

ICloud and Apple’s truth: can you win if you don’t play? - siglesias
http://thisismynext.com/2011/06/13/icloud-apple-strategy-flaw/

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siglesias
It seems to me that Topolsky's complaint can be summarized as, "Apple is is
messing this up by not providing a web-based front end to these services, a
front end with which I can access my iCloud data from any device, anywhere."

But do 80% - 90% of customers want this? Doesn't the complaint that iCloud
services are not accessible from any computer rest on the assumption that
people are frequently accessing their data from different computers? What are
the reasons someone would do this? I could think of a time a few years ago
when, say, I was at a friend's house, sans laptop, and needed to check my
email, so I logged into Gmail, etc, but I have my smartphone now. The email
_is_ with me on the go. Where is the data to support the claim that consumers
use web services frequently on anywhere other than their own computers? I'd
like to see that.

And I think Apple had a study sample in MobileMe that showed that even _with_
web front ends to the 3 arguably most important on-the-go services: contacts,
calendar, and email, that customers _rejected_ (or didn't need) the web app
because they owned smartphones! What's more, this is a biased sample, the
customers who found the service so compelling that they paid $99 a year for
it. It was very likely that the data showed that the web apps were by and
large ignored.

Apple's iCloud represents a bet that the rest of the Internet services--
Google, Flikr, Facebook, can take the other side on, and we'll still be able
to use those services on Apple products.

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MatthewPhillips
I don't know how often people access their email from a friends house. I do
know that the ability to do so in a pinch is invaluable.

I'm also not sure how many consumers are on only Apple devices. I would assume
that the majority of iOS users are also Windows users. Will there be a Windows
client for all of the iCloud compatible services?

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siglesias
Outlook?

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MatthewPhillips
And for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, pictures?

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siglesias
Pictures go to your photos folder. As for the rest, it's incumbent on
Microsoft and/or Google to do a mobile version of their apps, or is it not?

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mstolpm
I don't know on what information the article is based and really doubt that
Apple will not provide at least some sort of web access. And iOS users aren't
forced to use iCloud - GMail, Dropbox and all the others will still be
available ... even in iOS.

But Joshua Topolsky mixes two aspects here: Having (limited) web access vs.
providing full-fledged web apps that make a native app obsolete.

Apple is selling hardware and therefore is interested in pushing native apps
instead of web apps. Google on the other hand sells no hardware and uses web
apps to sell advertising. These are completely different approaches.

Moreover, its not really fair to write down a product that was just announced,
is 3 months from release and wasn't seen and used by anyone.

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MatthewPhillips
I agree completely. Apple's stance on the web is confusing. On the one hand
they do make an excellent browser, so they must understand that it's important
to their customers. Yet on the other hand I feel that iCloud is them finally
saying that they will not participate in the web economy.

I don't know how consumers will react to this. I don't know if the convenience
of signing up for iCloud because you have an iPhone is more important than the
inconvenience of not being able to check your mail anywhere. It doesn't work
for me though. If I'm shopping for a new computer or a new phone and I have to
stop and consider whether or not it is compatible with my email provider; it's
time to ditch the email provider.

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ChrisLTD
It simply doesn't make business sense for Apple to build a suite of web apps.
Their business is built on hardware sales. Web apps commoditize hardware.

They don't want customers asking themselves why they're buying shiny expensive
Apple hardware when they could get 95% of the same experience on any computer
or mobile device with a modern browser.

