Am I missing something? I have internet on my iPhone 24/7 anywhere I go. Don't the other billion iPhone users have it too?
Yes, you are. Consider:
I am on a cheap data plan - €5, or about $7 per month, with 256 MB data cap. When I reach the data cap, the speed is crippled to EDGE speed, no matter 3G available or not. Good enough for mail, which is my top priority.
I travel a lot, and data roaming is expensive. EU promises no roamig within EU after 2014, but this is few years away. Then there are still countries outside EU.
I have 16 GB iPhone 4 and 64 GB iPad. All music and photos I want with me are on the device. Why would I need to stream them?
While at work or at home, in most of the café I am visiting, there is WiFi, so I am OK with the data cap. Well, I could use streaming over WiFi, but why? because I can? What is the benefit?
I think with iOS 5 and iCloud Apple gets the right approach. If I take photos with my phone, they are synced automatically. If I create a document with Numbers, it is synced.
I think there is an obsession with the term "cloud" right now. When Steve introduced the iPad, he said that the main question they asked themselves was "what it does better". And, he said, if there is nothing it does better than an iPhone or a computer, there is no reason it should exist.
The same question should be asked about the "cloud", whatever in each particular case it means. The difficult part is, it seems, that people can't give an honest answer. They tend to invent use scenarios that seem to justify the need for some sort of "cloud", like music streaming in particular, but it is far stretched. There ARE users that might care, but they are a small minority. During the best iPod days Apple reported that only 5% of the music on iPod is purchased. This is approximately the addressable market for streaming music IMO. That is, SOME of those 5% will consider using it. If this SOME ands up to be 50% (highly unlikely), we end up with 2.5% of all users. That's fine, but when you look the attention this gets in the press and in financial analysis, and the impact on the stocks of the tech companies, you wonder what the hell is going on?
Am I missing something? I have internet on my iPhone 24/7 anywhere I go. Don't the other billion iPhone users have it too?
Don't get out into nature much? Although I don't necessarily like listening to music in the Columbia Gorge, local storage is pretty much the only way I can.
Am I missing something? I have internet on my iPhone 24/7 anywhere I go. Don't the other billion iPhone users have it too?
I have unlimited phone data but not everyone has that. Also iCloud should eventually be more than just streaming music so wifi access is pretty important if you are trying to do some work. I use iDisk a lot right now between the office and home and especially on the road, using my MBP. For me music is secondary since all the music I want to listen to is already on my iPhone, although internet radio is nice to have too. I do have 3G data on my MBP as well as my iPad. It is good to have options.
I am on a cheap data plan - ?5, or about $7 per month, with 256 MB data cap. When I reach the data cap, the speed is crippled to EDGE speed, no matter 3G available or not. Good enough for mail, which is my top priority.
I travel a lot, and data roaming is expensive. EU promises no roamig within EU after 2014, but this is few years away. Then there are still countries outside EU.
I have 16 GB iPhone 4 and 64 GB iPad. All music and photos I want with me are on the device. Why would I need to stream them?
While at work or at home, in most of the café I am visiting, there is WiFi, so I am OK with the data cap. Well, I could use streaming over WiFi, but why? because I can? What is the benefit?
I think with iOS 5 and iCloud Apple gets the right approach. If I take photos with my phone, they are synced automatically. If I create a document with Numbers, it is synced.
I think there is an obsession with the term "cloud" right now. When Steve introduced the iPad, he said that the main question they asked themselves was "what it does better". And, he said, if there is nothing it does better than an iPhone or a computer, there is no reason it should exist.
The same question should be asked about the "cloud", whatever in each particular case it means. The difficult part is, it seems, that people can't give an honest answer. They tend to invent use scenarios that seem to justify the need for some sort of "cloud", like music streaming in particular, but it is far stretched. There ARE users that might care, but they are a small minority. During the best iPod days Apple reported that only 5% of the music on iPod is purchased. This is approximately the addressable market for streaming music IMO. That is, SOME of those 5% will consider using it. If this SOME ands up to be 50% (highly unlikely), we end up with 2.5% of all users. That's fine, but when you look the attention this gets in the press and in financial analysis, and the impact on the stocks of the tech companies, you wonder what the hell is going on?
you can also download all your amazon songs to device if you choose.
you can also download all your amazon songs to device if you choose.
