The invention of cloud computing is not a new concept but has been derived from having already-established programs that allow you to access your work from any computer. Think IM Creator (the online website-making template). Originally programmed for business marketing strategies, cloud computing is making its way into the handheld devices we carry around with us everyday.
How Apple and Google differ their system is in the way in which they perceive what users want. A journalist for Computerworld.com writes that
"Apple is focused on keeping the experience of viewing and working with documents and data the same while providing ubiquitous access from a smaller set of solutions. Google wants to make your documents and data available from the widest possible array of sources, with the expectation that your hands-on experience may vary greatly from one device or app to the next." (Faas, 2011, pg 3)
Both platforms have been under scrutiny ever since the premiere of Google's Android system in 2008. While you can access Google's cloud system through any smart phone you can't do the same with Apple's iCloud. Apple's system is walled in to only Macintosh facilities. Even Wired magazine marked the system with disdain
"Apple's device was an end in itself — a self-contained, jewel-like masterpiece locked in a sleek protective shell"(Roth, 2008)
With the new release of the iOS 5 system for the iPhone means we can cloud compute from any where at any time which is exactly what Google and Apple are fighting for.
SOURCES:
Faas R, 2011, 'How the Apple iCloud compares to Google's cloud', Computer World, 8 June, accessed 18/10/2011, http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217438/How_the_Apple_iCloud_compares_to_Google_s_cloud?taxonomyId=158&pageNumber=3
Roth D, 2008, ‘Google’s open source Android OS will free the wireless Web’, Wired Magazine, 23 July, accessed 18/10/2011, http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-07/ff_android?currentPage=2
