Tag: iCloud

iTunes 10.5 Arrives Before iOS 5

Apple’s latest version of iTunes is now available to download for both Mac and Windows. 10.5 is notable in that it allows users to utilize the upcoming iCloud and iOS 5 features, both of which are dropping on Wednesday, October 12th.

iTunes 10.5 brings you iTunes in the Cloud. The big draw about this is that once you download a song on one of your Apple devices, they automatically appear on your other Apple devices. So if you download a track at home, you’ll automatically have it available to jam to on your drive to work.

iCloud will allow users a complete download history. Not only is this simply good information to have, but this will let you re-download all of your past purchases to any of your Apple devices.

iTunes 10.5 will make use of the upcoming iOS 5 as well as allow effortless synching via Wi-Fi.

10.5 paves the way for a feature that will launch soon, the previously announced iTunes Match. It will run you $24.99 a year, but here’s what you’ll get in return, according to Apple –

Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 19 million songs in the iTunes Store, chances are, your music is already in iCloud. And for the few songs that aren’t, iTunes has to upload only what it can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it to any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.

Will you pay for the iTunes Match feature? Let us know in the comments.

October 11, 2011
Apple iCloud Email Invites Leak

If the various rumors come to fruition, October may be the biggest month in Apple’s long, evolving history. iPhone 5, iOS 5 and iCloud computing are the primary items feeding the buzz, and thanks to a leaked email, it seems Apple users could be getting access to the iCloud a little sooner than expected.

Or not.

While the iCloud setup page returns a “cannot be found” message, the email discussed by Apple Insider looks legitimate. Apparently, one of their contributors received the invite yesterday, and although the linked contained within is not active, the potential for flexibility across Apple’s family of mobile devices is apparent. The thing is, in order to take advantage of what the service offers, you’ll need at least two devices with iTunes installed — or, at least two Apple devices — otherwise, you wouldn’t really be sharing the content, would you?

As for the email, a screenshot follows:

As indicated, the link within the email is supposed to take the reader to the iCloud setup page, a page that is not active at the moment. As AppleInsider points out, not only is the setup page not active, Apple’s iCloud homepage has “Coming this Fall” disclaimer in the upper left hand corner. In case you aren’t sure what iCloud offers, here’s the description directly from Apple:

iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices — automatically. It’s the easiest way to manage your content. Because now you don’t have to.

Basically, you upload the files and docs to iCloud and from there, you’ll be able to access the content from any Apple device. Did you or anyone you know receive a similar email? If so, did you or the recipient gain access to the setup stage? Does iCloud sound like something you want to take advantage of?

Let us know what you think.

October 1, 2011
Apple iCloud Prices and Web Apps Revealed

iCloud will ship to consumers this Fall. It lets you store content in the cloud and access it on various devices. It works with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, and even PC, and is free with the upcoming iOS 5 – also due out this Fall.

The iCloud web interface at iCloud.com has now been opened up to developers, and shows apps that can utilize it. You need to have an Apple ID and developer account to enter.

With the announcement of iCloud in June, Apple also announced the end of MobileMe as a service, indicating that Contacts, Calendar and Mail services had been reworked to work with iCloud. It makes sense then, that web apps for these things, as well as Apple’s iWork, are featured on the beta site.

With iCloud, users will also be able to access any app, book, photo, document, etc. from any of their devices. More facts about iCloud can be found here.

When Apple first unveiled iCloud, it talked about pricing, and how competitive it would be in terms of music storage. Here’s a chart they shared.

Now, they’ve provided a bit more info. “5GB of free storage is plenty for most people,” the company says. “But if you need extra space, you can always buy additional storage.”

$20 a year will get you an extra 10GB. $40 will get you 20GB, and $100 will get you 50GB.

August 2, 2011
What iCloud Is, and What It’s Not

In spite of all the hype around Apple’s iCloud, there has been some confusion about what it is and what it’s not. For starters, the iCloud stores user content on the cloud and pushes it to other devices, such as the iPad. While it’s great for storing and sharing documents and images between devices, or syncing information on your devices together, it is not a back up.

