Tag Archives: apple cloud

No Clear Skies for Samsung’s Cloud Service


Cloud networks have become the “in” service to have lately, with companies like Apple and Amazon providing various cloud offerings, in addition to the popular cloud services from smaller, successful companies like Dropbox.

Samsung is planning on jumping on the cloud bandwagon, but recently, it decided that its current “S-Cloud” architecture was unsuitable as an infrastructure for global cloud services. Originally, the company announced a timeline that would have Samsung’s cloud service releasing at approximately the same time as Apple’s iCloud.

Instead, the Samsung Media Solution Center has decided to rebuild its infrastructure using proven commercial solutions, like KT Corporation’s uCloud, which it is currently reviewing. The company is also planning to work with Amazon for some service areas.

Because of the infrastructure change, it looks like Samsung’s cloud services may be significantly delayed. According to a source in the cloud industry, “It takes a considerable amount of time to prepare cloud services. For instance, Apple started preparing for iCloud two years ago when it launched iPhone 3. Since it has more products than Apple and has adopted the open Android OS, Samsung Electronics needs a highly sophisticated technology for cloud services.

Poor Samsung. The company just can’t get a break on anything. First it’s tablets do poorly, it’s sued by Apple, and now it can’t even get its cloud network set up in a timely manner.

[via Korea IT News]

Related Posts Rumor: Apple Charging for Cloud Music Service? Apple’s Cloud Music Service, Ready in Time for WWDC? Amazon, Google Racing Apple to Cloud-Based Media Locker Service

iTunes Match Review – Does iTunes Match Live up to the Hype?



One of Apple’s most eagerly awaited new cloud storage features, iTunes Match, debuted yesterday. For the last six months or so Amazon, Google, and Apple have all competed to offer music lovers new ways to access their music libraries while away from the desktop.

I wanted to try out iTunes Match as soon as it was available because unlike Amazon or Google’s cloud music lockers, iTunes Match promised to give me access to my music without burdening me with the tedious process of uploading each individual tracks.

Aside from the $24.99/year fee, here are the minimum requirements to run iTunes Match:

OS X Lion 10.7 or later Windows Vista or later iTunes 10.5.1 or later iOS 5 or later on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2.

Fortunately the process of getting iTunes Match went a lot smoother than it did when I tried to upgrade to iOS 5. I purchased the service through iTunes on my iMac. Although it took over ten hours for all of my music to upload, I was able to start listening to music on my iPad via iTunes Match after only about two hours. I have more than 70 GB of music, so smaller libraries may upload more quickly.

If a song was available in iTunes, it was “matched” but if it wasn’t then it was simply “uploaded,” so the speed of the process relates to how many songs need to be matched versus uploaded.

Not every song in my iTunes library was eligible to be matched or uploaded. According to Apple, “songs containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud unless your computer is authorized for playback of that content.” Apple also won’t match songs files that are too big, or upload files whose sound quality is below a a bitrate of 96 kbps.

Oddly, but fortunately most of the files that iTunes now lists as “not eligible” still wound up being available for me to play. The lion’s share of these titles comprise older CDs that I had read into iTunes, but that do not have a digital compliment. Presumably, the more of old CDs one has read into iTunes, the more common this message will be.

After subscribing and uploading the music, the iTunes Match library is available by tapping the “More” tab in the lower left. Find iTunes Match under shared. The library will bear the name of the user’s Apple ID that it is associated with.

The interface is clean and uncluttered, allowing users to display their music by artists, albums, playlists, and even podcasts.

All of the songs that I played sounded good — were they upgraded, as Apple says — to “256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality” — my ears couldn’t tell, but I haven’t encountered any technical difficulties using iTunes Match so far.

iTunes Match will run in the background, and displays the artwork from the album you are listening to on the lock screen. Remember that iTunes needs to be running on the user’s desktop to be accessible from a remote location. (Remember this before you power off your computer next time you leave on vacation.) Most importantly, iTunes Match requires a Wi-Fi or 3G connection to work, and does not support off-line caching the way that popular subscription radio services such as Spotify or Slacker Radio do.

