Apple today introduced iCloud, a set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store the content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all devices.
When anything changes on one of the devices, all of the devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.
“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” said Mr Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
“iCloud keeps your important information and content up-to-date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it — it all just works.”
The free iCloud services include:
The former MobileMe services: Contacts, Calendar and Mail-all completely re-architected and rewritten to work seamlessly with iCloud. Users can share calendars with friends and family, and the ad-free push Mail account is hosted at me.com. The inbox and mailboxes are kept up-to-date across all iOS devices and computers.
The App Store and iBookstore: Downloads purchased iOS apps and books to all devices, not just the device they were purchased on.
According to the company, iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up iOS devices to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when iPhone, iPad or iPod touch are charged. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, photos and videos, device settings and app data.
Cloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all devices. When the documents are changed on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all the devices.
The company said users get up to 5GB of free storage for their mail, documents and backup. iCloud’s Photo Stream service automatically uploads photos or import on any of the user’s devices and wirelessly pushes them to all devices and computers.
Tunes in the Cloud lets download of previously purchased iTunes music to all the iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all the devices.