Why is iCloud so restricted to the Apple Ecosystem!?

[tibi08]

I am just realising now how heavily tied into the Apple Ecosystem the whole of iCloud is. It's going to really limit it's usefulness to me. For example:

• iTunes in the Cloud - requires having purchased your mp3s in on iTunes, which I generally don't do.
• Photo stream - Okay that's quite useful.
• Documents in the cloud - Requires iWork, which I don't use. A feature akin to Dropbox would have been more useful.
• Apps - I don't want all my iPhone apps on my iPad.
• Books - Limited to the iBookstore which I don't use
• Backup - Okay that's quite useful.
• Calendar - I already have cloud ability using Google Calendars, but Apple's version is more restrictive: you can only share your calendar with other iCloud users.
• Mail - tied to Apple email only, whereas I use Gmail
• Contacts - Okay that's quite useful.
• Find my Friends - Useful, but not all my friends have an iPhone so again this feature is restrictive

I know Apple try to lock people into the Apple Ecosystem generally, and I consider myself pretty well within this system - but I am not going to exclusively use Apple products (such as iWork) just to get the most out of iCloud.... and that makes it less powerful than it's competitiors such as Google Calendar, Google Documents, Dropbox, etc.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

I don't think you're entirely correct re iTunes in the cloud and iCloud document sync.

iTunes Match will also pick up other songs you own but didn't buy through iTunes, and make them available in the Cloud. No word on when/if iTunes match will be available outside 'merica though
http://www.apple.com/itunes/whats-new/

iCloud doc sync can be built into other apps when the developers update their apps.
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/11/developers-updating-apps-with-icloud-support/
http://developer.apple.com/icloud/index.php

 

[maflynn]

I know Apple try to lock people into the Apple Ecosystem generally, and I consider myself pretty well within this system - but I am not going to exclusively use Apple products (such as iWork) just to get the most out of iCloud.... and that makes it less powerful than it's competitiors such as Google Calendar, Google Documents, Dropbox, etc.

That's the apple mantra, if you want the ease of use and seamless integration you have to be all in with apple products. Yes there's other products that have similar function but none will do it as integrated and seamless (with apple products) as iCloud.

I'm not entirely sold on iCloud but I haven't played with the beta so I'll have to wait and see

 

[Playgear]

I am just realising now how heavily tied into the Apple Ecosystem the whole of iCloud is. It's going to really limit it's usefulness to me. For example:

• iTunes in the Cloud - requires having purchased your mp3s in on iTunes, which I generally don't do.
• Photo stream - Okay that's quite useful.
• Documents in the cloud - Requires iWork, which I don't use. A feature akin to Dropbox would have been more useful.
• Apps - I don't want all my iPhone apps on my iPad.
• Books - Limited to the iBookstore which I don't use
• Backup - Okay that's quite useful.
• Calendar - I already have cloud ability using Google Calendars, but Apple's version is more restrictive: you can only share your calendar with other iCloud users.
• Mail - tied to Apple email only, whereas I use Gmail
• Contacts - Okay that's quite useful.
• Find my Friends - Useful, but not all my friends have an iPhone so again this feature is restrictive

I know Apple try to lock people into the Apple Ecosystem generally, and I consider myself pretty well within this system - but I am not going to exclusively use Apple products (such as iWork) just to get the most out of iCloud.... and that makes it less powerful than it's competitiors such as Google Calendar, Google Documents, Dropbox, etc.

Nobody is making you use Apple products to get the most out of iCloud. If you don't like it, don't use it. It's also free. Don't complain. They have every right to restrict it to Apple only devices.

 

[tibi08]

Nobody is making you use Apple products to get the most out of iCloud. If you don't like it, don't use it. It's also free. Don't complain. They have every right to restrict it to Apple only devices.

The question was "why is iCloud so restricted". You fail to answer the question and contributed nothing useful.

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I don't think you're entirely correct re iTunes in the cloud and iCloud document sync.

iTunes Match will also pick up other songs you own but didn't buy through iTunes, and make them available in the Cloud. No word on when/if iTunes match will be available outside 'merica though
http://www.apple.com/itunes/whats-new/

iCloud doc sync can be built into other apps when the developers update their apps.
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/11/developers-updating-apps-with-icloud-support/
http://developer.apple.com/icloud/index.php

Thanks - I had excluded ITunes Match from my comments as it's a separate paid service. But I agree that the feature does make the service less restrictive - at a cost!

Doc Sync - that is true, it might be more useful in other apps in future - but it is very unlikely that Microsoft will offer this within MS Office for example: therefore I will probably never be able to use the feature for Office documents which I use on my Mac. Whereas on Dropbox, I can.

 

[thewitt]

Because its a free system offered to Apple customers for use with Apple products.

