Hey guys it’s Greg with Apple Explained, and today we’re going to explore the history
of iCloud, which is Apple’s current cloud computing service.
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Now iCloud was introduced in 2011, but its cloud-computing technology stretches back
to the early 2000’s.
But before we get into that, let me clarify what iCloud is for those for those of you
who may not know.
Basically, iCloud is a service for Apple devices that lets you store files on remote servers
rather than on your own device.
This frees up storage space on your Apple device and allows your files to be accessible
from any device connected to your iCloud account.
So if you take a photo on your iPhone, it’ll automatically be available on your Mac, iPad,
and Apple TV.
It’s a pretty cool concept that may sound simple, but implementation was extremely challenging
and took several iterations to work correctly.
To fully understand the role of iCloud and all its preceding services, we’ll have to
zoom out and take a look at the development of the entire cloud computing industry.
So, the whole “cloud” concept really began with mainframe computing as early as the 1950’s.
The cost associated in this era with computer storage, both financially and in terms of
actual space, was pretty massive – and most companies that were using computers just didn’t
have enough capacity to give every employee that needed computing power their own full
resource.
Enter mainframe computing, which allowed a bunch of employees to connect to the same
mainframe computer through dumb terminals and share access.
Over time, computers became more affordable, more portable, and more accessible to the
general public.
In the 1990’s, home computer users started gain access to more and more options for accessing,
storing, and retrieving information outside of the limits of their own, usually limited,
personal devices.
Local access networks allowed users to connect to each other in ways that, before the internet,
were pretty amazing, and eventually virtualized private networks offered the ability to tap
into public resources like never before.
That brings us to about the late 90’s – what many consider the beginning of modern internet
as we know it today.
Finally, broader networking capabilities allowed computer users, from personal hobbyists to
major corporations to connect, share capabilities, and centralize resources.
But there was still a big need here, and Apple was among the biggest pioneers to really come
up with some serious methods to make the cloud concept a marketable tool.
So, before iCloud, Apple played around with a few other cloud computing tools, many of
which didn’t really go over well.
First, we have to give an honorable mention to a service called AppleLink.
AppleLink was a dial-up-exclusive service available to the more tech-savvy Apple users
starting in 1985.
It included an email service, Q&A board, and limited download service.
The “personal” edition was released in 1988, but required both an annual subscription
and an hourly use fee, so almost no one bought it.
AppleLink was nixed a decade later, but it did give way to America Online, or AOL – one
of the more beloved dial-up services in history.
Apple already benefited pretty big from AOL thanks to the fact that it was so well-supported
on the Mac platform, but it tried to get even more out of the deal with a cloud-based add-on
called eWorld.
This was a short-lived service that mimicked a town square – users could click on the
post office to access their email, a highway for the “Internet On-Ramp”, or a number
of other cartoonish buildings to access news, help articles, and basic programs.
Like AppleLink, eWorld didn’t last very long.
Another three years passed without Apple attempting any other online services for its users.
But Apple’s cloud computing journey had just begun, and a few of their following services
really paved the way for iCloud as we now know it.
At the 2000 Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs introduced iTools during his keynote address.
iTools was an innovative and expansive new service that was not only more stylish than
previous services like eWorld, but it was free and included for all users running Mac
OS 9.
The most important innovation of this service was that it offered users an @mac.com email
address, but there were plenty of other features that received a positive response as well.
iTools included KidSafe, a list of websites that were friendly for children, a website
publishing service, a greeting card tool, and, of course, iDisk – a free, online storage
system.
While iTools was initially free for Mac users, iDisk space and @mac.com email addresses were
in such high demand that Apple upgraded the system to a subscription-based service and
changed the name to .mac in 2002 – but only 100,000 people subscribed in its first year
since a lot of users complained that the service was overpriced.
The next big change didn’t happen until 2007, when subscribers received a storage
limit of 10GB that they could split between email accounts or their iDisk, although they
could purchase up to 30GB of extra storage.
Finally, in 2008, iTools went through a cosmetic change and became MobileMe, the direct precursor
to iCloud.
But a big difference between the two was that MobileMe cost $99 a year rather than being
free like iCloud, and MobileMe didn’t actually work as advertised.
Users who transitioned to MobileMe experienced all types of issues like lost files or no
access to previous email accounts, and sometimes the service just flat out failed to sync anything
across users devices.
Users in some countries had their credit cards charged the $99 annual fee during their free
trial.
Steve Jobs was rightfully upset about the whole situation, holding a meeting where he
famously asked, "Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?"
And when an executive explained the service, Jobs replied: "So why the f— doesn't it
do that.”
Apple ended up giving subscribers three months of MobileMe for free so they could work out
issues with the service – which cost Apple quite a bit of money and damaged their reputation
especially when it came to online services.