The appeal of iTunes Match for me was that I wouldn’t have to designate any of my iPad’s 16 GB to store music. The vast majority of my music was matched and available to me. For just over $2.00 per month, iTunes Match is a great deal for any music lover with an outsized MP3 collection and limited mobile storage.

iTunes Match Now In Beta, Song Download Capable

Last night, Apple released its upcoming iTunes Match as a beta to developers and the Internet is a-buzz with demos and information on what to expect with the new service.

One question that has been on everyone’s minds is – can songs be downloaded from iTunes’ cloud into your computer? The answer is yes.

Songs that exist in Apple’s iTunes music store will be streamed to your computer or iOS device. If the music store doesn’t have it, it will be uploaded to iCloud. So, albums that you’ve ripped from CD, downloaded from iTunes, or torrented from music sharing websites will all be instantly accessible and downloadable to another computer or your iPad.

You won’t have to burn CDs, put songs on jump drives or drag around an external hard drive anymore. You now have instant access to your entire iTunes library from any computer or iOS device you have your account linked to. So far, there is little confirmation as to whether Apple will let you actually download their master copy of songs in your library or if that feature is for streaming only.

Will Apple let you have a 256kbps, licensed copy, of an album you found for free on a blog? Additionally, it is unknown as of yet whether these files are only downloaded directly to iTunes, or if the song is accessible from your computer’s internal music file.

Below you will find a video from Insanely Great Mac demonstrating iTunes Match on a Mac and an iPhone.

Apple Stops iTunes TV Rentals, iTunes in the Cloud Begins?

iTunes in the CloudFor those of you looking to rent your favorite TV shows from iTunes, you are too late. Apple has removed the rental option in light of consumers showing more interest in purchasing instead.

Let’s not forget the upcoming iTunes in the Cloud service that will let you stream purchased content on all of your devices with ease. Considering the upcoming service, the rental of television shows just isn’t attractive –especially when the cost of doing so isn’t considerably cheaper than actually buying them, giving you all the time in the world to enjoy them on your schedule.

Seemingly, television show rental was an experiment by Apple that failed.

Jobs had campaigned last year on the premise that rental volumes would increase significantly if networks were prepared to lower their prices. He encouraged them in this direction though only two networks, Disney and News Corp., were cooperative. This no doubt would have helped, but it is difficult to say whether it would have made the difference.

Knowing Apple, they haven’t fully given up on television rentals. A lot of speculation suggests their next attempt will be with an iTunes in the Cloud television subscription service. If they could manage an agreement where consumers could subscribe to only the networks (or even better, just the television shows themselves) that they were interested in viewing, they could have a real winner. Traditional cable companies often lock consumers into purchasing groups of networks in tiers in an effort to increase subscription costs.

Whatever they come up with, it will have to be more competitive with other streaming services out there right now. Hulu offers the streaming of many current television shows for free, while their plus service offers a large full-episode catalog for a low monthly fee. Netflix is another viable option, though their catalog is often somewhat slower to update.

[via AllThingsD]

Apple Hiring iWork Developer for iCloud Expansion

Are you an experienced software engineer? If so, you may have a future in Santa Clara Valley. Apple recently created a job posting calling for a software engineer to join the iWork team. The prospective applicant would work with the iWork team on the “front and/or back end of scalable web applications,” according to the job posting first discovered by Apple Insider.

This new job posting was listed just a day after Apple first revealed its iCloud.com beta service, which will allow access to Calendar, Mail, and Contacts via a web app.

These features were originally a part of Apple’s MobileMe Service, which has been retired. Additionally, iCloud.com does have a section for iWork apps, though they are not currently implemented.

Currently iWork.com is home to documents from iWork applications, but this is a feature that may soon be a part of the iCloud. The current iWork web only allows users to view documents. It allows sharing, but not editing.

