Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. It is hard to believe that Apple has been trying its hand at the Internet services space since the year 2000, when it launched iTools. Like nearly all of
iCloud, with which it shares its trademark vowel prefix, iTools was free. Unlike iCloud, though, its collection of services was all over the map, ranging from Web page creation to greeting cards. iCloud marks the third reboot of Apple's Web services suite since that foray. In the intervening years, we've seen .Mac (essentially a subscription version of most iTools features), and MobileMe, which paved the way for the contact and calendar synchronization that will be free as part of iCloud.
Modern-day Apple has shown an appreciation for seamless network access since the launch of the iMac in 1998, which eschewed floppy drives in favor of network-based sharing. One can even trace a belief in the power of the network further back to eWorld, AppleLink, and even the Mac's early, simple networking technologies, AppleTalk and LocalTalk. Internet services are clearly complementary to advanced devices running sophisticated software -- two areas where Apple excels. So why has the cloud rained on Apple?
Continue reading Switched On: Apple's cloud conundrum
Switched On: Apple's cloud conundrum originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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