Over time it may evolve into something you can pay to use with other companies products, but clearly it's designed to support the Apple world today...

 

[paulsalter]

The question was "why is iCloud so restricted". You fail to answer the question and contributed nothing useful.

----------



Thanks - I had excluded ITunes Match from my comments as it's a separate paid service. But I agree that the feature does make the service less restrictive - at a cost!

Doc Sync - that is true, it might be more useful in other apps in future - but it is very unlikely that Microsoft will offer this within MS Office for example: therefore I will probably never be able to use the feature for Office documents which I use on my Mac. Whereas on Dropbox, I can.

I would say it's just the way it is with Apple, as you mentioned initially, they want you to use all Apple products, which then makes these systems all tie together seamlessly

Once everything is working like this it is very hard to migrate it to using other 3rd parties so you are stuck in the Apple ecosystem

I am still undecided on iCloud, from what I have seen I might end up using Google for more of my services

 

[maflynn]

The question was "why is iCloud so restricted". You fail to answer the question and contributed nothing useful.

Because that's the apple way. The same thing was asked back in the day when the iPod was king. You could only sync it with iTunes and apple's drm'd music. Apple produces products/services that are closed to other competitors. asking this question will only get you the answer "just because"

 

[shurcooL]

The answer is simple.

You're just asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking "why is iCloud so restricted on non-Apple stuff,"

Ask rather "Why won't Apple spend the development effort and time to implement iCloud on their own Apple stuff _AS WELL_ as other platforms?"

Just because you're not a developer, don't assume everything is already done and companies just restrict you from using it. Think of starting from zero and having to create stuff. Of course they'll be focusing on making it work with Apple stuff first.

 

[Julien]

... The same thing was asked back in the day when the iPod was king....

....and who is king now: the Zune?

 

[maflynn]

....and who is king now: the Zune?

sudders - thankfully the iPhone is

 

[miles01110]

The question was "why is iCloud so restricted". You fail to answer the question and contributed nothing useful.

Because Apple wants it to be. You asked a question with an obvious answer.

 

[tibi08]

The answer is simple.

You're just asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking "why is iCloud so restricted on non-Apple stuff,"

Ask rather "Why won't Apple spend the development effort and time to implement iCloud on their own Apple stuff _AS WELL_ as other platforms?"

Just because you're not a developer, don't assume everything is already done and companies just restrict you from using it. Think of starting from zero and having to create stuff. Of course they'll be focusing on making it work with Apple stuff first.

I take the point but consider this: When developing the Calendar in the Cloud, Apple developers chose to come up with their own proprietary interface rather than choosing the open CalDEV system which would have a) reduced development time and b) make it compatible with the rest of the market.

Apple intentionally chose to make the system restricted.

----------

Because that's the apple way. The same thing was asked back in the day when the iPod was king. You could only sync it with iTunes and apple's drm'd music. Apple produces products/services that are closed to other competitors. asking this question will only get you the answer "just because"

That's a pretty good example actually. So I take it that the answer to my question is, that by restricting their products they hope to drive all competitiors so far into submission that the only real choice is Apple. If Apple succeed, then i think that will be pretty bad for us as consumers.

 

[paulsalter]

I take the point but consider this: When developing the Calendar in the Cloud, Apple developers chose to come up with their own proprietary interface rather than choosing the open CalDEV system which would have a) reduced development time and b) make it compatible with the rest of the market.

Apple intentionally chose to make the system restricted.

As far as i know the calendar is CalDav, so anything other system should work with it

or this was the case when MM moved calendars into the cloud

 

[tibi08]

As far as i know the calendar is CalDav, so anything other system should work with it

or this was the case when MM moved calendars into the cloud

Ah ok - interesting - hope you're right!

 

[admanimal]

I am just realising now how heavily tied into the Apple Ecosystem the whole of iCloud is. It's going to really limit it's usefulness to me. For example:

• iTunes in the Cloud - requires having purchased your mp3s in on iTunes, which I generally don't do.
• Photo stream - Okay that's quite useful.
• Documents in the cloud - Requires iWork, which I don't use. A feature akin to Dropbox would have been more useful.
• Apps - I don't want all my iPhone apps on my iPad.
• Books - Limited to the iBookstore which I don't use
• Backup - Okay that's quite useful.
• Calendar - I already have cloud ability using Google Calendars, but Apple's version is more restrictive: you can only share your calendar with other iCloud users.
• Mail - tied to Apple email only, whereas I use Gmail
• Contacts - Okay that's quite useful.
• Find my Friends - Useful, but not all my friends have an iPhone so again this feature is restrictive

Many of your examples are incorrect or don't make sense, e.g.:

-Documents in the Cloud works with any app that supports it, not just iWork.
-Nothing is forcing you to have your iPhone apps on your iPad
-Mail: what would it even mean for another mail service to be supported by iCloud? You can already use whatever mail service you want on any device that would support iCloud.
-Find my Friends: is Apple supposed to write an Android app to make this work on other phones? It's not like there is some standard protocol for sharing location information like this.