Were you under the impression that iCloud was a back up solution? Let us know.

For example, if you create a document on your iPhone, you can pull that same document up on your iPad through the iCloud. However, if you delete it on your iPhone, it cannot be retrieved on your iPad.

Anthony Palermo, the creator of online back up Dolly Drive, said that iCloud was “Apple’s introduction to services that go beyond your device.” His product, on the other hand, does serve as a cloud back up through Apple’s Time Machine.

“Dolly Drive is actually more than just the ability of backing up your information, [or] your computer to the cloud, it also has a framework to back up locally your drives, so that if you ever were to lose your hard drive, you can immediately connect an external hard drive and be up and running again,” he said.

He went on to explain that even though iCloud and Dolly Drive serve 2 very distinctive services, they are both critical to the needs of users. With iCloud, users can view their iTunes library from all their Mac and Apple devices, stream photos between devices, sync and store documents on devices, and see apps and app history on all devices.

Through Dolly Drive, users have a back up to all their computer files, if they want. Also, it backs up computer content automatically every hour and allows users to continue working even if their hard drive crashes.

“Our intent is to make sure that no matter what’s on your computer or where it’s at on your computer, it gets backed up,” said Palermo.

We asked him what he thought about Apple and Google’s very different approaches to the cloud. According to him, Apple wants to offer the best experience for their devices. Google, though, is focused on platforms and on a large-scale experience for users.

He also told us that he expects the value of the cloud to increase over the next several years.

“We’re going to see great things to come with the cloud in the next 5 years, and I think, at that point, younger, more experienced computer-savvy users will see the cloud as just a natural process of what they do as they sit down and work with their devices,” he added.

June 24, 2011
Apple iCloud Sued by iCloud Communications

A week ago today Apple’s iCloud was unveiled at their Worldwide Developers Conference which, according to Steve Jobs, will serve as the “center of your digital life.” Before it was even revealed at WWDC, the cloud service had already drawn an antitrust complaint. And now you can add a trademark lawsuit to the list.

iCloud Communications is a VoIP company based in Phoenix, AZ. According to their website, they have provided local and long-distance telephone service since 1985. In their court filing, however, they list 2005 as their date of origin –

iCloud Communications was formed in 2005 and is a provider of, among other “cloud computing” products and services, computer telephony (telecommunication)hardware and software for the electronic transmission of email, text, audio, video, photos,information, data, video conferencing, virtual video conferencing and other content via the internet and wireless data networks.

iCloud Communication says in their suit that they have spent “tens of thousands” of dollars annually on advertising to promote the marks iCloud, and iCloud Communication. They allege that by launching their cloud services with the same name and blitzing the media with advertising and coverage of their iCloud, Apple has done damage to iCloud Communications. They say that the “general public have quickly come to associate the mark ‘iCloud’ with Apple, rather than iCloud Communications.

They state that Apple’s continued use of “iCloud” has and will continue to result in irreparable harm –

Apple’s announcement of and the launch of its advertising campaign for its iCloud service have so thoroughly swamped the reputation of iCloud Communications and the goodwill it had built up over the years in the iCloud Marks that is likely to cause—and has actually cause—confusion among consumers of cloud computing services and members of the general public as to the source of the parties’ goods and services. In fact, iCloud Communications has received numerous inquiries from both existing and prospective customers regarding whether it is now owned or affiliated with Apple

Additionally, it is likely that consumers will be given the misimpression that Apple, not iCloud Communications, is the source of the services offered under the iCloud Marks and/or that iCloud Communications is an unauthorized user of and is infringing upon Apple’s trademark rights. Such misimpressions will damage iCloud Communications’ reputation.

The loss of and damage to the goodwill in the iCloud Marks, the damage to iCloud Communication’s reputation and confusion among consumers is likely to continue—and, in fact, intensify—unless Apple is enjoined from its use of the mark “iCloud.”

iCloud Communications doesn’t have a registered trademark for the term “iCloud” filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If you search the USPTO database, you’ll find that 11 of the 13 claims to the term “iCloud” are in fact filed by Apple. One is filed by an individual and the other by a Swedish corporation.

