iWork and iCloud need to be scaled up for small businesses. They’re currently not much of an option to Microsoft Office 365 and OneDrive...
They are already scaled up for small businesses. First of all, they are the only truly working cloud. Apparently the team implemented it in a very robust fashion once they faced the fury of Steve Jobs on MobileMe.
Maybe iCloud may offer things small business can use, but as soon as you start to grow, you'll start to notice that it was designed for individuals and not even small business. I can't even use a private domain. G Suite and Office 365 definitely are better options for business, even small ones.
OneDrive sometimes works, mostly out of sync, Office 365 is nothing more than ridiculously crippled apps on iOS. I cancelled my subscription within one hour a couple of days ago when I discovered that iOS Word doesn’t allow to edit styles and to define new styles. In contrast iWork offers the same features and experience on macOS, iOS and web.
To say that iWorks have the same funcionality in macOS, web and iOS maybe isn't too positive at all, considering how limited web and mobile apps are, specially compared to MS Office. Again, I don't think iWorks / iCloud was designed for business, even small ones. Maybe that's the reason MS Office is the leader in business, small and large.
Desktop only ! If you can’t imagine the iPad used by small businesses you’re right in your vision limited to desktop. Designing an expo flyer or a restaurant menu no longer requires Office 365 subscription and a PC.
Besides, I don’t understand how you exclude individuals from small business. Again yours is a very limited understanding of small business.
I can use a low cost PC o Chromebook with the free versions of MS Office Online and Google Apps to design the flyer and restaurant menu too. I already knew that you don't need O365 or a PC for simple tasks, but neither I need an iPad or iWorks apps for that.
Second, I have zero issues with individuals with small business, but there is no way I'll recommend them. What option does Apple offer to an individual that want to host a private domain with an iCloud mail account? That means that individuals with small business that want something as simple as a private domain have to move from iCloud to G Suite, Office 365 or other cloud service. Plus iWorks files have to be converted to Google or MS files loosing details and formatting. Compare that to MS and Google, where you start with a simple email account and then grow in users and features as you business need changes.
Now you see why I think Apple cloud application are not a good option for individuals or small business?
Apple is not an ISP. You can purchase a private domain from any ISP for a few bucks and you can forward email from one account to another or you don’t. iCloud is not web hosting. There is no other cloud platform which provides so seamless integration between all devices of a user mobile or desktop in so big a scale as iOS. I have seen no data loss when converting iWork files to Office and the format issues are not worse than the internal incompatibilities of Office versions.
Forward email messages is a workaround because something as simple as using a private domain is not available in iCloud. Again, iCloud is not a business service, period. If an individual starts to grow, it has to move to a business service like O365 or G Suite because Apple has zero offerings for business. And the integration of iOS devices have nothing to do with this. This is a limitation iCloud have. If I start my business using Google Apps / GMail or Outlook.com / Office Online, I'll have zero problem moving to a business plan. As today, this is impossible with what Apple offers.
At least iCloud does not destroy your PDFs like Google who needs to disassemble them because they read your email to sell you ads. When you mentioned Chromebook for business I left reading your post.
From what I know, G Suite don't read users content or files. And my point about using Chromebooks was about simple tasks as creating menus or flyers, as your post mentioned. You don't need an iPad for this.
Obviously the integration of web, iOS and macOS reveals a new paradigm: cloud computing at OS level. iCloud is the first platform that provides it in such a big scale. Businesses may use it or may not, that depends on the enterprise’s needs. If an enterprise runs its own cloud would that mean iCloud is not suitable to business? Would that mean GSuite is not suitable to business? You’re comparing apples and oranges: iCloud is not something that can be contrasted to a bundle of services sold as “business”. It is a brand new computing paradigm independent of personal or business needs.
iWork and iCloud need to be scaled up for small businesses. They’re currently not much of an option to Microsoft Office 365 and OneDrive...
They are already scaled up for small businesses. First of all, they are the only truly working cloud. Apparently the team implemented it in a very robust fashion once they faced the fury of Steve Jobs on MobileMe.
Maybe iCloud may offer things small business can use, but as soon as you start to grow, you'll start to notice that it was designed for individuals and not even small business. I can't even use a private domain. G Suite and Office 365 definitely are better options for business, even small ones.
