Apple Making Internal Use of 'iCloud' Name With Beta Software Builds?

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Amid mounting claims that Apple has acquired the iCloud.com domain, AppleInsider now reports that Apple is indeed using the "iCloud" name internally as it builds new versions of iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion that will integrate with the service.

Apple has begun adopting the "iCloud" name within several products currently under development, suggesting the appropriately labeled moniker is indeed the frontrunner for the company's soon-to-debut Internet cloud service, which will span beyond streaming music, AppleInsider has learned.

According to people familiar with the matter, Apple is prepping beta versions of both iOS 5.0 and Mac OS X Lion ahead of its annual developers conference that integrate with a service dubbed "iCloud," enabling users to sync and store much of the same information they currently can with the company's existing MobileMe service, such as bookmarks, email, contacts and iCal events.

And while much of the recent discussion regarding Apple's cloud-based service has revolved around its negotiations with music labels to allow users to store music content on Apple's servers, the report also indicates that the service is in fact intended to go beyond music to include a full suite of services potentially including photo and video storage.

That disclosure is certainly not new, with reports dating back over a year pointing to a potential video component, with explicit mention of a MobileMe overhaul to support cloud-based storage of various media types coming in February. It is, however, reassuring to see renewed mention of capabilities beyond the music storage function that has received so much attention in recent weeks.

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Top Rated Comments

CristobalHuet Avatar
191 months ago
This better not mean 32kbps uploading to iDisk.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
smitty078 Avatar
191 months ago
Don't count on it, at least don't count of full functionality. We .mac email users have to use old profiles on our iOS devices to keep the ability to use @mac.com with email. There is a hack out there, but you lose push email ability, which kind of negates one of the prime reasons for subscribing in the first place. I get that Apple has (stupidly I think) retired .Mac, but this does not mean they should abandon us long time users of the service. If Me.com is replaced by iCloud, then I would expect the same treatment we .mac guys have gotten from Apple Consumer Electronics.

Please explain. I have an @mac.com e-mail address and it works just fine. I set it up as mobileme and login with @mac.com instead of @me.com. From there, it's indistinguishable. I also get push e-mail no problem.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
addicted44 Avatar
191 months ago
Oh God.

Apple is absolutely ridiculous.

They think that renaming a flawed product is going to make it better, when really they need to fix and overhaul the entire thing from the ground up.

First it was iTools.
Then .mac.
Then MobileMe.
Now iCloud?

Kinda ridiculous, if you ask me.

This is equivalent to Microsoft putting lipstick on all of their pigs.

You are so right...All Apple is doing is renaming the service.

Sure, there is that little thing where they spent billions to build a huge datacenter to augment the service, but no, its the renaming that is the biggest change they are making.

/SNARK
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DotCom2 Avatar
191 months ago
Oh God.

Apple is absolutely ridiculous.

They think that renaming a flawed product is going to make it better, when really they need to fix and overhaul the entire thing from the ground up.

First it was iTools.
Then .mac.
Then MobileMe.
Now iCloud?

Kinda ridiculous, if you ask me.

This is equivalent to Microsoft putting lipstick on all of their pigs.

How do you know they haven't "fixed and overhauled the entire thing from the ground up" and that's what this is all about?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacNewsFix Avatar
191 months ago
Yes, sadly Apple's moved into the slow lane.

Trundling along like an old dump truck full of coal, weaving about the highway, I wonder what's happened.

They don't seem to be able to match the pace of Goggles project development.

You mean like Buzz, Wave and GoogleTV?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hachre Avatar
191 months ago
If it isn't free it will fail. Simple as that.

MobileMe is a paid service that is so bad that by now I have taken upon me the huge step of completely migrating to the free Google offerings which sadly are far superior. Sad but true.

And Apple will have to do a LOT to get me to move back again.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)