Facebook or on Picasa using their iPhone apps. I also store and watch my clips on YouTube and my documents using Dropbox, so in fact I already use my iPhone as a cloud device. The iCloud’s benefits which I can think of are sharing playlists and apps among several devices. In my humble opinion, those benefits don’t really matter in comparison with the powerful increase of customers’ lock-in on Apple’s services. I still can’t see utterly remarkable benefits that will induce me to move my stuff into the iCloud and become a loyal Apple resident.
> > > > Browsing throughout the cloud
“Next time you want to access a cloud based service and have to type in the URL, stop and think how seamless this approach actually is! I look forward to seeing how iCloud develops and the impact/influence it will have on other companies and their Cloud Computing products.”
A nice article I read talks about how iCloud will change the way of browsing throughout the cloud, hence not by the web browser but the application itself browses and uses the cloud seamlessly for the end user. Interesting, but this browsing approach has been around for some time now. A lot of mobile applications use the vendors’ cloud to retrieve data and sometimes you will find that those applications are actually pure websites.
Discussing end consumer’s cloud services, we must mention Google Chrome OS. I find that this can be the real revolution for the “Home Cloud” but indeed it will take time for people to adopt. Google and other “Web OS” vendors will need to be patient and learn how to deliver properly. I believe that the web browser will continue to evolve, to be better user friendly and will eventually replace the old fashion OS. I invite you to check I Am OnDemand Magazine to read ZDNet article on Philosophical differences: The Google cloud vs. the Apple cloud.
> > > > MHO
“We’re going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device,” CEO Steve Jobs said.
Are those breaking news? I’m not really sure. Together with its cool “iname”, the best thing I see about the iCloud is the announcement that serves right the “cloud ibuzz” and the increasing awareness about cloud computing. No doubt that everyone know now that the clouds are not only up in the sky but also inside their computing devices.
