Lack of centralized cloud infrastructure team hampering Apple's development of iCloud services - rep

Posted:
in iCloud edited November 2014
Apple's work-in-progress iCloud Photo Library still hasn't fully realized the original concept, code-named "Hyperion," that was pushed years ago by late company co-founder Steve Jobs, according to a new report.




Jobs was said to be particularly fond of the Hyperion photo syncing project, according to a new report from Jessica E. Lessin of The Information. But even the new iCloud Photo Library, which missed its deadline and remains in beta, is not yet what Jobs and others at Apple had envisioned.

Its predecessor, Photo Stream, would sync a user's most recent photos captured on their iPhone. iCloud Photo Library syncs all images and is paired with new, cheaper iCloud storage plans.

But Apple is said to have had problems in rolling out iCloud Photo Library, which people familiar with the operation say is as a result of the company's internal structure. Specifically, sources told Lessin that Apple has been hampered by not having a "centralized team working on core cloud infrastructure."

Developers at Apple are reportedly expected to build "nearly everything on their own," while the iPhone maker also lacks a product manager overseeing the entire iCloud Photo Library project.

"One person close to the company says Apple is taking some steps to build some common cloud technology but has moved slowly in part because it's used to projects residing in isolated teams," the report said.




iCloud Photo Library will tap into a new Photos application for OS X Yosemite, but that wasn't completed in time for the launch of the new Mac operating system. Apple has said that Photos for Yosemite will debut in early 2015.

In fact, iCloud Photo Library wasn't even ready for the debut of iOS 8 in September. Apple allowed select users to opt in to the beta service at launch, before making access to the beta more widely available with the release of iOS 8.1 in October.

On the Web, too, the photo syncing service has seen a gradual rollout. Last week, iCloud.com users gained the ability to upload images to their photo library, though support remains limited only to .JPG files, and does not accept images in any other format.

Jobs himself took the wraps off iCloud in 2011, and promised that it would be a step up from its predecessor, MobileMe, which he said was not Apple's "finest hour." Apple hasn't provided an update on the total number of iCloud accounts since mid-2013, when it said there were 300 million active users.

Cloud services like Apple's iCloud have come under public scrutiny this year, in the wake of a large number of private celebrity photos that were leaked online. Apple has said that any stolen images were a result of weak passwords, not vulnerabilities in the iCloud service.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 67
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member

    Nice to see AppleInsider isn't above republishing this unsubstantiated bullshit, nor Macrumors (which falls over itself to do so). 

     

    "While company executives say they are making progress, interviews with nearly a dozen current and former Apple employees paint a different picture."

     

    Yeah, sounds like complete hose-shit. As if "current employees" are going to give "interviews" and offer anything of substance. Apple is taking it's time rolling out iCloud features, and making sure they get things right. Isn't that the right thing to do? iCloud Drive, extensions, iCloud photo library, etc are pretty big leaps from what we had before. Everyone starts shrieking when there's any kind of bug in any Apple service, and they start bitching and whining when Apple spends time to get it right. Every month we get an article describing "deep issues" within Apple, and we have yet to see real-world results of these "issues" beyond record smashing sales and profits. Click whoring at its finest. It's funny, Google's web services are buggy as **** (get weird error messages everyday) but somehow thats not a big deal, even though thats Google's core business. 

     

    Also, what's up with this reporters nose?  

  • Reply 2 of 67
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Cook needs to hire someone to run their cloud services. I think Eddy is plenty busy with iTunes, AppStore ?Pay and ?TV.
  • Reply 3 of 67
    Doomed.






    Those iPhone sales, tho....

    Not only have Apple managed to push out the best iPhone they've ever made (both of them), but they've yet again produced the finest smartphone (both of them) the market has ever seen.

    The iPhone was released in June 2007, and to this very day it remains the single most sought-after piece of consumer tech, bar none. It's not by accident.

