The Apple iCloud is Apple's new revolutionary cloud service that allows you to store photos, videos, files, and contacts over the cloud. This means you can access your files on any Apple device. This is great news for any of us who own multiple Apple devices as we can easily upload our pictures and videos to the cloud and be able to access it on any Apple device. This includes the Mac too.
As an example, say you took a photo of your kids on your iPhone. If its synced and uploaded to the cloud that means you can see the same photo on your iMac and iPad too. This can particularly useful for families as you can easily share family photos on the cloud.
Apple currently has MobileMe, which is its current cloud service. However, MobileMe has not gained much of a following so Apple is introducing iCloud as a completely new service. It comes free with iOS 5 and you get an initial 5 GB allowance. If you require more space you can buy it on a yearly basis. You can buy additional storage of 10 GB for 20$ a year, and 20 GB for 40$ a year. If you really are in need of space you can buy 50 GB of space for 100$ a year.
The cloud market is rapidly seeing many competitors, with Amazon and Apple two major ones. Google Music is currently in beta and it looks like it could be Apple's main competitor. We're rapidly seeing a bifurcation between Apple and Google, more so than Apple and Microsoft (which is a rivalry based on OS only). Apple's OS is completely synced with Apple's phones and tablets. Google is moving towards the same and there are rumors of a Google operating system that may come out soon.
The interesting thing is that once a user chooses Google or Apple they're unlikely to switch because all their files will be on the cloud with either the Google or Apple service. Devices are no longer separate but are part of a larger ecosystem of devices from the same company. One of Google's advantages is Gmail, which syncs contacts and email with every Android device and is easily accessible on any computer. Apple's MobileMe email service is not free. I could go anywhere in the world and very easily pull up my contact information on any computer with Gmail. Apple's system is a more closed method of doing things. We'll have to see if Apple's iCloud breaks that paradigm and allows more flexibility like Google or whether it keeps Apple's customary rigid structure.
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