Apple picker Apple has announced that iCloud's revolutionary suite of free cloud services, including iTunes in the cloud, Photos and Documents in the cloud, will be available from October 12. Working with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC devices, it automatically wirelessly stores content on the network and makes it available on all devices.
iCloud stores and syncs music, photos, apps, contacts, calendars, documents, and more between all your devices. Once content changes on one device, all other devices are automatically updated over the air.
“iCloud is the easiest solution to manage your content. It takes care of it for you and its options far exceed anything available on the market today." said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "You don't have to think about syncing your devices because it happens automatically - and for free."
iTunes in the cloud lets you automatically download newly purchased music to all your devices. So once you buy a song on your iPad, it will be waiting for you on your iPhone without having to sync the device. iTunes in the cloud also lets you download content previously purchased from iTunes to your devices for free, including music and TV shows.* Because iCloud keeps a history of your previous iTunes purchases, you can see everything you've purchased, regardless of the device you're using . And since you already own the content, you can play it on your devices, or simply tap the iCloud icon to download it for later playback.
* iCloud service will be available worldwide. Availability of iTunes in the Cloud will vary by country. iTunes Match and TV shows are only available in the US. iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match services can be used on up to 10 devices with the same Apple ID.
In addition, iTunes Match searches your music library for songs, including music that wasn't purchased through iTunes. It searches for matching counterparts among the 20 million songs in the iTunes Store® catalog and offers them in high-quality AAC 256 Kb/s encoding without DRM. It saves unmatched songs to iCloud so you can play your songs, albums, and playlists on all your devices.
The innovative iCloud Photo Stream service automatically syncs photos you take on one device to other devices. A photo taken on an iPhone is thus automatically synchronized via iCloud to your iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC. You can also view the Photo Stream album on Apple TV. iCloud also automatically copies photos imported from a digital camera over Wi-Fi or Ethernet so you can view them on other devices. iCloud manages Photo Stream efficiently, so it displays the last 1000 photos to avoid using up your devices' storage capacity.
iCloud's Documents in the Cloud feature automatically syncs documents between all your devices for you. For example, when you create a document in Pages® on iPad, that document is automatically sent to iCloud. In the Pages app on another iOS device, you can then open the same document with the latest changes and continue editing or reading right where you left off. The iWork apps for iOS, i.e. Pages, Numbers and Keynote, will be able to use iCloud storage, and Apple is offering developers the necessary programming APIs to equip their apps with support for Documents in the Cloud.
iCloud stores your App Store and iBookstore purchase history and allows you to re-download purchased apps and books to any of your devices at any time. Purchased apps and books can automatically download to all devices, not just the device you buy them from. Just tap the iCloud icon and download your already purchased apps and books to any of your iOS devices for free.
iCloud Backup over Wi-Fi automatically and securely backs up your most important information to iCloud whenever you connect your iOS device to a power source. Once you connect your device, everything is backed up quickly and efficiently. iCloud already stores purchased music, TV shows, apps, books and Photo Stream. iCloud Backup takes care of everything else. It backs up photos and videos from the Camera folder, device settings, app data, home screen and app layout, messages and ringtones. iCloud Backup can even help you install a new iOS device or restore information on a device you already own.**
** Backup of purchased music is not available in all countries. Backup of purchased TV shows is only available in the US. If an item you purchased is no longer available in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore, it may not be possible to restore it.
iCloud works seamlessly with Contacts, Calendar, and Mail, so you can share calendars with friends and family. And your ad-free email account is hosted on the me.com domain. All email folders are synced between iOS devices and computers, and you can enjoy easy web access to Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Find iPhone, and iWork documents on icloud.com.
The Find My iPhone app helps you if you lose any of your devices. Simply use the Find My iPhone app on another device, or log into icloud.com from your computer, and you'll see your lost iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch on a map, view a message on it, and remotely lock or erase it. You can also use Find My iPhone to locate a lost Mac running OS X Lion.
Find My Friends is a new app available as a free download on the App Store. With it, you can easily share your location with the people you care about. Friends and family members are displayed on the map so you can quickly see where they are. With Find My Friends, you can also temporarily share your location with a group of friends, whether it's for a few hours to have dinner together or a few days while camping together. When the time comes, you can easily stop sharing. Only friends you give permission for can track your location in Find My Friends. You can then hide your location with a simple tap. You can manage your child's use of Find My Friends using parental controls.
iCloud will be available at the same time as iOS 5, the world's most advanced mobile operating system with more than 200 new features including Notification Center, an innovative solution for unified display and management of notifications without interruption, the new iMessage messaging service through which all iOS 5 users they can easily send text messages, photos and videos, and new Newsstand services for shopping and organizing subscription newspapers and magazines.
Prices and availability
iCloud will be available starting October 12 as a free download for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch users running iOS 5 or Mac computers running OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5 GB of free storage for email, documents, and backups. Purchased music, TV shows, apps, books and Photo Streams do not count against your storage limit. iTunes Match will be available in the US starting this month for $24,99 a year. Windows Vista or Windows 7 is required to use iCloud on a PC; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended to access contacts and calendar. Available iCloud storage can be expanded to 10 GB for $20 per year, 20 GB for $40 per year, or 50 GB for $100 per year.
iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and iPod touch (XNUMXrd and XNUMXth generation) customers to enjoy great new features.
I would be interested. I have two Appstore accounts - I don't see how this will work - do I have to decide on one or something?
I use the applications of both - simply from the "history" I have two accounts.
so it will be completely free? I don't have a lion, so I'm interested, I plan to exchange the 4GS for my 3GS.
how long will it be free sa vie? I read speculations that I will only leave it for 1 year and then it will pay anyway
MUDr. Nudl: "I will only leave it for 1 year and then it will pay" ... where did you hear that? On the whole, I regularly visit websites about Apple and they didn't write about it anywhere... can you give a link? …. I'm actually wondering what will happen to iTunes Match after a year if I don't renew my subscription. Will everything be deleted or will I just not add any new albums other than those purchased via iTunes?
Query:
i have ip4 and ipad2 on one account, but i don't want to sync ipad2 with ip4, because ipad 2 is used by someone else. What should I do? Probably create a new account or not upgrade ipad2 to ios5.
thanks for the reply
I have a question, I read somewhere earlier that iCloud synchronization will also work on OS X 10.6, has anyone confirmed this information? Thanks
Horst fuchs: in ios5 you can set whether and how you will use iCloud. You can also not use it at all. Resp. you set it separately for each device.
I have a question. I've been using the paid MobileMe app for several years. This application will be replaced by iCloud activation. But what will happen to the components of mobileMe, such as iWeb, or MobileMe Galleries, which will not be in iCloud?
I have a feeling you'll have to convert it and that it ends... I read somewhere that Tim C. is considering restoring some MobileMe features after the insistence of users like you
I wanted to ask, at home we all have iPhones with one account, can it be set up so that we each have our own iCloud or if I want it, then everyone has to create their own account. Thanks a lot for the answer.
And is it mandatory to enter a credit card number when registering? Thanks.