Apple's purchase of iCloud.com domain 'confirmed'

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Apple is said to have indeed bought the iCloud.com domain for its forthcoming cloud-based iTunes music streaming service, though the rumored $4.5 million purchase price remains unconfirmed.



Citing his own sources, John Paczkowski of Digital Daily reported Friday that Apple did purchase the iCloud.com domain from Swedish cloud computing company Xcerion. Those sources declined, however, to say whether the rumored $4.5 million purchase price was accurate.



The report corroborates a rumor from earlier this week, in which GigaOM first reported that Apple had acquired the domain, likely revealing the name of the company's forthcoming cloud computing service. The Whois database still lists Xcerion as the owner of iCloud, but the company recently rebranded its service as CloudMe.



Still a mystery is exactly what Apple has planned for the domain. The company already has a name for its current cloud computing efforts: MobileMe.



Back in February, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is working on a major revamp of its MobileMe service, and is considering making the $99-per-year product free. The report also said that Apple will offer a digital "locker" that will allow users to store and remotely access personal content, like photos, music and videos.



More recently, Apple is said to have "completed" work on a new music streaming service that it has been pitching to music executives. And one of the four major record labels, Warner Music, is said to have signed a deal with Apple over the service, though the specifics of how it might work remain unknown.







Set to open this spring, Apple's massive data center in Maiden, N.C., will support both the iTunes and MobileMe services, which has led to speculation that the $1 billion facility could be an integral part of Apple's anticipated cloud services. The 500,000 square-foot data center is five times larger than the company's current data center in Newark, Calif.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    rabbit_coachrabbit_coach Posts: 1,114member
    This is going to be an interesting spring for Apple. Looking forward to this new cloud service.



    (Oh I see, I am first)
  • Reply 2 of 27
    applestudapplestud Posts: 367member
    Only AppleInsider can take an 82-word snippet from AllThingsD and turn it into a 309-word discourse on the history of Apple's cloud computing initiatives. Kudos?
  • Reply 3 of 27
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,462member
    ain't nothing wrong with connecting the dots
  • Reply 4 of 27
    mr omr o Posts: 1,046member
    Here's hoping they change the silly "mobileme" moniker to "iCloud".
  • Reply 5 of 27
    firefly7475firefly7475 Posts: 1,502member
    Bah! I still don't like the name!



    To be fair it's going to be what the service offers and how it all fits together that really counts though, regardless of the name
  • Reply 6 of 27
    superbasssuperbass Posts: 688member
    Here's hoping the playstation networks issues cause Apple to quadruple check how they deal with personal information in the cloud.



    Apple's response to the iPhone tracking files was opaque enough to draw comparisons to Sony's wall of silence in the first week of it's problems.



    I think iCloud is first and foremost about getting the iPad independent of PCs, which would open up the entire Netbook segment to a $350-400 low end iPad2...
  • Reply 7 of 27
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member
    Perhaps Apple had already trademarked CloudMe as part of MobileMe branding?



    Sounds like MobilMe will be dropped for iCloud.
  • Reply 8 of 27
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tundraboy View Post


    Perhaps Apple had already trademarked CloudMe as part of MobileMe branding?



    That makes sense. CloudMe is knd of a dorky choice of a name. Apple probably owned it and gave it to iCloud along with piles of cash.
  • Reply 9 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple is said to have indeed bought the iCloud.com domain for its forthcoming cloud-based iTunes music streaming service, though the rumored $4.5 million purchase price remains unconfirmed.



    Dear Steve Jobs,



    It's getting quirky, really, to keep using "i" in names of almost everything you make.

    But then again, whatever you do with the name, as long as it's the child of your brain or from Apple, we'll gladly queue for hours, even camp for days, and still buy it no matter what.



    Keep up the good work, two thumbs up!



    Cheers.



    PS: It would feel less quirky if you can make this cloud-service thing free though, appreciate it.
  • Reply 10 of 27
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,015member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleStud View Post


    Only AppleInsider can take an 82-word snippet from AllThingsD and turn it into a 309-word discourse on the history of Apple's cloud computing initiatives. Kudos?



    True.
  • Reply 11 of 27
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kilimanjaro View Post


    Dear Steve Jobs,



    It's getting quirky, really, to keep using "i" in names of almost everything you make.



    Apple also ownes Google.

  • Reply 12 of 27
    jerseymacjerseymac Posts: 408member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tundraboy View Post


    Perhaps Apple had already trademarked CloudMe as part of MobileMe branding?



    Sounds like MobilMe will be dropped for iCloud.



    So what is my email address going to be now? [email protected]??
  • Reply 13 of 27
    djintxdjintx Posts: 454member
    iTools...

    .Mac...

    MobileMe...

    iCloud?



    You know how when you keep repeating the same word over and over again until it loses all meaning? Well this is the same feeling I am getting now. Of course in this instance, it is the multiple changes that are triggering the feeling. I wish they would pick something for the long haul and stick with it.



    Way too much re-branding going on.
  • Reply 14 of 27
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Me.com is a far seperior domain name. iCloud sounds dumb and unimaginative. I would hazard a guess that Apple bought iCloud dot.com; like Lala dot.com, not for the domain itself, but for the talent.
  • Reply 15 of 27
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Me.com is a far seperior domain name. iCloud sounds dumb and unimaginative. I would hazard a guess that Apple bought iCloud dot.com; like Lala dot.com, not for the domain itself, but for the talent.



    Actually not this time. They bought the name. That is all. The talent is still back in Sweden working CloudMe.com.



    This is likely only due to common folks assuming that all things Apple will be named i+whatever. So they can have icloud.com just forward to mobileme.com or me.com
  • Reply 16 of 27
    smiles77smiles77 Posts: 668member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Me.com is a far seperior domain name. iCloud sounds dumb and unimaginative. I would hazard a guess that Apple bought iCloud dot.com; like Lala dot.com, not for the domain itself, but for the talent.



    Except that Apple bought Lala the company and iCloud the domain name. Two different things. There's no talent here: just real estate.
  • Reply 17 of 27
    zroger73zroger73 Posts: 787member
    For grins, I typed "icloud.com" in Safari's address bar. Several seconds later, Safari responded with, "Safari can?t open the page ?http://www.cloudme.com/? because Safari can?t find the server ?www.cloudme.com?."



    "cloudme"?
  • Reply 18 of 27
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Superbass View Post


    Here's hoping the playstation networks issues cause Apple to quadruple check how they deal with personal information in the cloud.



    Apple's response to the iPhone tracking files was opaque enough to draw comparisons to Sony's wall of silence in the first week of it's problems.



    I sure hope so. I’m surprised so few places are reporting it, not even AI which could use the PSN issue to compare and contrast to iTS to determine how this could happen to Apple.



    Quote:

    I think iCloud is first and foremost about getting the iPad independent of PCs, which would open up the entire Netbook segment to a $350-400 low end iPad2...



    I think we’d also need a Home Server that the iPad could connect to for fast, local data access and the ability to input our iTS account info right from the device.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    Actually not this time. They bought the name. That is all. The talent is still back in Sweden working CloudMe.com.



    This is likely only due to common folks assuming that all things Apple will be named i+whatever. So they can have icloud.com just forward to mobileme.com or me.com



    I think iCloud will be replacing iDisk. That’s what you do with products that have failed commercially. I think it’s safe to say iDisk has failed compared to modern and intelligent syncing solutions like Dropbox and Sugarsync.
    January 5, 2000 — iDisk (as part of iTools)

    July 17, 2002 — iDisk (as part of .Mac)

    July 9, 2008 — iDisk (as part of MobileMe)

    May 10, 2011* — iCloud (as part of MobileMe)
    * I’m being optimistic.
  • Reply 19 of 27
    May will be big. Oprah's new network will be available for streaming from iCloud.
  • Reply 20 of 27
    djintxdjintx Posts: 454member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I sure hope so. I?m surprised so few places are reporting it, not even AI which could use the PSN issue to compare and contrast to iTS to determine how this could happen to Apple.





    I think we?d also need a Home Server that the iPad could connect to for fast, local data access and the ability to input our iTS account info right from the device.







    I think iCloud will be replacing iDisk. That?s what you do with products that have failed commercially. I think it?s safe to say iDisk has failed compared to modern and intelligent syncing solutions like Dropbox and Sugarsync.
    January 5, 2000 ?*iDisk (as part of iTools)

    July 17, 2002 ? iDisk (as part of .Mac)

    July 9, 2008 ? iDisk (as part of MobileMe)

    May 10, 2011* ? iCloud (as part of MobileMe)
    * I?m being optimistic.



    This makes alot of sense to me. And far better to have iCloud as a subset of MobileMe, than to replace MobileMe altogether.
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