    They'll get iCloud sorted out. All those services have to run on something, and Apple hardware - running iOS - is without peer. Just ask the competition how important cloud services are when the user is forced to experience them through shitty hardware and terrible user interfaces.

    I'm sure either Samsung and Microsoft could give, say, around 10 million reasons why they aren't. Over a weekend.
  • Reply 4 of 67
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    slurpy wrote: »
    Nice to see AppleInsider isn't above republishing this unsubstantiated bullshit, nor Macrumors (which falls over itself to do so). 

    "While company executives say they are making progress, interviews with nearly a dozen current and former Apple employees paint a different picture."

    Yeah, sounds like complete hose-shit. As if "current employees" are going to give "interviews" and offer anything of substance. Apple is taking it's time rolling out iCloud features, and making sure they get things right. Isn't that the right thing to do? iCloud Drive, extensions, iCloud photo library, etc are pretty big leaps from what we had before. Everyone starts shrieking when there's any kind of bug in any Apple service, and they start bitching and whining when Apple spends time to get it right. Every month we get an article describing "deep issues" within Apple, and we have yet to see real-world results of these "issues" beyond record smashing sales and profits. Click whoring at its finest. It's funny, Google's web services are buggy as **** (get weird error messages everyday) but somehow thats not a big deal, even though thats Google's core business. 

    Also, what's up with this reporters nose?  

    This isn't coming from a tabloid like Business Insider. Jessica Lessin is a respected journalist. I doubt tabloid "hose-shit" would be behind a paywall.
  • Reply 5 of 67

    In the time of Jobs, Apple's start-up mentality served it well.

     

    Now, it needs to start behaving like Microsoft and actually get organised. 

     

    It’s clear that there has been nothing other than mundane iteration for some years, and that appears to be the case for the next several years, due to the lack of any technological breakthrough. Apple should therefore use this breathing space to do the boring stuff: bug-squashing and refinement. Those are the things that will have the greatest impact on users and be most likely to cultivate productivity.

  • Reply 6 of 67
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    This isn't coming from a tabloid like Business Insider. Jessica Lessin is a respected journalist. I doubt tabloid "hose-shit" would be behind a paywall.

     

    Oh, the paywall makes it all true, obviously. Cause nothing you pay for can ever be false. You do know that people like Glenn Beck has subscription news services, right?

     

    Also, do you honestly think current Apple employees, who are doing real, current iCloud work, would actually give interviews and spout negative things about the team and the company? Why? Whats their motivation? I don't see it. 

  • Reply 7 of 67
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    quadra 610 wrote: »
    Doomed.






    Those iPhone sales, tho....

    Not only have Apple managed to push out the best iPhone they've ever made, but they've yet again produced the finest smartphone the market has ever seen.

    The iPhone was released in June 2007, and to this very day it remains the single most sought-after piece of consumer tech, bar none.

    They'll get iCloud sorted out. All those services have to run on something, and Apple hardware - running iOS - is without peer. Just ask the competition how important cloud services are when the user is forced to experience them through shitty hardware and terrible user interfaces.

    I'm sure either Samsung and Microsoft could give, say, around 10 million reasons why they aren't. Over a weekend.

    But the software and services need work. IMO iOS 8 is one of the buggiest releases in a long time. I used the music app for the first time in a long time and I was shocked at how bad it was. Apple really needs to focus on software quality. I'm sure some will call me out as a troll for saying this but I don't care. I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way.
  • Reply 8 of 67
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Benjamin Frost View Post

     

    In the time of Jobs, Apple's start-up mentality served it well.

     

    Now, it needs to start behaving like Microsoft and actually get organised. 


     

    God, you're so intellectually dishonest, it's pretty disgusting. If Apple under Tim Cook isn't "organized", then please, enlighten us as to what company on this planet is? And if Apple is so "un-organized", how can they POSSIBLY produce the metrics that they do, on all fronts. I mean, holy shit at your hypocrisy. I see you consistently bashing Tim Cook and Apple for "becoming bloated", and "moving away from Steve Jobs startup mentality", and now, you take the opportunity to state the opposite. You truly have no shame, and no limits to your blatant lying. 

