Apple headed to the iCloud for iOS 5?
More rumors have come to light about Apple and the iCloud brand, including DigitalDaily's sources confirming the name acquisition and AppleInsider hearing that it's already being used internally for iOS 5 (and Mac OS X Lion).
According to people familiar with the matter, Apple is prepping beta versions of both iOS 5.0 and Mac OS X Lion ahead of its annual developers conference that integrate with a service dubbed "iCloud," enabling users to sync and store much of the same information they currently can with the company's existing MobileMe service, such as bookmarks, email, contacts and iCal events.
Regarding the name, Apple looked to be securing [http://www.imore.com/tag/islate/] last year before ultimately announcing iPad, so as always we'll only know for sure when Apple announces it. The service itself remains a mystery as well.
Would it subsume MobileMe? Would it include media? There have been strings found for a social-esque photo/media stream service, and rumors persist that Apple is entering the streaming music/digital locker space as well. Would you be able to store anything there, like Amazon Cloud Drive, DropBox, or Google Docs? Or would Apple restrict it to iTunes-purchased content only in order to appease the record labels and movie industry?
If it merely allowed media re-downloads the way the App Store allows app re-downloads it would be a good first step. Streaming would be a better one. Subscription would be the end-game.
For sync, allowing apps (especially games) to persist state across iOS (and potentially Mac) would be huge. The above-mentioned media/photo sync/sharing as well. And iDisk has demanded a Dropbox-style rejuvenation for years. Likewise, mirroring the Mac's ability to backup and sync down Settings from the cloud could pave the way to iTunes tether-free device activation.
So what would all that, or any functional subset of that cost? AppleInsider thinks it could be free and used as a loss-leader to drive further iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac sales. While Apple has done "just above break-even" businesses before, like iTunes and the App Store, it's hard to see them doing anything for "free". Perhaps, like Find My iPhone for MobileMe recently, there will be a base of free services and a set of paid, premium services on top of them (the Google or DropBox model).
If the free tier included iTunes media re-downloads and basic Settings sync, that could be compelling enough for most users. But what then would the premium version require to convert them to paying customers?
[AppleInsider, Digital Daily and TechCrunch]
There are 22 comments. Add yours.
I wouldn't pay for this the same way I wouldn't pay for MobileMe, not saying that it's not worth it. As for record labels allowing ' re-downloads ' , I dont see it happening. People already are 'sharing' music ways those labels are not happy about. Music streaming from a cloud to my phone would require a data connection. I don't always get data especially since I take the subway in New York City and oh , not to mention that my network drops in and out inside my room which is located in the corner of the house on the first floor in a suburban neighborhood. Verizon people can probably see this a viable solution to having more music / data with them.
Agree that iCloud, or whatever it will be called, should at least offer some free services to Mac OS and iOS device owners. I'm also thinking that iCloud might be Apple's way of easing into 1080p video content. You buy your movie on iTunes, it's yours, it resides in iCloud. You can stream it to your device at 720p.
But when Apple enables 1080p on Apple TV and other devices, the movie you bought could be available to you, through iCloud, at 1080p resolution. No need to download another copy of it into iTunes on your Mac or PC. And it might make sense to make all your movies available in 960-pixel width, 1024-pixel width, etc. so they could be streamed at native resolution to whatever device you want to see your movies on. You can store a whole lot of video in 12 petabytes. Just a thought.
When Apple enables 1080p on the Apple TV? Yes. It will be called the Apple TV 2 with A5 chip.... :-P
Making the Apple TV 2 without a harddrive would start to make since if it had access to a cloud based service to store all movies and songs you have purchased. It would be even sweeter if you could upload your content to and watch it on your or any apple tv you log into.
Uh their not calling it magic cloud
The only reasonable price is $0 because it is also the market price.
Syncing app states across devices, digital media, etc are all hot! I know one thing...they'd get more users [costs or not] on this than they did/do on Ping. :-D
Honestly though, when I think of what is possible I seriously don't see Apple doing it. When launching something knew they tend to go above and beyond in a big way. I wouldn't expect to see a simple cloud service.
Think about to MobileMe. It wasn't just settings/bookmarks sync. It was email, find my phone, etc. They'll do it big for sure and I can't wait to see what they do. :)
I hope they don't leave out a files app, better notifications and more customization.
Somewhat tempted with virtual and shared app/device/file states, maybe an automatic storage state (like a virtual drive) otherwise the cloud isn't that tempting to me.
I would prefer increased speed from the UI, things like app loading, app switching, booting, animations, everything, above all else. The cloud is anathema to that.
To maintain UI speed, Apple would basically have to do a smart caching and syncing of a cloud drive across all devices hosting the drive. That sounds pretty expensive for a free service. It sounds expensive for a for pay service.
I'd be interested in paying a reasonable fee for cloud storage of ALL my iTunes media, apps, and settings, not just my iTunes purchases. I only have 9GB, but I'd love to have an cloud backup in case my hard drive died.
I don't think streaming is viable over 3G, and I couldn't give a toss about save games.
Cheers,
Smurf
Yah for unlimited data (=
This may be good for some, but for me, having my music stored locally on the device, will always win.
1 got 170 GBs of music. I'd use every bit of a 120 gb iphone. and what about app storage. And where would you store 1080p video when they change the camera? if it's a drop box clone that's fine cause you don't have to use it but to force people to use this rather then have my own collection of music that's got nothing from itunes and full of unreleased, rare, or concerts is crazy. it would immediately make other platforms more appealing. I'd really be more interested in streaming my own stuff from my home.
@reason check out subsonic.org
How about best of both worlds, sync via cloud to content, essentially an icloud hard drive - via itunes on ur phone, content still local - just sync'd via cloud. Removes the need for an iMac / PC. Means that the iphone/pad/pod would not need to be tied to another device for content or updates! Fun, eh....
From a content management standpoint, I'd see one master copy of each song, movie, or whatever, on the servers in Maiden. Then the service will allow downloading to registered devices that support the media type. Streaming is unrealistic without WiFi or home broadband. I have unlimited AT&T data still, grandfathered in, but I'm in the minority.
Got my a Pogoplug the other day,so I don't need the Apple cloud anymore, even for free. They are very late in the game so they need to come up with something really spectacular or it will be like MobileMe : probably great but most of us don't use it.
is there any jailbreak apps that let you change the color of the main text screen? like right before you go in to the next screen to text someone????
I need to see it to form an opinion
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