The suit addresses this Swedish company, saying that the company’s continued use of iCloud in their services once Apple purchased their trademark invalidates it altogether –

Apple also went through the motions of purchasing a U. S. trademark registration for “iCloud,” Reg. No. 3,744,821, from a Swedish consulting company whose use of the mark post-dates that of iCloud Communications by two years. Moreover, upon information and belief, the Swedish company has continued offering the same services to the same customers under a similar mark. Thus, Apple’s acquisition of the mark iCloud appears to have been “in gross” and is, therefore, invalid

iCloud Communications claims common law rights to the trademark within the state of Arizona. They maintain that since they’ve established the name within their geographic area, they lay claim to its use. They say that Apple is infringing upon their established business.

This isn’t the first suit that has sprung up out due to the names of Apple products, and it will probably not be the last. What do you think will happen? Will Apple settle?

iCloud Complaint

June 13, 2011
114 Things You Should Know About Apple’s New Offerings

Apple finally kicked off its much-anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference, and introduced the equally anticipated Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5 operating systems, as well as the company’s cloud offering – iCloud. As you might imagine, there are a lot of details to take in around these three offerings , so we’ve compiled a whole bunch of them into quick, bite-sized nuggets for easy consumption.

Are you impressed by Apple’s forthcoming offerings? Let us know in the comments.

Mac OS X Lion

1. Mac OS X Lion is the 8th major release of the OS.

2. It will be available in July.

3. It has over 250 new features (not all of which were detailed)

4. It comes with 3,000 new developer APIs.

5. It will be only available by download through the Mac App Store.

6. It features Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations that let you interact directly with content on the screen

7. New gestures include momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, and swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps.

8. All Mac notebooks ship with Multi-Touch trackpads and desktop Macs can use Apple’s Magic Trackpad.

9. Mac OS X Lion features full screen apps to take advantage of the entire display

10. The Mission Control feature combines Exposé, full screen apps, Dashboard and Spaces.

11. You can swipe to get your desktop to zoom out to display your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full screen apps and your Dashboard.

12. It comes with the Mac App Store built in.

13. The Launchpad feature makes it easier to find and launch apps, and with a single multi-touch gesture, all your apps are displayed in a full screen layout.

14. You can organize apps into any order or into folders and swipe through unlimited pages of apps.

15. There’s a redesigned Mail app with widescreen layout.

16. The Mail app has a new conversations feature that groups related messages into a scrollable timeline.

17. The Mail app has a new search feature that lets you refine searches and suggests matches by person, subject, and label as you type.

18. The mail app also includes support for Microsoft Exchange 2010.

19. The OS includes Resume, which lets you bring apps back to how you left them when you restart or relaunch the app.

20. Apps will save automatically as you work.

21. Versions records the history of your documents as you create them, and gives you a way to browse, revert, and copy/paste from previous versions.

22. An AirDrop feature lets you find nearby Macs and set up P2P wireless connections.

23. Mac OS X Lion will be available as an upgrade to Snow Leopard from the Mac App Store for $29.99.

24. The upgrade will be at about 4GB (the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store).

iOS 5

25. Apple calls iOS 5 “the most extensive software update ever for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.”

26. iOS 5 has over 200 new features.

27. iOS 5 is a free update.

28. iOS 5 gives devices access to iCloud (see below)

29. Apple has not detailed all 200 features, but highlights a few as “key features,” which include: notification center, iMessage, Newsstand, Reminders, Twitter, Camera, Photos, Safari, and PC Free.

30. Notification Center aggregates all of your notifications, and can be accessed simply by swiping down from the top of the screen.

31. It shows stocks and weather at the top of the screen.

32. It will display a little pop up at the top to let you know about it while you’re watching a video or playing a game, then it will go away.

33. The “Newsstand” feature automatically downloads (in the background) the latest issues of magazine and newspaper apps that you’re subscribed to, and keeps the available for online or offline access from one place.