  • Reply 9 of 67
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post

     
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post



    Doomed.













    Those iPhone sales, tho....



    Not only have Apple managed to push out the best iPhone they've ever made, but they've yet again produced the finest smartphone the market has ever seen.



    The iPhone was released in June 2007, and to this very day it remains the single most sought-after piece of consumer tech, bar none.



    They'll get iCloud sorted out. All those services have to run on something, and Apple hardware - running iOS - is without peer. Just ask the competition how important cloud services are when the user is forced to experience them through shitty hardware and terrible user interfaces.



    I'm sure either Samsung and Microsoft could give, say, around 10 million reasons why they aren't. Over a weekend.




    But the software and services need work. IMO iOS 8 is one of the buggiest releases in a long time. I used the music app for the first time in a long time and I was shocked at how bad it was. Apple really needs to focus on software quality. I'm sure some will call me out as a troll for saying this but I don't care. I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way.

     

     

    iOS has had a new coat of paint. 

     

    Now it needs a new firebox.

  • Reply 10 of 67
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    slurpy wrote: »
    Oh, the paywall makes it all true, obviously. Cause nothing you pay for can ever be false. You do know that people like Glenn Beck has subscription news services, right?

    Also, do you honestly think current Apple employees, who are doing real, current iCloud work, would actually give interviews and spout negative things about the team and the company? Why? Whats their motivation? I don't see it. 

    Yes. People leak. Especially people that might be unhappy.
  • Reply 11 of 67
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    Syncing is a difficult problem, especially if the objects in question are editable. They should take it slow.

  • Reply 12 of 67
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Benjamin Frost View Post

     

    In the time of Jobs, Apple's start-up mentality served it well.

     

    Now, it needs to start behaving like Microsoft and actually get organised. 


     

    God, you're so intellectually dishonest, it's pretty disgusting. If Apple under Tim Cook isn't "organized", then please, enlighten us as to what company on this planet is? And if Apple is so "un-organized", how can they POSSIBLY produce the metrics that they do, on all fronts. I mean, holy shit at your hypocrisy. I see you consistently bashing Tim Cook and Apple for "becoming bloated", and "moving away from Steve Jobs startup mentality", and now, you take the opportunity to state the opposite. You truly have no shame, and no limits to your blatant lying. 


     

     

    You've got to change with the times.

     

    Not so long ago, Apple's start-up ethos was still an asset, particularly for such a successful company. Now, the time has come to make the change to a business-friendly company, which means a focus on scale.

     

    A time to live, and a time to die.

  • Reply 13 of 67
    rogifan wrote: »
    But the software and services need work. IMO iOS 8 is one of the buggiest releases in a long time. I used the music app for the first time in a long time and I was shocked at how bad it was. Apple really needs to focus on software quality. I'm sure some will call me out as a troll for saying this but I don't care. I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way.

    I'm losing patience with iOS 8. I've restored my iPad three times now to clear up the Other storage issue. Multi finger gestures stop working for no reason, at random times. My iPhone seems to behave better, but I don't use it like I use my iPad.

    And don't get me started on that sad excuse for a Music app. I hate that it defaults to iTunes Radio every time it loads, and that's just the start.
  • Reply 14 of 67

    You've got to change with the times.

    Not so long ago, Apple's start-up ethos was still an asset, particularly for such a successful company. Now, the time has come to make the change to a business-friendly company, which means a focus on scale.

    A time to live, and a time to die.

    Nice, Ecclesiastes.

    In case you hadn't noticed, Apple has been undergoing a serious internal restructuring since the firing of Scott Forstall. That takes time, and they still don't have everything perfect. But Apple is Tim Cook's baby now, not Steve Jobs's. Don't have any doubt about that.

