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Ok, that all sounds grandiose, but I think that perhaps people are overplaying the impact of iCloud. Yes, it's a big deal to be sure, but perhaps some pragmatis

Ok, that all sounds grandiose, but I think that perhaps people are overplaying the impact of iCloud. Yes, it's a big deal to be sure, but perhaps some pragmatism is in order. The author gets one bit right, that what Apple is theoretically "killing" is mostly irrelevant. On the other hand, what Apple showed thus far with iCloud is more about the fact that they are doing the cloud quite a bit differently than Google is. Apple is saying, yes syncing and pushing is important, but so are rich apps. They are showing that cloud doesn't just mean doing HTML5 apps. That is the right approach IMO. The cloud isn't just the web, it's your data across all devices in the best possible format for each device. Dropbox got this right, Apple is getting this right(on their own platforms), Google doesn't seem to do this as much yet and their products seem to suffer as a result. I would love Google to do more with say Google Docs on Android than forcing mobile web apps down our throats, but they have a web-based advertising business to prop up so of course they love the web-only approach. In theory Microsoft is doing some kind of hybrid approach or something to the Office cloud, but really I wish they would just put out a killer version of Office on all platforms. It would make them lots of money and would enable them to lock people into their cloud (for better or worse). As it stands, Microsoft's cloud strategy by comparison is to throw crap at the wall and hope something sticks. Thank goodness they didn't offer $9 Billion to buy Dropbox...

dannyr 15y ago
Google is not forcing web apps on mobile devices. There are Android apps for Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Maps, and Reader.
- ajross 15y ago
  That's kind of what I'm thinking. This only looks revolutionary if you haven't been watching Android at all. When the G1 shipped with universal integration with gmail, calendar, contacts, google checkout, etc... it was a revelation. When the "share via..." interface was extended (often via third parties) to handle youtube and twitter and facebook etc... it was really great... And now this is a focus for Apple too. Great, I'm sure they'll do a good job and come up with some fantastic new ideas. But let's not pretend this is a whole new market or a fundamental innovation. Handsets have been moving in this direction for 3+ years now.
  - mishmash 15y ago
    >Handsets have been moving in this direction for 3+ years now. And iTools is 11 years old. Don't believe the popular iTools/dotMac/MobileMe is crap argument either, iDisk was badass when it debuted. And despite all the press regarding MobileMe's launch, the syncing actually works really well too. You can image a machine, plug in your AppleID, and within a few minutes - all of your stuff (including individual app preferences, wallpapers, Dock icons, etc.) show up. Restart and launch Migration Assistant on a gig network, and within an hour or so you can completely mirror entire workstations. It even copies Photoshop registration and *nix config files. iCloud is simply the continuation of a vision Apple has been working on for more than a decade. :)
    - tjogin 15y ago
      Exactly. For Steve Jobs it's closer to two decades, even. As described in Steve Jobs' closing keynote of WWDC 1997, where he outlines his setup from eight years earlier (1989). http://youtu.be/3LEXae1j6EY?t=14m25s http://youtu.be/3LEXae1j6EY?t=14m25s This idea didn't come to Apple via Google, it predates Google's existence, by a decade. The technical solution was different then, but Steve's focus is on the user experience, and that is quite similar.
nasmorn 15y ago
I recently switched password manager to 1password. It syncs with dropbox on the iphone as well. Indeed feels like magic. My budgeting app syncs over wifi and feels bad somehow. It is nice to get rid of this unnecessary obligation to sync stuff. Kinda as if the garbage walked itself down to the container. One thing less to take care of.
hessenwolf 15y ago
Yes to the Office on all platforms - Google docs is really amateurish. It baffles me that they haven't improved it.

dannyr 15y ago

Google is not forcing web apps on mobile devices. There are Android apps for Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Maps, and Reader.

ajross 15y ago
That's kind of what I'm thinking. This only looks revolutionary if you haven't been watching Android at all. When the G1 shipped with universal integration with gmail, calendar, contacts, google checkout, etc... it was a revelation. When the "share via..." interface was extended (often via third parties) to handle youtube and twitter and facebook etc... it was really great... And now this is a focus for Apple too. Great, I'm sure they'll do a good job and come up with some fantastic new ideas. But let's not pretend this is a whole new market or a fundamental innovation. Handsets have been moving in this direction for 3+ years now.
- mishmash 15y ago
  >Handsets have been moving in this direction for 3+ years now. And iTools is 11 years old. Don't believe the popular iTools/dotMac/MobileMe is crap argument either, iDisk was badass when it debuted. And despite all the press regarding MobileMe's launch, the syncing actually works really well too. You can image a machine, plug in your AppleID, and within a few minutes - all of your stuff (including individual app preferences, wallpapers, Dock icons, etc.) show up. Restart and launch Migration Assistant on a gig network, and within an hour or so you can completely mirror entire workstations. It even copies Photoshop registration and *nix config files. iCloud is simply the continuation of a vision Apple has been working on for more than a decade. :)
  - tjogin 15y ago
    Exactly. For Steve Jobs it's closer to two decades, even. As described in Steve Jobs' closing keynote of WWDC 1997, where he outlines his setup from eight years earlier (1989). http://youtu.be/3LEXae1j6EY?t=14m25s http://youtu.be/3LEXae1j6EY?t=14m25s This idea didn't come to Apple via Google, it predates Google's existence, by a decade. The technical solution was different then, but Steve's focus is on the user experience, and that is quite similar.

nasmorn 15y ago

I recently switched password manager to 1password. It syncs with dropbox on the iphone as well. Indeed feels like magic. My budgeting app syncs over wifi and feels bad somehow. It is nice to get rid of this unnecessary obligation to sync stuff. Kinda as if the garbage walked itself down to the container. One thing less to take care of.

hessenwolf 15y ago

Yes to the Office on all platforms - Google docs is really amateurish. It baffles me that they haven't improved it.