The job posting is for the iWork team, but it’s unclear whether this applies to the existing iWork domain and web service, or if it applies to the iCloud component of iWork. Given that the posting came right after the announcement of iCloud.com, it’s likely that the engineering job will apply to work on iCloud.

It’s possible that Apple plans to expand iWork beyond its current view only existence, as the posting asks for experience in “developing web application frameworks, building and maintaining large-scale distributed systems and building web application user interfaces.” Apple may be aiming for something like Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365.

Combining an online document editor with iCloud could persuade many loyal iDevice and iWork customers to use Apple’s service over Google Docs. You can check out the official job posting here.

New OSX 10.7.2 Shows Upcoming iCloud Features

Recent findings suggest that Apple’s iCloud service is getting close. Apple is due to release the highly awaited cloud service when iOS 5 launches later the fall, but the new features released to developers via OS X 10.7.2 could possibly be a big step towards an earlier release in September.

The new OS X 10.7.2 released to developers is an indication that Apple is certainly aiming to have probably the most advanced cloud syncing service this fall.

For example, iCloud seems to have its own dedicated section for Mail, Contacts & Calendars preferences that will allow us to setup selective pushes to Apple’s cloud depending on how much storage we need to use for syncing our data.

According to AppleInsider, the new iCloud service will probably have options to selectively enable or disable mail syncing, but also the ability to do the same for documents, Photo Stream, and other bandwidth-heavy items.

The pictures shared by AppleInsider show that the OS X beta includes iOS backups and other items. An interesting new feature is the “Buy More Storage” button, which seems to indicate that users will be able to buy more syncing capacity beyond the free 5GB given by Apple. No pricing details have been found yet. In addition, developers can now test iCloud capabilities for Mac applications as well.

The official switch to iCloud is not due until this fall. However, these new images and details show that Apple is almost ready to open its cloud to all of us. Get your iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch ready. Stay tuned!

[Images Credit: AppleInsider]

CONFIRMED: Apple Takes Full Control of iCloud.com


Apple has officially taken control of the iCloud.com domain. If you do a simple check on the WHOIS database, the administrative records will display and confirm that Apple indeed has now taken ownership of the much awaited iCloud domain.

Even though the domain name still redirects to Xcerion’s CloudMe service, it seems that Apple is ready to make the big announcement next week during their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kickoff.

Back in April, the iCloud.com domain belonged to Xcerion, who was using it as a “storage-as-a-cloud” service. Xcerion acquired the domain name in April 5, 2011 and recently re-branded the domain name to “CloudMe”.

This week, Apple confirmed via a press release that Steve Jobs will unveil details of the upcoming iCloud service and iOS5 features next week during WWDC. I expect Apple to be quite aggressive with their iCloud service. Even though Amazon and Google launched “media locker” services, Apple’s upcoming service will most likely be a “game-changing” offering.

With rumored features that will allow you to replace low-quality songs in your collection with higher quality versions, and later stream those songs and albums directly to your iOS devices, Apple is already changing the game. In addition, another potential great addition is the capability to automatically back up and store your entire music collection in the cloud, including songs that you’ve already purchased without forcing you to manually upload them from your own libraries.

Let’s not forget that Apple is expected to announce deals with large music labels and possibly major Hollywood film studios that would allow Apple to issue licenses to enable its customers to store movies on Apple’s cloud servers.

The cloud-services market is getting a bit crowded. However, Apple can certainly change the game once again. It seems the Cupertino-based company is building up its arsenal by partnering with music record labels, Hollywood film studios, and adding convenient features that could allow the company to gain a significant differentiation in the market.

» Related posts:

Details Emerge About Apple’s iCloud Service


Apple’s WWDC kick off is almost here, and as we’ve reported multiple times Apple is expected to announce its much awaited “iCloud” service. Although many of us have speculated with the name “iCloud”, a series of rumors seem to indicate that Apple will surprise many in the music industry, once again.

Even though Amazon and Google launched “cloud locker” services, Apple’s upcoming service seems to be showing signs of a “game-changing” offering.

