Comments on: The iCloud and Apple’s Creativity http://www.shebytes.com/2011/06/07/the-icloud-and-apples-creativity/ Tech Blog: Technology trends for men and women, from a woman’s perspective. Renee Schmidt, editor. Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:30:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jesse Braunstein http://www.shebytes.com/2011/06/07/the-icloud-and-apples-creativity/#comment-139 Jesse Braunstein Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:10:58 +0000 http://www.shebytes.com/?p=1270#comment-139 Definitely agree with Ford! It seems like another of Apple's greatest strengths is its hard earned ability to garner brand loyalty, time and again from the market. Maybe this customer loyalty is due to Apple's reputation and the publicity they constantly get, but I think it probably has more to do with the way the company has innovatively manuevered around its original problem of Network Externality,when it began competing with Microsoft on computers. For those of you who don't know, Network Externality is when "the value of a product or service is dependent on the number of others using it", according to Wikipedia. So think about how increasingly attractive Facebook is just because others use it. Although Apple was originally disadvantaged in that very few people had Macs, now the OS (especially for the iPod), is so intuitive that they've been able to flip the issue on its head. Apple now has all the benefits of Network Externality; where its consumers feel like they belong to an exclusive membership club of technology products and people are dying (or waiting on lines for a ridiculous amount of hours), just to get in. This is exactly the type of strategy Apple has pushed forward with once again with the iCloud! Definitely agree with Ford! It seems like another of Apple’s greatest strengths is its hard earned ability to garner brand loyalty, time and again from the market. Maybe this customer loyalty is due to Apple’s reputation and the publicity they constantly get, but I think it probably has more to do with the way the company has innovatively manuevered around its original problem of Network Externality,when it began competing with Microsoft on computers.

For those of you who don’t know, Network Externality is when “the value of a product or service is dependent on the number of others using it”, according to Wikipedia. So think about how increasingly attractive Facebook is just because others use it. Although Apple was originally disadvantaged in that very few people had Macs, now the OS (especially for the iPod), is so intuitive that they’ve been able to flip the issue on its head. Apple now has all the benefits of Network Externality; where its consumers feel like they belong to an exclusive membership club of technology products and people are dying (or waiting on lines for a ridiculous amount of hours), just to get in. This is exactly the type of strategy Apple has pushed forward with once again with the iCloud!

]]> By: Brian http://www.shebytes.com/2011/06/07/the-icloud-and-apples-creativity/#comment-136 Brian Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:20:49 +0000 http://www.shebytes.com/?p=1270#comment-136 It's not difficult to make things easy to use when you have a closed architecture and a walled garden. Therefore, it's not surprising that iCloud will be easier to use than, say, Amazon Cloud Player or Google Music Beta. But I wouldn't really attribute that to some sort of magical creativity. I'd say it's just a function of targeting a customer segment that is happy to settle for whatever someone else (Apple, in this case) thinks is best for them. And fortunately for those people, Apple does manage to get it pretty right most of the time. Aside from ease of use, I couldn't detect anything new about iCloud that isn't already well established in the cloud now, and in some cases, has been available in one form or another for ten or more years. And I think that Apple overstates the difficulty of use of existing services. "Weeks and weeks" to upload each song to other services? Hardly. I uploaded 9,000 songs in one click. It uploaded for about one week. No problem. And I got to pick the songs, not just from whatever is in the iTunes catalog. It’s not difficult to make things easy to use when you have a closed architecture and a walled garden. Therefore, it’s not surprising that iCloud will be easier to use than, say, Amazon Cloud Player or Google Music Beta. But I wouldn’t really attribute that to some sort of magical creativity. I’d say it’s just a function of targeting a customer segment that is happy to settle for whatever someone else (Apple, in this case) thinks is best for them. And fortunately for those people, Apple does manage to get it pretty right most of the time.

Aside from ease of use, I couldn’t detect anything new about iCloud that isn’t already well established in the cloud now, and in some cases, has been available in one form or another for ten or more years.

And I think that Apple overstates the difficulty of use of existing services. “Weeks and weeks” to upload each song to other services? Hardly. I uploaded 9,000 songs in one click. It uploaded for about one week. No problem. And I got to pick the songs, not just from whatever is in the iTunes catalog.

]]> By: Rachel http://www.shebytes.com/2011/06/07/the-icloud-and-apples-creativity/#comment-135 Rachel Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:09:28 +0000 http://www.shebytes.com/?p=1270#comment-135 I do hope everyone realizes that if your data hosted on a system in the US is accessible by US athorities when ever they like, without asking your permission. Think about that before you "cloud" anything. I do hope everyone realizes that if your data hosted on a system in the US is accessible by US athorities when ever they like, without asking your permission. Think about that before you “cloud” anything.

]]> By: Ford Kanzler http://www.shebytes.com/2011/06/07/the-icloud-and-apples-creativity/#comment-134 Ford Kanzler Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:18:25 +0000 http://www.shebytes.com/?p=1270#comment-134 Apple continues delighting and enchanting its existing and new customers. Creating a valuable new environment for all its wares is a logical as well as an effective marketing move that was likely based in serious customer research. It fits with the brand's ongoing approach to capturing and retaining customers by providing them with what they want, before, more easily than and at a premium over its technology competitors. Apple continues delighting and enchanting its existing and new customers. Creating a valuable new environment for all its wares is a logical as well as an effective marketing move that was likely based in serious customer research. It fits with the brand’s ongoing approach to capturing and retaining customers by providing them with what they want, before, more easily than and at a premium over its technology competitors.

]]> By: Robert Limbrey http://www.shebytes.com/2011/06/07/the-icloud-and-apples-creativity/#comment-133 Robert Limbrey Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:12:06 +0000 http://www.shebytes.com/?p=1270#comment-133 This kinda makes more sense as a competitive position to erode Microsoft market share than anything. Where Apple are strong though, is making a design concept work. The ipod, ipad are amazing devices. Can they bring their design pazazz to a cloud storage offering??? This kinda makes more sense as a competitive position to erode Microsoft market share than anything. Where Apple are strong though, is making a design concept work. The ipod, ipad are amazing devices. Can they bring their design pazazz to a cloud storage offering???

]]> By: Elizabeth Boylan http://www.shebytes.com/2011/06/07/the-icloud-and-apples-creativity/#comment-132 Elizabeth Boylan Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:28:07 +0000 http://www.shebytes.com/?p=1270#comment-132 It's going to be interesting to watch as the dust settles for the competition. Why would anyone pay for an upgrade to Windows OS? The combination of iCloud, with OS Lion and iOS 5 with app sharing for up to 10 devices just priced out the competition like nobody's business! Even the enhancements to iOS 5 will wipe out some existing albeit successful apps like Instapaper or even some Camera Apps... It’s going to be interesting to watch as the dust settles for the competition. Why would anyone pay for an upgrade to Windows OS? The combination of iCloud, with OS Lion and iOS 5 with app sharing for up to 10 devices just priced out the competition like nobody’s business! Even the enhancements to iOS 5 will wipe out some existing albeit successful apps like Instapaper or even some Camera Apps…

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