Yes, I can. But that's the point: what I can do with Amazon's cloud that I can't do WITHOUT it. There are some benefits having it, especially for some people other than me, but is it a big deal?
Remember the topic of this thread: "Amazon Cloud Drive challenging Apple's iCloud with unlimited music storage". Is this the battlefield right now? The storage limit? Is it REALLY a challenge? I don't think so.
Don't get out into nature much? Although I don't necessarily like listening to music in the Columbia Gorge, local storage is pretty much the only way I can.
When I'm out in nature the last thing I care about is the cloud and streaming. Everything is shut OFF. If you can't live without that stuff for a while you have more important problems to worry about. I have unlimited data and can pretty much get reception anywhere except in places where I'm hiking. Last thing I need is to talk to people at work or stream my party photos while I'm out trying to get away from just that. Maybe by "getting out much" you mean climbing Mt. Everest or meditating in Tibet or something.
iCloud also has a lot of other features. Features that competitors can't easily compete with. Heck, they already couldn't make a proper MobileMe competitor and now that they've added so many additional features including API for App Store devs I can't see how others will be able to compete with it except for some singular features.
Not the least of which is because (at least on idevices) Apple wouldn't approve an app that offered these competing services.
Take Cloud Drive for example. On an android phone/tablet it offers streaming and downloading options, and you can toggle the service to automatically download new album purchases to your phone after they've transferred them to the cloud.
The tech for them to offer locally hosted music is there. The problem (as I see it) is that Apple wouldn't allow this on their iDevices because it directly competes with the itunes/icloud ecosystem.
Personally, I prefer how Google handle's local/cloud a little better (Pinning is a lot more intuitive than "deleting" content from a device) But Amazon's service isn't bad.
You're right that no one will ever be able to compete with Apple when it comes to icloud on idevices, but I don't think it will be because they don't have the technology, just not the access.
Comments
I just don't see the appeal of all this "cloud" crap. The moment you're without web access, you're dead.
Am I missing something? I have internet on my iPhone 24/7 anywhere I go. Don't the other billion iPhone users have it too?
Am I missing something? I have internet on my iPhone 24/7 anywhere I go. Don't the other billion iPhone users have it too?
Yes, you are. Consider:
- I am on a cheap data plan - €5, or about $7 per month, with 256 MB data cap. When I reach the data cap, the speed is crippled to EDGE speed, no matter 3G available or not. Good enough for mail, which is my top priority.
- I travel a lot, and data roaming is expensive. EU promises no roamig within EU after 2014, but this is few years away. Then there are still countries outside EU.
- I have 16 GB iPhone 4 and 64 GB iPad. All music and photos I want with me are on the device. Why would I need to stream them?
While at work or at home, in most of the café I am visiting, there is WiFi, so I am OK with the data cap. Well, I could use streaming over WiFi, but why? because I can? What is the benefit?I think with iOS 5 and iCloud Apple gets the right approach. If I take photos with my phone, they are synced automatically. If I create a document with Numbers, it is synced.
I think there is an obsession with the term "cloud" right now. When Steve introduced the iPad, he said that the main question they asked themselves was "what it does better". And, he said, if there is nothing it does better than an iPhone or a computer, there is no reason it should exist.
The same question should be asked about the "cloud", whatever in each particular case it means. The difficult part is, it seems, that people can't give an honest answer. They tend to invent use scenarios that seem to justify the need for some sort of "cloud", like music streaming in particular, but it is far stretched. There ARE users that might care, but they are a small minority. During the best iPod days Apple reported that only 5% of the music on iPod is purchased. This is approximately the addressable market for streaming music IMO. That is, SOME of those 5% will consider using it. If this SOME ands up to be 50% (highly unlikely), we end up with 2.5% of all users. That's fine, but when you look the attention this gets in the press and in financial analysis, and the impact on the stocks of the tech companies, you wonder what the hell is going on?
Am I missing something? I have internet on my iPhone 24/7 anywhere I go. Don't the other billion iPhone users have it too?
Don't get out into nature much? Although I don't necessarily like listening to music in the Columbia Gorge, local storage is pretty much the only way I can.