A new report by Bloomberg is indicating that Apple’s service will be able to scan your digital music libraries in iTunes and automatically mirror their collections on its cloud servers. Bloomberg’s report cites people that are very close to the ongoing deals between Apple and major record labels.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, Apple’s cloud service will replace low-quality songs in your collection with higher quality versions, and you will be able to stream those songs and albums directly to your iOS devices.

Another potential great addition is the capability to store your entire music collection in the cloud, including files that you may have obtained, let’s say “illegally”. Really?  Will Apple allow you to save illegal files in the cloud? Well, let’s just say that Apple’s “iCloud” service will not be entirely free of charge. Keep in mind that music record labels want to make sure they can make money by allowing us to save their tunes in the cloud. Even though Apple may initially decide to offer their service free of charge for a limited time, we have to assume the cloud service will require a yearly dollar amount eventually.

Apple has closed deals already with EMI music and Sony Music Entertainment, and it’s very close to reaching a deal with Universal Music. There are also rumors that some publishers may join the cloud service.

WWDC will kick off on June 6. Let’s see what Apple has in store for us, but based on the latest rumors Apple’s “iCloud” service could bring a lot of value to your iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac, and PC.

» Related posts:

Apple’s Cloud Music Service, Ready in Time for WWDC?


According to CNET, Apple has signed a cloud-music licensing agreement with EMI music and, as told to CNET by music industry insiders, will soon complete deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.

Apple already has a deal in place with Warner Music Group, as of last month. Google and Amazon have already rolled out their cloud locker services, but without obtaining deals with music companies. Apple’s licensing agreements mean that they will be able to launch a complete, fully licensed music service which will offer a lot more than the unlicensed services Amazon and Google are able to provide.

For example, as one possibility described by CNET, users of Google and Amazon have to spend hours uploading songs, while Apple could potentially scan a user’s hard drive to see the songs they own, and then give near-instant access from master recordings. This is a service originally that became popular from Lala, a company which Apple acquired in 2009.

Undoubtedly, the major music groups are hoping for Apple’s service to be more popular than Amazon or Google, which would encourage the other two to also sign contracts and pay licensing fees.

Negotiations with Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group may be finished as early as next week, and Apple will be heading to the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6th with signed contracts from all four of the major record companies.

The Worldwide Developers Conference would be an excellent opportunity for Apple to release their new cloud music service, though a set release date is still unconfirmed.

» Related posts:

Amazon Cloud Player Begins Working On iOS Devices


In March, 2011, Amazon announced the release of their Cloud Drive service, allowing you to upload and store your digital music, photos, videos and documents and making them available for you via any computer with a web browser. While most people have agreed that this is an excellent service, the iOS population was left out during the initial release.

Initial speculation was that Amazon required the use of Flash, which is of course unsupported in iOS, but further testing proved that this wasn’t the case. Some unknown force appeared to be preventing mobile Safari from accessing the service.

The good news is that if you now surf to Amazon’s Cloud Service, though you will first be greeted by a warning that your browser isn’t supported (which you can ignore), it works! Implementation appears to be fully functional as well because if you receive a phone call or other push notification while using the service, your music play-back will pause while you attend to it. While loading the music player in Mobile Safari is virtually identical to using the service from within any other supported browser, there appears to be a lack of drag and drop support which can make managing play-lists a little awkward.

Uploading to the service still requires Flash, so this is something you would have to do from your desktop machine –but this is likely how most people would do it anyway.

Of course, all of these interface difficulties would be nonexistent if there was a native app for the service like there is for the Android devices, but it seems likely that development efforts for this would be secondary for Amazon.

However, it is expected that Apple will soon be extending MobileMe to offer much the same functionality, but fully integrated with iOS as well as being optimized for the smaller screens of the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is also rumored that the new Apple service will have full music label backing and presumably use your iTunes library as a source.

[via TechCrunch]

» Related posts:

Apple and the “iCloud” Game – Domain Name Ready?


The rumors about Apple’s new cloud service keep getting stronger. The last several weeks have been quite entertaining for the Cupertino company.