    One thing that will seriously help is getting Campus 2 finished, as they have people scattered everywhere. Their San Antonio facility is going to have to double in size to house all the new people in that sector as well.
  • Reply 15 of 67
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    I'm losing patience with iOS 8. I've restored my iPad three times now to clear up the Other storage issue. Multi finger gestures stop working for no reason, at random times. My iPhone seems to behave better, but I don't use it like I use my iPad.

    And don't get me started on that sad excuse for a Music app. I hate that it defaults to iTunes Radio every time it loads, and that's just the start.

    The only reason I use the music app is when I want Beatles stuff. If I could get the Beatles on Spotify I'd never use the music app. iOS 8 was clearly released before it was ready. Maybe Apple needs to decouple software from hardware and only ship it when it's ready.
  • Reply 16 of 67
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post

     

     

    God, you're so intellectually dishonest, it's pretty disgusting. If Apple under Tim Cook isn't "organized", then please, enlighten us as to what company on this planet is? And if Apple is so "un-organized", how can they POSSIBLY produce the metrics that they do, on all fronts. I mean, holy shit at your hypocrisy. I see you consistently bashing Tim Cook and Apple for "becoming bloated", and "moving away from Steve Jobs startup mentality", and now, you take the opportunity to state the opposite. You truly have no shame, and no limits to your blatant lying. 


    Apple is organized to excel at hardware, OS, even pro apps but its culture is not organized to excel at cloud infrastructure / cloud services which is the new competitive battle ground.  It needs to get cloud services right & to do that it needs to re-orient its culture.  

  • Reply 17 of 67
    Nice, Ecclesiastes.

    In case you hadn't noticed, Apple has been undergoing a serious internal restructuring since the firing of Scott Forstall. That takes time, and they still don't have everything perfect. But Apple is Tim Cook's baby now, not Steve Jobs's. Don't have any doubt about that.

    One thing that will seriously help is getting Campus 2 finished, as they have people scattered everywhere. Their San Antonio facility is going to have to double in size to house all the new people in that sector as well.

    I believe you meant to say, Apple Austin.
  • Reply 18 of 67

    You've got to change with the times.

    Not so long ago, Apple's start-up ethos was still an asset, particularly for such a successful company. Now, the time has come to make the change to a business-friendly company, which means a focus on scale.

    A time to live, and a time to die.

    Nice, Ecclesiastes.

    In case you hadn't noticed, Apple has been undergoing a serious internal restructuring since the firing of Scott Forstall. That takes time, and they still don't have everything perfect. But Apple is Tim Cook's baby now, not Steve Jobs's. Don't have any doubt about that.

    One thing that will seriously help is getting Campus 2 finished, as they have people scattered everywhere. Their San Antonio facility is going to have to double in size to house all the new people in that sector as well.

    Indeed.

    When is it they move: about 2016? So give them a year or so, and we may hope to see the real beginning of Apple 3 around 2018. I look forward to it, if I'm still alive.
  • Reply 19 of 67
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    rogifan wrote: »
    Cook needs to hire someone to run their cloud services. I think Eddy is plenty busy with iTunes, AppStore ?Pay and ?TV.

    Yes, the cloud is essential, it needs to become as important as iOS or OSX by itself.
  • Reply 20 of 67
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Nice, Ecclesiastes.

    In case you hadn't noticed, Apple has been undergoing a serious internal restructuring since the firing of Scott Forstall. That takes time, and they still don't have everything perfect. But Apple is Tim Cook's baby now, not Steve Jobs's. Don't have any doubt about that.

    One thing that will seriously help is getting Campus 2 finished, as they have people scattered everywhere. Their San Antonio facility is going to have to double in size to house all the new people in that sector as well.

    Yep. Campus 2 can't come soon enough with all these employees scattered all over Cupertino. But as I said earlier I really think Apple should poach someone well experienced in cloud services and put them in charge of iCloud. Eddy Cue would still have s full plate without it.
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