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. This topic was the second place winner in
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which video you’d like to see next. 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
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