First, we heard the company stopped selling MobileMe on retail stores. Then, we heard that iOS 5 would be focused on cloud-based features, and a new “personal media locker” hosting service would be released for your music, videos and photos at a $20 to $25 yearly cost.  Now, a new report indicates that Apple may have bought the iCloud.com domain name for its service.

GigaOM has reported that Xcerion may have sold the iCloud.com domain to Apple. If you search for it, the iCloud.com domain name was being used as a “storage-as-a-cloud” service by Xcerion. Xcerion acquired the domain name in April 5, 2011 and recently rebranded the domain name to “CloudMe”.

According to GigaOm, a source very familiar with the situation has informed the tech blog about Apple’s potential new name for its much awaited cloud-based music service. GigaOm’s tipster claims the name will be “iCloud”.

If you do a Whois search for the iCloud.com domain name, Xcerion still comes up as the domain’s owner. But, if GigaOm’s report proves to be correct, Apple spent $4.5 million to buy the domain name.

A week ago, Reuters reported that Apple have completed work on its new cloud-based storage system, and everything appeared to be finalized including deals with major record labels.

Will this be the actual domain name used for the new cloud service? Of course, Apple can always change its plans. Stay tuned.

[via GigaOm]

» Related posts:

Rumor: Apple Charging for Cloud Music Service?


We recently reported about the imminent arrival of Apple’s cloud-based music service, but a new report released by CNET today reveals that it may not be free. According to music industry insiders, the service may be free of charge initially to attract users, but eventually, Apple is going to charge a fee.

Cloud music services from Apple and Google have been in the works since last year, with both companies discussing storage and uploading privileges with the four major record companies. This will allow users to upload music to the cloud service and access it from any Internet connected device.

So far, it’s unclear what Apple will charge, but if it’s inline with Google’s prospective pricing, it will be around $20 to $25 annually. It’s also unclear whether or not consumers are willing to pay for cloud music. At the moment, Amazon doesn’t charge anything for the Cloud Player and Cloud Drive services, unless you exceed 5GB. The company offers 20GB free with an album purchase right now, but when the promotion ends, it will be $20 per year.

One thing’s for sure – pricing will have to be low enough to entice users to pay. Right now, music subscription services don’t have a significant share in the digital market. It’s certainly better to own music (and access it from iTunes) rather than rent it, which is how most subscription services currently work.

Currently, both companies are working on securing deals with record companies. Apple reportedly has a deal with Warner Music Group and rumors of other deals in the works, but Google hasn’t made much headway. Apple’s music service is set to launch ahead of Google’s, as, according to Reuters, Apple has “completed work on an online music storage service.”

Would you pay for Apple’s cloud music service? I’m unsure if I would, because all my music is currently available on all of the devices I use. It would certainly be convenient if you use multiple computers at work and home, or when you upgrade to a new computer. But isn’t this something that should be included with iTunes, when we’re already paying over $1 per song?

» Related posts:

Rovio Confirms Release of Free ‘Angry Birds Sync’ This Summer


The Cloud has become a topic du jour in 2011. We’ve heard rumors of Apple planning to launch a “media locker” service sync for your personal data and media files across iOS devices. We’ve also seen how Amazon rushed their cloud based service offering in an effort to beat Apple and Google to the market.

None of this has prevented Rovio from confirming the creation of a cross-platform sync solution, dubbed Angry Birds Sync, that could allow you to play Angry Birds across multiple devices without ever losing your achievements, progress and records.

According to The Appera, a tweet from Rovio has revealed that the company is working hard “on a solution to get all Angry Birds devices in sync.” Rovio is targeting this summer to release the Angry Birds Sync, which could sync their game across multiple devices including your iPad, iPhone, Mac and possibly Windows.

Meanwhile, Rovio has also posted the first screenshots of their upcoming seasonal Angry Birds update for Easter. The new update will include plenty of eggs, bunnies, and a total of 15 new levels that will be released for the iPhone and iPad.