Even though the transition was a bit of a disaster, MobileMe did have some pretty cool
features once it got on track.
So, from 2008 to 2011, you could use MobileMe not only as a storage service for 20GB of
files, but for transfer of up to 200 GB monthly.
Users also had the option to upgrade to family memberships for $149 a year that could partition
storage amounts into smaller sub-accounts for each family member.
Aside from cloud storage, MobileMe offered calendar and to-do list synchronization, public
online photo sharing, a web publishing service, instant messaging, a PC sync option, and a
find my phone function that allowed users to display their phone’s location and play
a sound even from a silenced phone.
Despite its benefits, MobileMe couldn’t escape its bad reputation.
So, in 2011, Steve Jobs announced iCloud.
This was after several months of a MobileMe phase out, where Apple removed all subscription
links from their websites and all physical retail boxes from stores.
MobileMe users were given a heads up a year in advance that on June 30th, 2012, all of
their photos, iDisk files, and iWeb sites would be gone if they didn’t download or
move them to the new iCloud service.
And while some files were still downloadable after June 30th, MobileMe was officially dead
and all subscribers were encouraged to make the switch to the new, and hopefully improved,
iCloud service.
Even with a year to prepare the transition to iCloud, it still didn’t go very smoothly.
In 2012, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple by the U.S. Court in the Northern
District of California by MobileMe users.
The prosecution claimed that Apple caused damage to users who lost access to their accounts
and important files because Apple failed to accurately represent what services iCloud
would offer and how well it would actually sync.
Some users couldn’t merge their Apple ID’s and lost data during the transition, while
others claimed that the few hours of downtime during the switch between MobileMe and iCloud
was detrimental to their lives and businesses.
So, Apple’s cloud services have never really gotten off to a great start.
But iCloud has experienced much more success and included some important upgrades from
MobileMe, iTools, and all other previous iterations.
First, iCloud is free and offers 5GB of storage per user.
That’s a big deal, considering one of the major complaints about MobileMe was that it
was way too expensive for remote storage – especially when other, free cloud services started to
become available.
Now although iCloud managed to develop a much better reputation than MobileMe by solving
many of its previous issues, iCloud still experienced its share of troubles.
First, the service faced a lawsuit from iCloud Communications, a company in Arizona that
shared the same name, over trademark infringement.
But the smaller company ended up changing their name to Clear Digital Communications
and voluntarily dropped the lawsuit in the face of mounting legal fees, and Apple held
on to the name.
Another small problem surfaced with a bug in iCloud Drive where users found that if
they moved files into the drive before syncing them, they would disappear forever.
But a much bigger controversy arrived in 2014 when hackers managed to use the service in
a brute-force attack to access Apple ID’s and iCloud data, including a significant number
of nude photographs from celebrities like Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten
Dunst, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and more.
Apple ultimately denied that this leak had anything to do with specific vulnerabilities
in Apple services and instead was a deliberate attack on the celebrities themselves – all
of whom had unwittingly given out their login information in phishing scams.
Although Apple did work with the police to investigate if hackers used iCloud or any
other Apple service in the attack, but there was no evidence to support an iCloud vulnerability
on such a large scale.
So iCloud may not have had a flawless past, but it has proved to be a much more reliable
and worthwhile service than its predecessors.
And since we’ve focused quite a bit on some of the missteps of Apple’s journey with
cloud technology, I want to focus on some of the cool features that iCloud offers today.
iCloud is still free with storage up to 5 GB but you can choose to pay more for extra
space.
You can add files to the cloud manually, or back them up automatically from any iOS device
running iOS 5 or later – that includes photos, videos, settings, contacts, messages, visual
voicemail, and app data.
You can also use iCloud to back up to your computer remotely.
And when you purchase a new iPhone, iCloud automatically loads your new phone with almost
all the files from your previous phone, making the transition much faster and easier.
iCloud still offers a Find My iPhone service that helps users track their phone’s location,
but now users also have access to “Find My Friends”, which lets them share their
current location with contacts in real time.
Other unique features include iTunes Match, which lets users match tracks from offline
sources like CDs to audio tracks in the iTunes store without having to re-purchase them,
and iWork for iCloud, which is an online office suite that can be used directly on the web
in Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer.
iCloud can be used on any iOS device from iOS 5 and up and any Mac running OS 10.7.5
Lion and up, and it requires a compatible web browser like Safari or Chrome for many
of its features.
With over 750 million active iCloud users, the service shows no signs of slowing down
and we can expect more exciting updates in the future, like a potential increase to a
500 GB limit and support for multiple users.
So that is the history of iCloud, and if you want to vote for the next video topic, don’t
forget to subscribe.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.