OneDrive sometimes works, mostly out of sync, Office 365 is nothing more than ridiculously crippled apps on iOS. I cancelled my subscription within one hour a couple of days ago when I discovered that iOS Word doesn’t allow to edit styles and to define new styles. In contrast iWork offers the same features and experience on macOS, iOS and web.
To say that iWorks have the same funcionality in macOS, web and iOS maybe isn't too positive at all, considering how limited web and mobile apps are, specially compared to MS Office. Again, I don't think iWorks / iCloud was designed for business, even small ones. Maybe that's the reason MS Office is the leader in business, small and large.
Desktop only ! If you can’t imagine the iPad used by small businesses you’re right in your vision limited to desktop. Designing an expo flyer or a restaurant menu no longer requires Office 365 subscription and a PC.
Besides, I don’t understand how you exclude individuals from small business. Again yours is a very limited understanding of small business.
I can use a low cost PC o Chromebook with the free versions of MS Office Online and Google Apps to design the flyer and restaurant menu too. I already knew that you don't need O365 or a PC for simple tasks, but neither I need an iPad or iWorks apps for that.
Second, I have zero issues with individuals with small business, but there is no way I'll recommend them. What option does Apple offer to an individual that want to host a private domain with an iCloud mail account? That means that individuals with small business that want something as simple as a private domain have to move from iCloud to G Suite, Office 365 or other cloud service. Plus iWorks files have to be converted to Google or MS files loosing details and formatting. Compare that to MS and Google, where you start with a simple email account and then grow in users and features as you business need changes.
Now you see why I think Apple cloud application are not a good option for individuals or small business?
Apple is not an ISP. You can purchase a private domain from any ISP for a few bucks and you can forward email from one account to another or you don’t. iCloud is not web hosting. There is no other cloud platform which provides so seamless integration between all devices of a user mobile or desktop in so big a scale as iOS. I have seen no data loss when converting iWork files to Office and the format issues are not worse than the internal incompatibilities of Office versions.
Forward email messages is a workaround because something as simple as using a private domain is not available in iCloud. Again, iCloud is not a business service, period. If an individual starts to grow, it has to move to a business service like O365 or G Suite because Apple has zero offerings for business. And the integration of iOS devices have nothing to do with this. This is a limitation iCloud have. If I start my business using Google Apps / GMail or Outlook.com / Office Online, I'll have zero problem moving to a business plan. As today, this is impossible with what Apple offers.
At least iCloud does not destroy your PDFs like Google who needs to disassemble them because they read your email to sell you ads. When you mentioned Chromebook for business I left reading your post.
From what I know, G Suite don't read users content or files. And my point about using Chromebooks was about simple tasks as creating menus or flyers, as your post mentioned. You don't need an iPad for this.
Obviously the integration of web, iOS and macOS reveals a new paradigm: cloud computing at OS level. iCloud is the first platform that provides it in such a big scale. .
Again, the integration of iOS device doesn't make iCloud a business service, that's my point. Plus MS and Google desktop and mobile platforms already integrate with their own personal and business cloud services, that's not exclusive with Apple. Have you used MS Office 365 with Windows + desktop Office, or G Suite with ChromeOS / Android? As soon as you try them, you'll understand the different levels of integration they offer.
Businesses may use it or may not, that depends on the enterprise’s needs. If an enterprise runs its own cloud would that mean iCloud is not suitable to business? Would that mean GSuite is not suitable to business? You’re comparing apples and oranges: iCloud is not something that can be contrasted to a bundle of services sold as “business”. It is a brand new computing paradigm independent of personal or business needs.
iCloud is not a new paradigm. Is a service designed for individuals and personal use, same as Gmail and Outlook.com. Some of those individuals may use those services for their small business. But as soon as you start to grow, or want to add something as simple as a private domain, you have to move to a service designed for business or start making workarounds, as you posted earlier. iCloud cannot be compared "to a bundle of services sold as “business” because wasn't designed for business. Maybe Apple could put some of those RD dollars to improve iCloud for business, don't you think?
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iCloud is not a new paradigm. Is a service designed for individuals and personal use, same as Gmail and Outlook.com. Some of those individuals may use those services for their small business. But as soon as you start to grow, or want to add something as simple as a private domain, you have to move to a service designed for business or start making workarounds, as you posted earlier. iCloud cannot be compared "to a bundle of services sold as “business” because wasn't designed for business. Maybe Apple could put some of those RD dollars to improve iCloud for business, don't you think?