[via Touch Arcade]

» Related posts:

Amazon, Google Racing Apple to Cloud-Based Media Locker Service


The last 3 days have been full of rumors about the upcoming MobileMe media locker service from Apple. One of the biggest questions has been whether or not Apple will offer the service for free, or charge $20 per year as rumored.

While Apple keeps working on their big announcement, Amazon and Google have been working relentlessly to launch their very own cloud-based solutions.

A big question around MobileMe has been how soon can Apple convince the big content publishers to join a new cloud-based service. We have to assume that Apple should not have major problems with many of the major label records such as EMI, Universal, Warner, Sony and others. We have to consider that iTunes has been a good platform to those companies when we talk about driving additional revenue.

Everyone has been expecting Apple to confirm their MobileMe service plans. As usual, Apple has not shared any details, but has briefly hinted us by making clear they do plan to leverage their massive data center in North Carolina.

However, let’s not forget about Amazon and Google. The last few days have given specific indications that they will be ready to compete against Apple in the cloud digital locker service space.

Amazon already has a strong retail experience with their cloud distribution service called Amazon EC2. The company already stores electronic books for Kindle owners and allows those users to save a digital copy in their personal digital locker.

According to CNET, Amazon has been spending quite a bit of time talking to major record companies and Hollywood studios about their digital locker service. The company could surprise all of us this week with a big announcement about their upcoming digital locker service.

Amazon is clearly aiming at helping major content providers store music, videos/films and book collections. The service would provide you a cloud locker service to store your very own music, videos, books, and other content that wasn’t even purchased via Amazon.

Some folks may argue that Amazon does not have all the required licenses, but let’s not forget that Amazon already offers their “Instant Video” service, where you and I get a chance to buy or rent movies and TV shows online. They are actually giving Netflix a run for the video streaming market.

Of course, Google cannot be forgotten. Google has been testing a music service that supposedly will allow you to store music on Google’s servers where you can quickly access it from any connected device. We also have to assume that Google will want more than simply storing your music files. The company will certainly make a big push for a media locker service. Some CNET sources have said the service has not been formally announced due to Google’s current negotiations with music labels.

The next few weeks should be very interesting as these three giants unveil their cloud services strategy. There is still much to talk about. Many questions remain unanswered. How much will Apple, Amazon and Google charge for these services? How much will record labels and Hollywood studios want to charge for the online consumption and storage of their valuable content? What will be the final price to consumers?

How many of you plan to use a media locker service?

» Related posts:

A New MobileMe Cloud Music Service for $20 Per Year?


A week ago, Apple sent an email to its suppliers, to tell them that the company would not be selling MobileMe subscriptions anymore.

The turn of events clearly signaled that Apple is about to release a major update of its MobileMe service, to include new capabilities such as online storage. Several reports have claimed the new MobileMe would be free, however a report by The Music Void seems to indicate the locker service would cost around $20 per year.

The current MobileMe service offers the ability to store calendar and contacts data, and costs $99. From what we know, the new service would allow much more than that. The rumors indicate you will be able to leverage Apple’s cloud (via Lala’s acquisition) to store your files in a personal locker including music, photos, video, and even allow iOS 5 users to synchronize their devices with the cloud.

As expected, every time we start talking about music files we should not forget about content rights, which is a delicate topic within the music industry. This means Apple needs to convince Universal, Sony and EMI Records to move over to the new cloud service. We have to assume Apple should be able to do so.

However, what seems to be a bit unclear at the moment, is whether or not Apple will charge for parts of the new MobileMe service. Even though earlier reports indicated the MobileMe service would be offered free of charge, The Music Void report indicates the new service would set you back $20 per year. Some have speculated that maybe Apple will offer sync features for free, while releasing some additional paid options for larger storage for your video and music files.

April is just around the corner. We’ve heard about a new iOS roadmap event next month. The expectation is for Apple to reveal their iOS 5 plans and a revamped MobileMe service. Stay tuned. We will follow this story very closely.

[via 9to5Mac]

» Related posts: