Apple's purchase of iCloud.com domain 'confirmed'
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.
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.
Comments
(Oh I see, I am first)
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
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...
Sounds like MobilMe will be dropped for iCloud.
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.
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.
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?
Dear Steve Jobs,
It's getting quirky, really, to keep using "i" in names of almost everything you make.
Apple also ownes Google.
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? So-and-so@cloud.com??
.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.
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
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.
"cloudme"?
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.
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.
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. * I’m being optimistic.
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. * 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.