Apple Dives Back Into Cloud Computing

[Earnest Cavalli]

Apple Dives Back Into Cloud Computing

Despite a shaky track record when it comes to decentralized storage, Apple has announced plans to take another crack at the cloud computing market with iCloud.

Revealed at this morning's WorldWide Developer's Conference, the iCloud service "stores your content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices," according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. This includes not just media files (photos, movies and music), but also a range of personal settings, as well as documents created in Apple productivity applications like Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

More impressively, the service will include no advertisements, and Jobs promises that syncing calendars, email and personal contacts across a user's range of iOS devices will be free, up to 5GBs.

As Engadget points out, the best part of this entire concept is that the syncing is actually automatic. "Take a picture on your iPhone and it appears on your laptop and your iPad," the site claims.

iCloud also brings with it improvements for Apple's prized cash cow, iTunes. Dubbed "iTunes in the Cloud," the new functionality will allow users to download iTunes media to a maximum of 10 iOS devices free of charge.

Alongside iTunes in the Cloud, Jobs also unveiled the firm's new "iTunes Match" service, a program that allows users to essentially store their CD collection in the cloud. In short, iTunes Match scans a music collection, then duplicates its findings in the cloud with 256kbps DRM-free AAC music files. Much to the chagrin of hipster music snobs like myself, there's no word on how iTunes Match will react to rare singles from unknown French indie folk acts.

iTunes Match is priced at $25 per year, and as with everything here, should go live at the same time as iOS 5 this fall.

Apple fans, or more specifically, the company's detractors, will recall that previous attempts to embrace cloud computing by the hipper-than-thou tech giant have been less than successful. Its most recent foray, MobileMe, was a middling success at best, and alongside the announcement of iCloud, Jobs confirmed that MobileMe is now dead.

Source: Engadget [http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/icloud-unveiled-at-wwdc/]

Permalink

 

[Baldr]

So I get to use cloud on my iPhone, but have to pay for bandwidth for using 3G, then turn around and pay for bandwidth again for the service.

 

[Worgen]

I really hope this thing falls down a flight of stairs and dies, cloud computing is one of those things that just reeks of a bad idea for consumers

 

[Harbinger_]

So the evil cloud of Apple returns?! Oh god The horror!

 

[Hungry Donner]

So during GDC Jobs announces another ipad, now during E3 he announces this? Is Jobs specifically lining up press events with major American gaming events?

 

[Earnest Cavalli]

So during GDC Jobs announces another ipad, now during E3 he announces this? Is Jobs specifically lining up press events with major American gaming events?

We've come to assume it's a plan to murder the entire tech journalism industry.

 

[Low Key]

Maybe I don't understand the hype with cloud services, but it seems that only people who don't know how to use a computer would use the service. Pretty par for the course with Apple I suppose. I mean, most of my media is on mobile external devices anyways. I guess the calender synchronization is cool, but I always have my phone with me, so it doesn't really matter if my other stuff gets updated.

 

[eharriett]

Okay, question: what will that do to people who have data caps on their iPhones and iPads.

 

[drizztmainsword]

Hehe, I figured this thread's comments would start off on a low note. This site is full of apple-bashers.

In any case, I'm rather excited for the service. Free app, book, and music synchronization, and 5 gigs of free document and picture synchronization, not to mention calendars, email, and so on. That's a pretty awesome deal.

 

[ryo02]

well its time for that kid to sell his other kidney?.

 

[Hungry Donner]

So during GDC Jobs announces another ipad, now during E3 he announces this? Is Jobs specifically lining up press events with major American gaming events?

We've come to assume it's a plan to murder the entire tech journalism industry.

You guys are fun when you're stressed.

Of course in this day an age it's hard to have a press event that doesn't coincide with a major gaming convention - "con season" is practically year round at this point.

 

[Marudas]

Meh. Cloud computing has a neat potential, but currently, its pretty pointless. I mean, Hey neat, my music is on the internet! Its also on this tiny little iPod thing you can carry around with you.

I have a bit of an annoyance with Cloud computing when it comes to ownership and DRM related problems. The best case scenario for cloud computing is the idea that *Eventually* people will have entire libraries of games, music and pictures all available on the internet, and they have various devices for accessing that data. Which is actually not an -awful- idea in theory. Right now though...not so much.