After months of speculation, Apple finally unleashed its long rumored iCloud at this year’s World Wide Developer’s Conference in June. The much anticipated cloud-based service is now live and early reviews indicate that it was worth the wait. Boasting everything from free email to a bigger and better version of MobileMe, Apple has delivered what looks to be an offering consumers will enjoy. While there haven’t been any reports on the iCloud’s effectiveness as a marketing to up to this point, that could all change in the near feature as this new offering has plenty to offer.
Dependable Cloud Storage
The main selling point of the iCloud is its cloud computing structure. There is no installing any software on your computer. It all takes place online through the cloud. This includes the storing of your digital assets. Everything from your emails to documents are stored across Apple’s interconnected servers, with the major perk here being that they are always accessible when you need them. You receive 5 GB in free storage space upon creating an iCloud account, which is a generous amount that will support the needs of most users. If you are a marketer with a large number of files, you can always upgrade to get more storage for a fee.
Plays Well with Others
For the marketer, perhaps the best thing about the iCloud is the ability it provides to seamlessly share your data across multiple devices. One might think that the service is partial to Apple products for obvious reasons, but this is not the case. The iCloud is fully compatible with a broad range of devices, including Apple favorites like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad as well as Windows-based PCs. Whether it is contact data, video presentations, or important text messages, any content you store in the cloud can be instantly connected with any of your supported devices. We see this being a huge luxury for marketers on the move.
Move Over MobileMe
With the iCloud in circulation, the days of MobileMe look to be numbered. Due to its ability to sync data across multiple devices, it is clear to see that the cloud-driven service was essentially designed to replace MobileMe, a pricey subscription-based service that never really caught on with marketers. Apple looks to be doing away with the service entirely as it is extending existing subscriptions up to June 30 with no additional charges and even issuing refunds to those who qualify. Once everything is moved over to the iCloud platform, the only traces left of MobileMe will be the email addresses at the “me.com” domain.
iCloud Conclusion
The iCloud’s true value as a marketing tool has yet to be revealed. There are still questions that need to be answered, including the pricing model associated with storage upgrades among others. With that said, the service has only been available for about a month so it is not all that surprising to hear that it has had little to no impact in the marketing realm. This could all change in the near future, but as of now, it looks like marketers are still exploring its potential.
1 comment
john says:
Jul 25, 2011
I guessing that those looking to use “cloud” services as a way to brand will fall flat. I think what people really want is useful tools. I know that’s what I’m after. I wish Google’s cloud services such as documents was as good as Microsoft Word. I suppose we have a ways to go. On the other hand Google Music is very compelling… but for completely different reasons. I’m not sure what their marketing angle is yet.