34. iOS 5 comes with built-in Twitter integration, where you save your Twitter info, which can easily be shared with any other app. This will make it easy to simply Tweet just about anything from the device. – Twitter can be used to automatically update contacts (if they’re on Twitter).

35. Safari gets a button called “Safari Reader,” which converts articles into just text, eliminating ads and other clutter on the page. Some publishers may take issue with this.

36. It also lets you email the content to people.

37. Safari also has a reading list feature that lets you save stories to read later (on multiple devices).

38. Safari gets tabbed browsing.

39. The “Reminders” feature lets you keep lists and assign reminders to specific dates and locations, so you can get reminded of something not only by time, but also based on when you enter or exit a specific location.

40. There is a camera icon on the lock screen providing quicker access to the camera app.

41. You can use the volume up button to take pictures.

42. You can pinch to zoom in the app and edit photos directly on the phone.

43. Mail comes with rich-text formatting, indentation control, draggable addresses, and the ability to mark items as unread, search entire messages, and S/MIME.

44. There is a new dictionary feature that lets you look up words from any app by tapping on the word and getting a definition.

45. There’s a new keyboard feature that lets you split the keyboard apart into two pieces.

46. The “PC-Free” feature means you’re no longer required to connect to a PC. You can set up and activate the box right out of the box, and software updates don’t require plugging in.

47. Updates are “delta,” meaning it only updates what needs to be updated, as opposed to the whole thing, which should save time and data.

48. The Game Center will show achievement points.

49. It will also show scores of freinds’ friends

50. The Game Center will also show friend and game recommendations.

51. You will be able to purchase and download games right from the Game Center.

52. Turn-based games can be played from the OS.

53. Messaging will work among any iOS users. In other words, whether you’re using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, you’ll be able to send and receive messages to other users.

54. That applies to text, pictures, and video, and includes Group messaging.

55. You can also switch devices yourself in the middle of conversations.

56. The SDK is out for developers.

57. iOS 5 will ship to customers in the fall.

58. iOS 5 will support iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2, and IPod Touch (3rd and 4th gen)

59. You can give Apple your email address here to get notified when iOS 5 is ready for you to download.

iCloud

60. iCloud ships in the fall.

61. There is a beta available now for iOS and Mac Developer Program members.

62. iCloud lets you store content in the cloud and access it on all your devices.

63. iCloud works with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, and PC.

64. It’s free with the upcoming iOS 5.

65. iCloud is “seamlessly” integrated into apps.

66. MobileMe has been discontinued as a service, and the Contacts, Calendar and Mail services have been reworked to work with iCloud.

67. Users can share calendars with friends and family.

68. Users can get an @me.com push mail account (which has no ads).

69. inbox and mailboxes are kept up-to-date across devices.

70. App Store and iBookstore download purchased iOS apps and books to all your devices (not just the one they were purchased on).

71. The App Store and iBooktore also let you see your purchase history, and download any apps/books to different devices by hitting the “iCloud” icon.

72. You can replace your stuff on a new device (up to ten devices) free of charge, using your Apple ID.

73. iCloud Storage stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all your devices.

74. When you change a document on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all devices.

75. Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps take advantage of iCloud Storage.

76. iCloud’s Photo Stream automatically uploads photos you take or import on any device and pushes them to all devices.

77. Photo Stream is built into photo apps on all iOS devices and saved to the Pictures folder on a PC.

78. To save space, the last 1,000 photos are stored on each device so they can be viewed or moved to an album to save forever.

79. Macs and PCs will store all photos from the Photo Stream.

80. iCloud will store each photo in the cloud for 30 days.

81. Users get up to 5GB of free storage for mail, documents, and backup.

82. Storage for music, apps, and books purchased from Apple doesn’t count toward the storage limit.

83. Storage required by Photo Stream doesn’t count either.

84. Users can buy more storage – details on this will be announced when iCloud ships in the fall.

85. iTunes lets you download previously purchased iTunes music to all iOS devices at no additional charge.

86. Music not purchased from iTunes can be synced using iTunes Match.

87. iTunes Match upgrades songs to 256 kbps AAC DRM-free versions if it can match it to songs in its library.

