I have been an avid watcher of all things Apple since 1977 and have been following them professionally since 1981 when I came to Creative Strategies and became its first full-time PC analyst. Apple is a company that has had many ups and downs, but one thing is certain about it. It was on the leading edge with the Apple 2, the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. And with its new iCloud service, it is about to show the industry how to move from the PC era to the post-PC era by elegantly making the cloud the center of the new Apple driven universe.
I say Apple driven universe, because there is an amazing method to Apple's madness that started when Steve Jobs came back the company in 1997. Back then, Apple was $1 billion in the red and six weeks from bankruptcy. His first job was to make sure Apple was meeting the need of its core customers, those who used Macs for graphics, engineering, and education, and once Jobs shored up that side of the business, he started to work on creating new Macs that consumers would want. First it created the candy-colored iMacs, followed by the new all-in-one Macs we have today. But, in Steve Jobs's mind, these Macs were not just PCs; they were at the center of the vision that drove his product strategy from 2000 to 2010.
Although a lot of his teams' thinking and planning for this vision took place between 1998 and 1999, it took root when Steve Jobs took the stage at MacWorld in 2001 and declared that the Mac would become the hub of people's digital lifestyles. From this point on, Apple was on a mission.
By making the Mac the center of your digital life, Jobs meant that it would be the place where you would buy and manage your music and movie collections and where you would edit and organize your pictures and personal movies.
Making the Mac the anchor for all of these new digital lifestyle functions allowed Apple to expand its portfolio of products. First up was the iPod. This became the mobile extension of your music collection. Then Apple made the iPhone, the mobile extension of your communications. Lastly Apple developed the iPad, which has become a rich mobile extension of your PC. During this 10 year period, these devices continued to be tied to the Mac or PC as a digital hub. You connected these devices to your Mac or PC to get new software, download pictures, and video, and you essentially used your Mac or PC as a digital hub for managing all of your personal digital content.
But around five years ago, it became clear to Steve Jobs and his team that a big change was in the air and that his hub and spoke approach to the market would be outdated quickly. That is when Apple started hatching its new cloud-based service. So, instead of Jobs's 10 year mantra of the Mac being the hub of a digital lifestyle, Apple shifted its sights to the cloud as the hub, and from that point on, it began to architect what was recently announced as its iCloud service.
I consider this one of Apple's most important announcements of this young decade. Yes, the iPad is right up there with it, but it is the iCloud that I believe that will actually define Apple over the next 10 years. More importantly, it will be at the center of its future devices and services road map. On the surface, it looks likes its iCloud music service is the application that will be of most interest to the average consumer. It's the one thing that could help attract them to Apple's iCloud services. However, it goes much deeper than that.
Apple has had a very rich Unix OS to work with, and at its heart is the original Next OS that has morphed into the Mac OS and is at the core of iOS today. But as Apple began contemplating the idea of the cloud being the hub and the iPod, iPhone, iPad and the Mac just becoming devices that provide links to the cloud, it decided to do something very important. Instead of just tying these devices to the cloud, Apple actually built the cloud links into the OS and apps themselves. This may seem like a minor detail, but it's not. Rather, it's what sets Apple apart from the competition again. By linking the iCloud directly to the OS and apps, it assures that all of the apps that talk to the cloud work seamlessly with the cloud and assures that all of your music, pictures, and files stay in sync on all of your Apple devices.
But it also lays the ground work for Apple to create other devices that can be tied to the cloud. Interestingly, while much of the device focus was on the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad in last weeks launch, Apple also said that since Apple TV is iOS cloud-based as well, it will be able to become one of the devices that can receive your pictures and music and be kept in sync as part of your iCloud ecosystem. But if Apple has shifted its focus from the Mac or PC as the hub of our digital lifestyles to the cloud, then that means that it, at least in theory, could create a lot of other iOS-based devices that connect to and sync with the iCloud.
For example, it is not too far-fetched to imagine a navigation screen in a car that could be based on iOS and be tied to the iCloud through both a Wi-Fi and 3G radio. That way it could get real-time maps and traffic reports, and perhaps when the car is not in motion, you could use its search feature to find the closest Starbucks or Chinese restaurant. It could have your entire iTunes music collection and be kept in sync and up to date through iCloud.
Or perhaps Apple could build an iOS device that could be hung on or attached to my refrigerator and make it the center of my digital kitchen. I could use it for searching for recipes, getting cooking videos, etc. It could also function as the music center for my kitchen, and since it is connected to the iCloud, it would have my updated pictures and albums on it as well.
You get my point. If the iCloud now becomes the hub that ties all my devices together, Apple could create a whole host of iOS devices that connect to it and enhance our overall digital lifestyles. I believe Apple's iCloud will become integral to Apple's future and will be at the core of its future product roadmaps. And if it gets this right, Apple will continue to play an important leadership role in this post-PC era where the cloud will become the computer and the devices just become smart screens that connect us to our hub in the sky.
Post Source:http://www.pcmag.com/
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