Am I missing something? I have internet on my iPhone 24/7 anywhere I go. Don't the other billion iPhone users have it too?
I have unlimited phone data but not everyone has that. Also iCloud should eventually be more than just streaming music so wifi access is pretty important if you are trying to do some work. I use iDisk a lot right now between the office and home and especially on the road, using my MBP. For me music is secondary since all the music I want to listen to is already on my iPhone, although internet radio is nice to have too. I do have 3G data on my MBP as well as my iPad. It is good to have options.
Yes, you are. Consider:
- I am on a cheap data plan - ?5, or about $7 per month, with 256 MB data cap. When I reach the data cap, the speed is crippled to EDGE speed, no matter 3G available or not. Good enough for mail, which is my top priority.
- I travel a lot, and data roaming is expensive. EU promises no roamig within EU after 2014, but this is few years away. Then there are still countries outside EU.
- I have 16 GB iPhone 4 and 64 GB iPad. All music and photos I want with me are on the device. Why would I need to stream them?
While at work or at home, in most of the café I am visiting, there is WiFi, so I am OK with the data cap. Well, I could use streaming over WiFi, but why? because I can? What is the benefit?I think with iOS 5 and iCloud Apple gets the right approach. If I take photos with my phone, they are synced automatically. If I create a document with Numbers, it is synced.
I think there is an obsession with the term "cloud" right now. When Steve introduced the iPad, he said that the main question they asked themselves was "what it does better". And, he said, if there is nothing it does better than an iPhone or a computer, there is no reason it should exist.
The same question should be asked about the "cloud", whatever in each particular case it means. The difficult part is, it seems, that people can't give an honest answer. They tend to invent use scenarios that seem to justify the need for some sort of "cloud", like music streaming in particular, but it is far stretched. There ARE users that might care, but they are a small minority. During the best iPod days Apple reported that only 5% of the music on iPod is purchased. This is approximately the addressable market for streaming music IMO. That is, SOME of those 5% will consider using it. If this SOME ands up to be 50% (highly unlikely), we end up with 2.5% of all users. That's fine, but when you look the attention this gets in the press and in financial analysis, and the impact on the stocks of the tech companies, you wonder what the hell is going on?
you can also download all your amazon songs to device if you choose.
you can also download all your amazon songs to device if you choose.
Yes, I can. But that's the point: what I can do with Amazon's cloud that I can't do WITHOUT it. There are some benefits having it, especially for some people other than me, but is it a big deal?
Remember the topic of this thread: "Amazon Cloud Drive challenging Apple's iCloud with unlimited music storage". Is this the battlefield right now? The storage limit? Is it REALLY a challenge? I don't think so.
Don't get out into nature much? Although I don't necessarily like listening to music in the Columbia Gorge, local storage is pretty much the only way I can.
When I'm out in nature the last thing I care about is the cloud and streaming. Everything is shut OFF. If you can't live without that stuff for a while you have more important problems to worry about. I have unlimited data and can pretty much get reception anywhere except in places where I'm hiking. Last thing I need is to talk to people at work or stream my party photos while I'm out trying to get away from just that. Maybe by "getting out much" you mean climbing Mt. Everest or meditating in Tibet or something.
iCloud also has a lot of other features. Features that competitors can't easily compete with. Heck, they already couldn't make a proper MobileMe competitor and now that they've added so many additional features including API for App Store devs I can't see how others will be able to compete with it except for some singular features.
Not the least of which is because (at least on idevices) Apple wouldn't approve an app that offered these competing services.
Take Cloud Drive for example. On an android phone/tablet it offers streaming and downloading options, and you can toggle the service to automatically download new album purchases to your phone after they've transferred them to the cloud.
The tech for them to offer locally hosted music is there. The problem (as I see it) is that Apple wouldn't allow this on their iDevices because it directly competes with the itunes/icloud ecosystem.
Personally, I prefer how Google handle's local/cloud a little better (Pinning is a lot more intuitive than "deleting" content from a device) But Amazon's service isn't bad.
You're right that no one will ever be able to compete with Apple when it comes to icloud on idevices, but I don't think it will be because they don't have the technology, just not the access.