88. If it can’t match it, it will upload it.

89. iTunes Match will be available in the fall for $24.99 a year (US only).

90. iTunes in the Cloud is available now in beta without iTunes Match.

91. iTunes in the Cloud will support all iPhones that iOS 5 supports.

92. Apple has invested over $500 million in one data center in Maiden, NC to support demand for free iCloud services.

93. You can give Apple your email address here to get notified when iCloud is available.

Random Apple stats (According to Apple)

94. Over 54 million Mac users around the world (and growing)

95. The PC market has shrunk 1%, while the Mac has grown 28%

96. Mac has outgrown the industry every quarter for the last five years

97. Mac sales are nearly 3/4 those of notebooks

98. Over 200 million iOS devices sold

99. iOS the “number one mobile operating system” with over 44% of the market

100. Over 25 million iPads sold

101. Over 15 billion songs sold through iTunes

102. 130 million book downloads from the iBookstore

103. There are 90,000 iPad apps

104. Over 14 billion apps downloaded from the App Store

105. Apple has paid over $2.5 billion to developers

106. Over 225 million accounts with credit cards and 1-click purchasing

107. Over 100 billion notifications pushed

108. 1 billion tweets sent per week (relevant considering the new Twitter integration)

109. Nearly 2/3 of all mobile web browsing done through Safari

110. Over 100,000 game and entertainment titles in the App Store

111. 50 million Game Center users (that’s in nine months, and is compared to Xbox live getting 30 million in 8 years)

Other

112. Steve Jobs Appeared at the event, despite his medical leave of absence from the company.

113. His physical appearance has caught the attention of a great deal of commentators – many not incredibly optimistic.

114. After rising ahead of the event, Apple’s stock declined in afternoon trading after Jobs’ speech ended.

Do you think Apple’s new offerings will make a significant impact? Tell us what you think.

June 6, 2011
iCloud Revealed at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference

Apple began its Wordwide Developers conference keynote today by showing off Mac OS X Lion again, and unveiling the new features of iOS 5, while of course sprinkling in various stats about Apple’s accomplishments. Though CEO Steve Jobs introduced the keynote, he left other Applers to demo the OS updates.

He then returned to demo the much-anticipated iCloud, which he is “really excited about”. He also said Apple is demoting the the Mac and the PC to “just be a device,” and “move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.”

“iCloud stores content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all of your devices,” said Jobs. “It automatically uploads it, stores it, and pushes it to all of your devices.”

MobileMe apps have been re-worked to work with iCloud. Contacts can be added in any device and synced to all devices. The same goes with calendar editing.

Users can get an @me.com account to have all messages synced across devices. Jobs emphasizes that these accounts will not have ads, saying, “we just don’t want ads.” A dig at Google perhaps? Gmail shows users ads based on text in their email conversations.

MobileMe now “ceases to exist,” according to Jobs, and iCloud is free. Apps can be accessed from any device, as can books from iBooks, music purchased from iTunes, photos, videos, etc. Specifically, iCloud supports:

– Automatic daily backups to iCloud over Wi-Fi
– Purchased music, apps and books
– Camera roll (photos and videos)
– device settings
– App data.
– Documents in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote

You can simply enter your password on any device and access your stuff (kind of like what Google’s doing with Chrome OS).

It works across all iOS devices, as well as Macs and PCs.

In terms of photos, the last 1,000 will still be stored on the device.

Then of course there’s iTunes, where music can be accessed on any device without multiple purchases, of course. iTunes is getting a new “purchased” tab, which shows you the stuff you’ve bought download it to your device.

If you have music that you’ve ripped yourself (as opposed to downloading from iTunes), you can now use “iTunes Match,” which scans your music and matches it up with songs in the iTunes store in “minutes”. iTunes has 18 million songs by the way. Matched songs are upgraded to 256 kbps AAC DRM-free, and songs that don’t match will be uploaded. One catch – iTunes Match costs $24.99 per year.

iCloud is free, it will be available by default on iOS 5, and it comes with 5GB of storage for mail, documents, and backup. Purchased music, apps, and books don’t count toward that, nor do photos. iCloud is launching in developer beta today.

