Apple confirms iCloud release : Will Google and Amazon survive the assault?
Apple has confirmed that it will launch iOS 5, iCloud and Mac OS X Lion at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 6.
The iCloud service is Apple's cloud services offering which could entail the much reported music locker service. Recently, Apple reached agreements with major music labels Sony Corp., EMI Music and Warner Music. It is also in talks with Universal Music Group.
Apple has been in the process of putting up its cloud infrastructure in place. It has been giving final touches to its $1 billion data center in North Carolina. The new data center is five times the size of its existing data center in Newark. The North Carolina facility measures 500,000 square feet compared to Newark's 107,000 square feet.
Gigaom had reported that Apple COO Tim Cook had confirmed that the North Carolina infrastructure is intended to support its iTunes and MobileMe services.
Also both Google and Amazon have also launched their own cloud-based music locker or streaming services under the moniker Music Beta and CloudDrive respectively. However, both their music lockers were launched sans a licensing deal. Termed as passive lockers, they merely allow a user to upload their music to the cloud and then to stream music to any browser.
Armed with licensing deal with major music labels, Apple's music locker service eliminates the need to upload music.
Apple will be able to launch scan and match service that allows it to buy a catalogue of music from labels and then directly scan a user's hard drive to match the catalogued files with music stored. It will then ascribe the user the rights to directly stream the matched songs to iPhone, iPad, iPod, Macs and Apple TV.
Also in the fray are Mac OS X Lion and its cloud-integrated iOS 5. It is highly anticipated that more features from iOs will be imbibed by Mac OS X Lion in Apple's push to create a unified experience across its devices and OS platform.
Apple gave a sneak-peek into the Mac OS X Lion at the Back to the Mac Event, while its CEO Steve Jobs stated: Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like.
Computerworld reported that other features that could wind their way into Lion include reading list, mission control, finder and mail improvements (including a unified in-box and full-screen view), AirDrop, iCal improvements, and support for Microsoft Office. Other reported features which were absorbed by Lion from iOS include Launchpad and Full screen mode.
Similarly, many features from Mac OS X will also coalesce with iOS which could be featured in the upcoming iOS 5.
Further, Apple may have a surprise to reveal at the conference that could derail its competitors.
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