iCloud Communications sues Apple for obvious reasons

You probably know the drill by now -- Cupertino introduces a new product with a name that ostensibly belongs to someone else, and for better or worse that someone decides to take Apple to court. Today, it's iCloud Communications charging out of the left corner to sock Apple's iCloud square in the wallet. Arizona-based iCloud Communications appears to be a VoIP equipment and service provider, though in court documents it claims to be a cloud computing company as well, and claims that it's been using the term iCloud (and the above logo) to sell such services since 2005. It's asking the court to destroy all iCloud marketing materials, pay damages and even invalidate the iCloud trademark that Apple bought from Xcerion -- the only registered iCloud trademark so far -- but what's probably going to actually happen here is a nice little settlement out of court.

iTunes (in the Cloud) 10.3 beta available for download

If you live in the US or Canada then the iTunes 10.3 beta is ready to rumble. Automatic downloads and access to your purchase history is limited to iOS 4.3.3 users on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch devices. Once you meet those requirements, the iTunes in the Cloud beta promises to keep all of your newly purchased iTunes music in sync between devices while giving you the choice to download previously purchased tracks whenever you want at no additional cost. 10.3 beta also brings the Automatic Downloads feature to your apps and books, now allowing you to purchase tomes from your desktop while keeping them in sync with the iBooks app running on your iOS devices.

iCloud

Today at WWDC, Apple has unveiled its online storage and content management service - iCloud. Well, that wasn't actually unexpected, but here come the details, folks, straight from the horse's mouth!
Naturally, iCloud will first before most act like a normal storage service - it will enable seamless cloud syncing for your iDevices. For example, if you have taken some new photos with your iPhone, once it gets connected to a Wi-Fi network, the pics will automatically get transferred to your iCloud, and from there - to your iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or even PC, without requiring any additional effort. Simple as that! But just how big is the scope of it?

Most of Apple's iCloud will be offered for free. The free services include:
1. Contacts, Calendar and Mail - the former MobileMe services - which have been completely rewritten in order to work with iCloud. These will be free of any (i)Ads, and the push Mail account will be hosted at me.com. So, there you have it - everything from contacts, through calendars to inboxes will be easily kept in sync.
2. App Store and iBookstore - this is pretty straightforward - purchases of apps and books can now be downloaded on all your devices. In addition, users will now be able to see their purchase history, and with the tap of a single button, will be allowed to download any apps and books to any iOS device.

3. iCloud Backup - the purpose of backup is self-explainable - everyday, while you're charging your iDevice, and it's connected to a Wi-Fi network, its content gets backed up to iCloud. The backed up content includes music, apps, books, photos, videos, settings and app data. So, now, when you decide to get a new device (by Apple, apparently), you'll simply have to enter your Apple id and pass and voila - all your data will be downloaded.
4. iCloud Storage - this service takes advantage of the new iCloud Storage APIs in order to manage your documents in the cloud (Pages, Numbers and Keynote docs). It keeps track of any changes, and makes sure to apply them to all your iDevices. The apps from the iWork suite already take advantage of that funcitonality.

5. Photo Stream - thanks to this sweet service here, you'll be able to have your photos synced across your iDevices, Mac and even PC. Note however, that iDevices will keep the last 1000 pics made, if you don't move them to an album or something. Macs and PCs won't have that limitation. Photos sent to iCloud will stay there for 30 days.

6. iTunes in the Cloud - now, music that you've previously purchased through iTunes will be downloadable on any of your iOS devices, for free. Nice, huh? Same for new purchases - those, you'll be able to automatically download to all iOS gadgets. But what about songs that are not purchased from iTunes? Thanks to a special service called iTunes Match - Apple will... match your music with content from iTunes, and if it finds a certain song, it will simply replace it with a 256kbps AAC DRM-free version. Why do that? Easy - because it would make your music available online in a matter of minutes, instead of having to upload your entire library to the cloud. The bad news is that iTunes Match will cost you something - $24.99 a year, to be exact.

Apple iCloud and its services will be available along with iOS 5 this fall. However, the good news is that iTunes in the Cloud, along with automatic download of apps and books, is available right away in the U.S. for users on iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3.

Analyst says that Apple's iCloud could seriously damage RIM

If the name Shaw Wu sounds familiar, that is because he is the analyst who continually wrote clients to tell them that a Verizon branded Apple iPhone was coming. Wu, who now toils for Sterne Agee, told clients on Friday that Apple's soon to be introduced iCloud is a game changer that will make it tough for other manufacturers to compete with the Cupertino based firm.

The new service, expected to be introduced Monday, will make iTunes more powerful according to Wu, who says that it can hurt Google, Amazon, Microsoft and RIM. While all of the aforementioned companies have tried to compete with iTunes,Wu sees iCloud making life especially difficult for RIM. Why? Because RIM offers its own "push" network for users of BlackBerry phones. While iCloud won't offer all of the same services that BlackBerry does, it will relieve some of the traffic congestion that carriers face by offloading data processing and as we reported the other day, the service will begin life free to users.

After speaking to industry contacts, Wu told clients that iCloud could impact RIM's forward service revenue and gross margin. Currently, carrier payments offer RIM gross margins as high as 87%. With that kind of profitability in danger, Wu has cut his revenue estimates for the Canadian based company to $24 billion (US) for the 2012 fiscal year, a drop of $100 million from his previous figure. Even more damaging, Wu now expects the BlackBerry maker to produce earnings of $6.35 a share, down from the $6.65 originally estimated. With this in mind, the analyst has cut his target on RIM's stock to $44 from $52. Friday morning, the stock was trading at $39.83.

Monday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to introduce the iCloud service during his keynote speech at the WWDC in San Francisco. A banner showing the iOS icon for iCloud is already hanging at the Moscone center where the WWDC will be held.

Apple iCloud for your own music at $25/yr

Much as been speculated about Apple's upcoming iCloud service that they are planning to announce on June 6 at WWDC '11, but Los Angeles Times has some information as to what it's actually about. According to their sources, iCloud users will be able to upload their music to Apple's servers and then stream it over the internet from other devices.

This service will initially be free for iTunes customers but will then be charged at a fee of about $25 per year.

Apple has signed contracts with four music labels that would allows them to let customers upload their music. So far Warner Music Group, EMI Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are on board.

According to the agreement, Apple is expected to share 70% of the revenue with these record labels, 12% with the music labels who hold the songwriting laws and to keep the remaining 18% for themselves.

Although the service initially will only include music, it would later be expanded to allow uploads of movies, TV shows and other digital content.

This service is similar to the Amazon Cloud Player, that offers 5GB free storage space and any additional space is charged and the recently launched Music Beta by Google, which offers users to upload 20,000 tracks and is free for a limited time.

Apple to Unveil Next Generation Software at Keynote Address on Monday, June 6

CUPERTINO, California-May 31, 2011-Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software - Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple's advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple's upcoming cloud services offering.

WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

For more details, visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website at developer.apple.com/wwdc.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.