June 6, 2011
Apple iCloud Draws Antitrust Complaints Before It’s Even Unveiled

Apple’s iCloud service hasn’t even been formally introduced yet (it will be today sometime after 1PM Eastern), but it is already drawing antitrust complaints.

iCloud is expected to add a music storage element to Apple’s current digital music offerings (the largely successful iTunes), and Berlin’s Simfy, another music service, says Apple has been withholding approval of its iPad app from the App Store. According to a report from The Next Web, Simfy has filed an antitrust complaint in Germany. Simfy CEO Gerrit Schumann is quoted as saying:

“We believe there is a connection between Apple’s iCloud development and their blocking our application. As we offer a true triple play streaming service (mobile, Web, desktop) – it seems Apple is worried about competition.”

“We have always considered Apple an important partner, but it is unacceptable for Apple to be able to control the market in this way. The App Store is a key marketplace we use to reach our customers. In the meanwhile,Simfy users are rightfully complaining about the lack of this app for the iPad. Of course, we ourselves are true fans of Apple and its products. That is why it was so disappointing and incomprehensible to us that we have apparently been blocked intentionally for months now.”

Apple has allowed its app for the iPhone and iPod Touch in the App Store, which does make any alleged withholding of the iPad app seem somewhat questionable.

Apple, according to an investor in Simfy, has not responded to the company’s inquiries (including those from lawyers).

So far, little is actually known about iCloud, as Apple has yet to introduce it beyond an announcement that it would be discussed in today’s keynote. It wouldn’t be fair to either party to rush to any conclusions about what is going on here before we even know the full extent of iCloud’s functionality.

In terms of competition, Apple’s iCloud should be competing with a lot more players than just Simfy. This includes recently unveiled offerings from major web companies Google and Amazon, not to mention whatever Facebook has up its sleeve.

In addition to iCloud, Apple will also discuss new versions of its iOS and Mac OS X operating systems today.

June 6, 2011
Here Come iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off today in San Francisco today. A week ago, Apple revealed that CEO Steve Jobs would be appearing at the event (obviously significant given his medical leave of absence from the company, though he also appeared for the last major Apple product launch as well).

The keynote, at which Jobs will speak, is scheduled for 1:00 PM Eastern (10:00 AM Pacific) today, where Apple’s (presumably) magical new offerings will be unveiled. The company said in an announcement last week, “At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.”

While the new versions of Microsoft’s flagship operating systems are major points of interest, much attention will be paid to iCloud, which should reinforce Apple’s place as a leader in music offerings, and will almost certainly one-up rival Google’s recent unveiling of Google Music, which so far doesn’t even include music purchasing. Apple, on the other hand, has managed to secure deals with the four major record labels.

Apple already has a huge advantage in the digital music space with iTunes – an advantage that only grows with the increasing popularity of its iPhones and iPads. Adding a cloud service with music storage can only help.

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that we can also probably expect Jobs to rattle of some stats related to Apple’s products, as he often does in his keynotes. On Friday, we linked to a WWDC 2011 Keynote Bingo, created by Krazybig, which provides a little game for the event.

We’ll cover Apple’s news as it comes out.

June 6, 2011
WWDC 2011 Bingo

Monday kicks off Apple’s much hyped 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. For a while now, everyone has been speculating as to what will be revealed at the conference. Apple has made it clear that the focus will be on software, quelling rumors of huge news regarding the new iPhone.

When Apple initially announced the conference, they put the focus on their operating systems:

At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS. If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.

But the most speculation has surrounded the iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services launch. Everyone began to speculate when filing revealed that they company had bought the iCloud.com domain name. Just a few days ago, Apple made it official: the iCloud would be a big part of the WWDC 2011. They also confirmed Lion OS X and iOS 5:

At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

Apple Insider has photos of the WWDC banners, further confirming the agenda:

But what else will be revealed in the Keynote, scheduled for 1 pm EST on Monday? Steve Jobs will be giving the address, we know that. What could he unveil? New MacBook Air? New Voice features? iPhone details?

