Apple Unveils New ‘iCloud’ Service

Apple has unveiled a new online storage service called iCloud, which allows users to store data online instead of on their hard-drive.

You may be wondering why you would ever need a service like iCloud, so here’s an example:

Say you live in North Dakota and went to Florida for a meeting. You had all your important documents stored on your laptops hard-drive, but once you get there, your computer falls in the pool. You freak out because you know you need the presentation that’s stored on the hard-drive, but it’s now sitting at the bottom of a very cold and very wet pool. What do you do?

Well, if you have iCloud, you would just sit back and get another beer because all your documents would be safe and secure online. This would allow you to access important files from any computer, anywhere in the world.

Steve Jobs believes iCloud is going to be a “pretty big” deal and we agree.

But, this isn’t the first program of it’s type. Dropbox is also a file backup system that operates like iCloud. It allows users to store up to 1 GB for free, which is great for people who just need to backup a few files here and there for important meetings. Other packages are available for purchase.

The good news about iCloud is it automatically stores all the music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and other stuff you have stored on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple computer and you get up to 5GB for free!

Here is  some more information about iCloud, as found on the Apple website:

iCloud is so much more than a hard drive in the sky. It’s the effortless way to access just about everything on all your devices. iCloud stores your content so it’s always accessible from your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.* It gives you instant access to your music, apps, latest photos, and more. And it keeps your email, contacts, and calendars up to date across all your devices. No syncing required. No management required. In fact, no anything required. iCloud does it all for you.

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. And that’s plenty of room, because of the way iCloud stores your content. Your purchased music, apps, and books, as well as your Photo Stream, don’t count against your free storage. That leaves your mail, documents, Camera Roll, account information, settings, and other app data. And since those things don’t use as much space, you’ll find that 5GB goes a long way.

Apple iCloud will be available this fall!