Apple's iCloud and what it means for wireless data service

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple's new iCloud services announced at the World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco today will put everything from mobile apps to digital pictures to music in the "cloud," where users can easily store and access them. But what will this mean for your wireless data bill?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iCloud service, which acts as a digital hub that will store and replicate content so that it can be shared among multiple iOS devices, such as iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads.
"Now the (digital) hub is in the cloud," Jobs said during the keynote presentation, according to CNET's live blog. "If you get something on your iPhone, like a picture, it goes up to the cloud, and gets pushed down to the other devices automatically."
What this means for consumers is that they'll no longer have to connect their iOS devices to a computer to back up information or sync their music. They also won't have to connect their devices to a computer for software updates. Their iTunes music collection, photos taken on their iOS devices, videos viewed on those devices, iBooks, e-mail, calendar information, and more will all be stored in the Apple iCloud so that users can access them on any iOS device.
Unlike other cloud-based services that may require users to manually upload music, Jobs said that Apple has automated the process to make it easy.
It all sounds great for people with iOS devices, who want access to all their content on any device. But how will all this content travel between the iPhone or iPad and the iCloud? Will this put a big strain on carrier networks, and cost consumers more money on their data plans?
Daily updates could indeed put a strain on already struggling cellular networks. But Apple seems prepared to mitigate this problem by forcing some of the data-intensive activities to be done over Wi-Fi instead of over a carrier's cellular network.
This is especially important given that many iPhone users may not have an unlimited data plan from AT&T. Verizon Wireless, which began selling the iPhone 4 this year, has also said it plans to get rid of its unlimited data plan and move to a tiered offering.
Experts believe that with Apple's use of Wi-Fi, plus the low-bandwidth nature of some of the updates, it shouldn't be a problem for most consumers. For one, much of the data that will be transferred between devices will be contacts, e-mails, calendar updates, and other text-based data that doesn't gobble up a lot of bandwidth. What's more, when devices are synched, they'll be updating only new information.
Secondly, software updates and major data transfers will likely be reserved for Wi-Fi only. Forrester analyst Charlie Golvin was at the WWDC event today, and he said Apple's daily updates of iOS devices will happen over Wi-Fi only. And the bigger software updates, which will also happen automatically from time to time, will also happen over Wi-Fi and will occur only when devices are plugged in to an electrical source. This is important, because it means the software updates won't drain the battery. Additionally, iTunes updates and syncing will also happen only over Wi-Fi.
What happens when Wi-Fi is not available? Apple didn't mention that. And Golvin said it's hard to say whether Apple will make it possible to do some of these more data intensive transfers over 3G, or in the future, 4G wireless networks.
Other experts speculate that Apple will give consumers a choice in the setting menu how they access the cloud-based content and backups.
"There are several ways that Apple could manage data usage," said Ross Rubin, an analyst with NPD Group. "For example, it wouldn't be surprising to see Apple uploading photos at a lower resolution when on a bandwidth constrained network."
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner, said Apple already requires that certain apps that are too large be downloaded via Wi-Fi. And he said he expects the company to give consumers some choice in how they set up their data usage.
"They may give you the option to load your pictures now or to queue them until you get to a Wi-Fi hot spot," he said. "And you'll likely have the option to turn off the updates."
The new iCloud services will be available this fall. So expect Apple to discuss more details about how the service works as the launch date nears.

Is it time to switch your mobile OS?

If you were waiting for today's iOS 5 announcement to decide on whether you should make the jump to the iPhone, you might still be waiting. While the improvements are welcome--we're keen on the Camera app shortcuts, for example--many of them are features that Android users have been enjoying for some time. They include notifications, over-the-air updates, and the ability to search within e-mail messages. It appears as if a lot of the improvements are incremental, with the aim of reaching parity with competing smartphones.
So if you're already a happy Android user, we'll be blunt: there's no reason for you to switch yet. We'll admit that some of the features are more compelling than others--Newsstand as a central subscription store that will download new issues in the background sounds neat, and the ability to launch the Camera app right from the lock screen is great--but they aren't enough to woo new customers.
If you're an iPhone owner, there appears to be more reasons for you to jump ship. If you just can't wait for an iPhone 5, Android does offer phones with newer technologies like 4G speeds, NFC, and fancier AMOLED screens--no need to wait until fall to get one.
However, we can't recommend you switch just yet. We've only seen 10 of the 200 or so new features of iOS 5, with many more to be uncovered over the coming months. And of course, there is the ever-elusive iPhone 5 (or potentially iPhone 4S). We simply don't know what new features that phone will bring, if any. If you're already married to the iPhone, why not wait a few more months to see if you even want to file the divorce papers?
Meanwhile, we'll point you to our recent chart that compares iOS 5's new features with those of Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry to see if you do want to switch. And of course, we welcome your comments as to whether you're willing to make the jump to something else.

A brief tour of Apple's iOS 5

Apple's WWDC keynote is now behind us and if they're not at E3, tech journalists around the blogsphere are taking a rest. We didn't get a new iPhone or any new hardware, but Apple rolled out the company's new iCloud service, its Lion OS, and iOS 5, the latest version of its mobile operating system.
We've detailed the full list of changes in our iOS 5 first take--and frankly, they aren't terribly extensive--but we also downloaded the developers version of the update for a test drive. Keep in mind that the final consumer version of iOS 5 may show changes when it becomes available this fall, but this gallery will give you at least a taste of what's to come. We've only started investigating so we'll add additional conversations and "Easter egg" features (Apple says the update will bring 200 new features) as we find them