Well, the folks over at Krazybig have developed a way for you to play along at home: WWDC 2011 Keynote Bingo.

As Steve announces all the cool new stuff like iCloud movies and wireless sync, get 5 in a row for Bingo!

We’re not sure exactly what Mr. Jobs will say, but we can be sure that there will be a lot to talk about on Monday afternoon.

June 4, 2011
Steve Jobs, iCloud Will Appear at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference

Apple made a couple of significant announcements in regards to its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference today. For one, CEO Steve Jobs will be keynoting. This is significant given his medical leave.

Secondly, the company announced the topics of keynote, which include its upcoming cloud services, named iCloud. The iCloud name had been expected based on recent findings that Apple had purchased the iCloud.com domain name, but the company has now made it official.

Specifically, Apple says, “At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.”

Apple made no secret that it would be unveiling the next versions of Mac OS and iOS, but much of the interest will be around Apple’s cloud offerings.

Apple obviously has a tremendous advantage on the music front with its hugely successful iTunes. Adding a cloud service should only serve to cement this advantage (along with the increasing success of iOS-based devices). Competition is ramping up in this space with players like Google and Amazon recently both launching new products. With Google’s inability to launch with record label deals, Apple might be able to get a leg up there, based on its iTunes experience.

Last week, it was reported that Apple was close to deals with all four major labels.

Since the announcement came out, Apple shares have been on the rise.

May 31, 2011
Apple iCloud – The Future of iOS and Mac OS?

Apple had been rumored to have acquired the domain iCloud.com from Xcerion, which changed its own cloud service’s name to CloudMe. According to a report, this has been confirmed by unidentified people who are in a “position to know”.

AppleInsider says it has learned that the company has actually begun adopting the iCloud name within “several products in currently under development”. The publication’s Kasper Jade reports:

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.

It would only make sense then, that developers will get a glimpse at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June, which has been advertised in the following manner:

“At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”

It was expected that iCloud would be used for a cloud-based music service to rival Amazon, Google, and others, but the lack of any music-based word in the name means a broader scope would indeed make sense. I would guess that the iTunes brand will be heavily involved in any music-related aspect of iCloud.

iCloud.com is rumored to have been purchased from Xcerion for around $4.5 million. It doesn’t appear it has actually changed hands yet, as it currently redirects to CloudMe. It could just be early in the transition.

April 29, 2011
Apple iCloud on the Way?

A new report from GigaOm, cites a “tipster” as saying that Apple has purchased the domain iCloud.com from Xcerion, which just changed the name of its own iCloud service to CloudMe at CloudMe.com. According to the tipster, Apple bought the domain for about $4.5 million.

Naturally, one would have to assume Apple would be interested in that “i” in the name, as the company is expected to launch a cloud-based music service that would compete with Amazon, mSpot, and potentially Google. TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters says he asked Xcerion why they changed their name and got the following response:

“We decided we needed a name change to better reflect our new focus on files and storage, where the desktop is just one of many clients to access files and content stored in CloudMe. Since we a couple of months ago launched our iPhone and Android app, WebDAV and the automatic backup software, Easy Upload for Windows, Mac and Linux, we now have many clients that interact with our users’ content. There also are a lot of third party apps and software supporting the CloudMe online computer.”

Apple’s service is expected to be a paid service. While unconfirmed, a price that has been rumored is $20 a year. The service would let iTunes users stream songs from a remote server from anywhere there is Internet access.

Apple is said to be in talks with record labels about licensing of songs. Google is in the same boat. Both would surely like to have a product out as soon as possible, but those pesky legal issues always get in the way. Apple has reportedly already reached deals with a couple of the major labels. Obviously Apple has a foot firmly in the door with iTunes.

Google has actually been said to be talking to Spotify as a possible partner on its own music service, which was supposed to be ready with Honeycomb (the latest version of Android designed primarily for tablets).

Xcerion is still listed as the owner of the iCloud.com domain.

April 28, 2011