 

[sesnir]

Many of your examples are incorrect or don't make sense, e.g.:

-Documents in the Cloud works with any app that supports it, not just iWork.
-Nothing is forcing you to have your iPhone apps on your iPad
-Mail: what would it even mean for another mail service to be supported by iCloud? You can already use whatever mail service you want on any device that would support iCloud.
-Find my Friends: is Apple supposed to write an Android app to make this work on other phones? It's not like there is some standard protocol for sharing location information like this.

+1

And -

Books: Well the Kindle app already has this kind of feature, so Apple is just catching up. They aren't responsible for the other e-book apps...

I think all of your frowny face bullet points have been addressed... but that being said, I wish Apple wasn't getting rid of iDisk and web hosting, and would let me merge my Apple ID with my iCloud ID (former MM).

 

[vitzr]

From my perspective the answer is easy. It's Apples system to setup the way _they_ want it. They've followed the age old Apple tradition of locking people into a system under the guise of "it's easy to use". Or "it just works". Or because it's free, or...

Let's face it. Everything has its Pro's & Cons. No system is perfect, nor does one size fits all no matter how much brain washing is used.

At the end of the day it's the buyer that decides. Apple has capitalized on the general laziness of the public & lured them with good looking & useful products. Apples true brilliance was building a cult like following via Steve Jobs. He did it the same way Gerry Garcia did. Both good at their craft, and charismatic like popular preachers, it's the church of Apple.

To the fanboys...don't waste your time getting riled up over the truth.

At no time have I been critical, I'm only stating the obvious. Hell, I buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of Apple computers myself. If I didn't like it I wouldn't be a customer. We are all individuals entitled to our opinions, that's mine.

 

[TheGrudge]

I agree with the OP. In fact, I'll take it one step further. Other than the fact it's now called iCloud and it sports a slightly different interface, I fail to see how this is any different than MobileMe. The calendar still lacks some features found in Google Cal (text/email alerts from web browser), Mail looks exactly the same, Contacts are the same, and I don't use iWork for anything. It leaves me with the same setup that I had when I subscribed to MM - only difference is it's not costing me $100/month I suppose

Mail - Gmail
Calendar - Google
Contacts - Google (although I may transfer over to iCloud)
Find My Phone - ON
Bookmarks - ON (Although I don't use Safari at home so what's the point)
Photostream - OFF
iCloud Backup - ON (okay, so that's new)

I'm not angry about any of this, nor do I mean to sound negative. It is what it is. I guess I'm just a little disappointed that it's basically MobileMe under a new name and it took 4 months to get here

 

[tibi08]

I am undecided on iCloud, from what I have seen I might end up using Google for more of my services

Exactly my thinking. Google represents a much more open and flexible offering on some levels. By making iCloud restrictive, I see three possible options:

1) Some people (fairly few?) will switch completely into the Apple ecosystem and so the strategy has worked;

2) Some people (most?) will use fairly little of the iCloud functionality and continue to use other providers such as Google.

3) People just won't use iCloud at all, since they determine that the benefits of the restricted system are so limited.

All in all, a more open system would have been much better for us customers.

 

[miles01110]

All in all, a more open system would have been much better for us customers.

Citation needed.

 

[tibi08]

Citation needed.

The purpose of a citation is to attribute prior or unoriginal work and ideas to the original source. Since my comment constitutes the original idea, a citation is not applicable. Possibly you need to learn the words which you use?

 

[thelookingglass]

The whole point of a "restricted" ecosystem is to make it difficult to leave once you're in it. You become so reliant on the services and the way everything is integrated that it'd taken too much work/money to switch to a competing device/service. I've bought into the Apple ecosystem, so even though certain Android phones look tempting I won't even think about it. Too much invested in apps/music/videos/books. Apple won my business and as long as they keep putting out quality products/services, I don't mind giving them more of my time and money.

 

[tallyho]

Since my comment constitutes the original idea, a citation is not applicable.

Ha. That would be a fair point, but your comment is hardly original. I also don't think it's correct, but hey, if that's what you think then good luck to you.

To address the question in the title of the thread, it's clearly a different business model, innit? Google gives you services "for free", by mining as much data as they possibly can and selling your profile to advertisers. Apple is now giving you iCloud "for free", to persuade you to buy more of their top end hardware.

I prefer the Apple approach, but it's a free country.

 

[Tom8]

Off Topic: Isn't Apple updating it's Mac iWork suite for iCloud? Surely it'd make much more sense to have a "Share to iCloud" option in the "Share" tab rather than having to go to iCloud to upload the document....