Apple iCloud and the potential for amazing things

Last Monday Apple released an interesting new product, iCloud. Now most people will groan at Apple’s unwavering love for everything “i-related”, but the idea of what iCloud is, is incredibly interesting. Initially thought to just be “iTunes in the cloud”, but it turns out to be much, much more. Overall iCloud is the replacement for MobileMe, as that was the replacement for .Mac, but goes a few steps further. Yes iCloud will give you email, calendar, contact syncing that MobileMe currently gives you, but deeply integrates with iOS to deliver something MobileMe could never do. With iOS 5, Apple decided to completely get rid of the need for a PC/Mac and let you sync everything from the cloud wirelessly or even from your computer, but wirelessly. WiFi syncing isn’t new at all, but it’s a welcomed feature that’s been missing since iOS was first brought to fruition. WiFi sync is nice, but what if you don’t have a PC/Mac? In comes iCloud.

Let’s say that you just bought an iOS device, like the iPhone and you wanted to sync everything that you previously bought but didn’t have access to your computer to sync. iCloud lets you redownload any and all of your purchased music or applications right to the device. So that means, you can instantly download that favorite song, or download that app you need to have while you’re out on the go. The idea here, is that you can access all of your previously purchased media, straight from the phone, you no longer need a computer. Another great feature of iCloud is that you can now wirelessly backup your phone directly to iCloud over WiFi. While this may not sound like the greatest feature around, it’s great if either you lose your phone or you swap it at the Apple store constantly (or you just buy a new device). You can restore from the iCloud backup, straight from the phone and get it to exactly the state you had it at when you lost it or swapped it out. Personally, I find this feature amazing, because I’ve swapped my phone out at the Apple store at least 4 times with the iPhone 4, and each time, I’ve had to wait until I got home to sync it and get it how I wanted. That’s no longer an issue.

What other amazing things does iCloud offer? Since iCloud is currently in beta (the first beta was released Monday), there’s still a lot that can be added before it’s fall release. However, it’s the potential of what could be that has me the most excited. Imagine that you’re listening to a podcast or a song on your computer and you have to leave. You want to take this podcast/song with you, but you want to pick up exactly where you left off. Right now, you can’t do that at all, without having to seek/scrub through the song or podcast. This detaches you from the experience you were having with the song or podcast, especially for podcasts since you can never scrub to the exact second you left off. What would be amazing is if iTunes can sync your location (either automatically or at request) when you pause the song or podcast, and you can instantly pick right up where you left off on your iPhone or WiFi enabled iPod Touch. This way you don’t have to find your location in a podcast, or start the 13 minute long Tool song you were listening to, all over again. One way that this sort of works, is when you purchase a song (doesn’t seem to be podcasts yet honestly) on your Mac or iPhone (I don’t own a PC so I haven’t tried), it instantly shows up on your other devices. I just bought the song from the Assassin’s Creed: Revelations E3 trailer on my Mac, and seconds later it was already on my iPhone. This I absolutely love, because that means I never have to sync with my computer just to get that song/app I downloaded.

As we mover further into the cloud (which I’m honestly loving if it continues like this) what other forms of syncing would be really great? How about syncing the current open tabs of your browser? Or syncing the exact location on the web page (instead of just starting at the top)? Or your saved games across all devices (Angry Birds or Plants vs Zombies for example)? Granted, Mozilla already did syncing of tabs with Firefox for Android, but that doesn’t mean that Apple can’t. I actually quite like the idea of syncing the location you are in a page, instead of always loading just the top. I say this, because there are certain sites I like to visit that are quite long to read, it’d be nice if I could sync where I am on the page with my iPhone or iPad and pick up exactly where I left off. I really like the idea of starting on your computer, and finishing what you’re doing while mobile, because let’s face it everyone has to go outside sometimes right? I hope one day that I can write some notes down in TextEdit on the Mac, and look at my phone or iPad and find the exact notes there waiting for me, where I can add more content, or edit what’s already there and find the changes at my Mac when I get back. How would you like your IM application to sync your conversation across all your devices? Say you’re talking to a friend on your computer and you have to go out, but you’re still talking to them via IM on your phone. Wouldn’t it be great to sync that conversation, so you can look back at it and not feel like you’ve missed anything? You’re not going to remember what you talked about 10 minutes ago, but if you synced the conversation you would be able to! The possibilities are endless.

There may be some concerns about privacy, but honestly if I post my credit card online (making purchases I mean), I’m comfortable enough to have my data synced with the cloud. Apple has said that iCloud will launch in the fall with iOS 5, meaning they have a good three months or so until it’s released to either add new features or perfect the current ones. I certainly hope they implement at least some of the features I’ve discussed here, because the more data I can sync across all devices automatically, the better. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Apple who accomplishes this, but it certainly will be the most elegant that’s for sure. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next, and I’m a proud supporter of iCloud.