Apple's Services Teams to Start Working Together to Improve Siri, Maps, iCloud, and iTunes

Apple plans to unify its cloud services teams, including Siri, Apple Maps, iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple News, and parts of iTunes and Apple Music, at its existing Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino, California, according to Bloomberg.

itunes-icloud-siri-apple-maps
Moving the teams into a single campus should streamline growth of Apple services, as the current structure of having teams spread out throughout various office buildings in Cupertino and Sunnyvale contributed to software bugs and slowed product development, the report claims.

The cloud services teams could be on the move again in the near future as Apple completes work on its new Campus 2 headquarters, where well over 13,000 employees are expected to work. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company will begin moving employees to the new campus in 2017.

The report adds that Apple is also planning to shift its services to a single, Apple-made backend system, codenamed Pie. The infrastructure change will reportedly give Apple "more control" and "may speed up load times."

Apple has begun moving over parts of Siri, the iTunes Store, and Apple News to the new platform, one of the people said. Apple plans to move other services, including Maps, to its new system over the next few years. Apple has also developed an internal photo storage system dubbed McQueen to gradually end its reliance on Google and Amazon servers, the people said.

In March, it was reported that Apple is working on an in-house cloud storage system called "McQueen" to reduce its dependence on services like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, with today's report specifying it will be an internal photo storage system.

Apple experienced its first-ever iPhone sales decline earlier this year, but its services category continues to grow. In its most recent quarter, Apple reported nearly $6 billion in revenue tied to services like the App Store, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, iCloud, and the iTunes Store, up 19% compared to the year-ago period.

Top Rated Comments

Hanzu Lao Avatar
84 months ago
It's mind blowing that they have not been working together from the start.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roksraka Avatar
84 months ago
About damn time...
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
840quadra Avatar
84 months ago
interesting. I would have imagined that they would already be collaborating more heavily.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iamPro Avatar
84 months ago
It's mind blowing that they have not been working together from the start.
Exactly, and what's more mind blowing is that we have to wait till 2017 for it to happen.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
recoil80 Avatar
84 months ago
It's mind blowing that they have not been working together from the start.
That's the actual news here, they didn't work together from the start.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DoctorDoctor Avatar
84 months ago
About time they started improving these because they're seriously behind everyone. My experience with these services so far:

* The photos from my iPhone take hours or days to sync to my Mac, and about half of them never make it across with no progress bar, no error message, no explanation at all.
* Because of iCloud, there is a duplicate of every single photo I take stored on my iPhone which already hardly has any free storage. Each photo takes up double the storage space for no reason at all.
* If you ever have issues with iCloud, God help you. There are no settings or anything you can fix.
* If you ever turn iCloud off, you will lose all your contacts and all your calendar events. You can't even really restore them from Time Machine, because doing that will turn iCloud back on.
* Maps just can't figure out addresses, simple as that. While Google Maps can solve almost any badly written, incomplete, misspelt address you throw at it, Maps can't even figure out the simplest ones where you made sure everything is correct. Since I can't find most addresses I search for, the whole thing is totally useless.
* Notes take ages to sync, doesn't sync, or creates numerous duplicates across Mac and iPhone.
* Siri is great when it works. But often it takes more time to respond than just doing it manually.]
* The new iTunes is a horror in UI design. Brings back memories from when Skype was redesigned a few years ago.

I can watch photos sync to both iCloud and my Macbook almost instantly after taking a shot with my iPhone. There is no duplication of photos on your iPhone if you choose the option to let the iPhone manage storage. Turning off iCloud does not delete your data in iCloud. It will ask if you want to delete if from the device but you have the option to NOT delete the data.

Ok, that is enough. Sounds to me like you have no clue how to use your devices. Apple offers some instructions on their site. I suggest instead of posting incorrect info here that you use your time to learn how things really work.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 16

iOS 16.4 for iPhone Nearing Launch With These 5 New Features

Monday March 20, 2023 11:50 am PDT by
Apple says iOS 16.4 is coming in the spring, which began this week. In his Sunday newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the update should be released "in the next three weeks or so," meaning a public release is likely in late March or early April. iOS 16.4 remains in beta testing and introduces a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone. Below, we have recapped five new features ...
iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Leak Reveals Unified Volume Button and Mute Button

Monday March 20, 2023 8:33 am PDT by
As previously rumored, the next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a unified volume button and a mute button, according to leaked CAD images shared in a video on the Chinese version of TikTok and posted to Twitter by ShrimpApplePro. Instead of separate buttons for volume up and volume down, the iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to have a single elongated button for...
voice isolation

iOS 16.4 Adds Voice Isolation for Cellular Phone Calls

Tuesday March 21, 2023 11:01 am PDT by
The iOS 16.4 update that is set to be released to the public in the near future includes voice isolation for cellular calls, according to notes that Apple shared today. Apple says that Voice Isolation will prioritize your voice and block out the ambient noise around you, making for clearer phone calls where you can better hear the person you're chatting with and vice versa. Voice...
airpodsd 3 purple 4

iOS 16.4 Seemingly References New AirPods and AirPods Case

Tuesday March 21, 2023 11:43 am PDT by
The iOS 16.4 release candidate version that was provided to developers today appears to hint at a new set of AirPods that could be coming in the near future. According to @aaronp613, the beta features references to AirPods that have a model number of A3048 and an AirPods case with a model number of A2968. There have been no rumors that new AirPods are on the horizon, and it is early for...
maxresdefault

Nothing Launches $149 Ear (2) Wireless Earbuds to Compete With AirPods Pro 2

Wednesday March 22, 2023 9:48 am PDT by
Nothing today announced the launch of its second-generation wireless earbuds, the Nothing Ear (2), which offer many of the same features as Apple's AirPods Pro 2 at a lower price point. We went hands-on with the Ear (2) earbuds to see whether they're a viable alternative to the AirPods Pro 2 for those who want to save some cash. The Ear (2) earbuds are the successor to the Nothing Ear (1),...
iOS 16

Apple Seeds Release Candidate Versions of iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 to Developers [Update: Public RC Available]

Tuesday March 21, 2023 10:25 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after the launch of the fourth betas. The RCs mark the final version of the software that will be provided to the public in the near future. Registered developers are able to download the iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates...
apple park at night 1

Apple 'Tracking Employee Attendance' in Crackdown on Remote Working

Thursday March 23, 2023 3:41 am PDT by
Apple is tracking the attendance of its employees at offices using badge records in order to ensure they are coming in at least three times a week, according to Platformer's Zoë Schiffer. Since April 2022, Apple employees have been operating on a hybrid home/office work policy as part of a gradual return strategy following the pandemic, with staff required to work from the office at least...
iphone 14 pro max deep purple feature purple

iPhone 15 Pro Rumor Recap: 10 New Features and Changes to Expect

Thursday March 23, 2023 6:42 am PDT by
While the iPhone 15 series is still around six months away from launching, there have already been plenty of rumors about the devices. Many new features and changes have been rumored for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max in particular. Below, we have recapped 10 changes rumored for iPhone 15 Pro models that are not expected to be available on the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus:A1...