The Apple Beat: iCloud strives for seamlessness

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

"We believe technology is at its very best when it’s invisible. When you’re​ conscious only of what you’re doing, not the device you’re doing it with…"  Apple's guiding principle behind all user experience as explained in the iPad 3 Keynote last year.

The best technology should be invisible, users needn't spend an inordinate amount of time setting up and most specially--troubleshooting devices or software to get it to work. It should just work and this has been the blueprint of Apple's iCloud ecosystem.

Considered to be the core and nerve-center of the Apple user's experience, iCloud ties iOS devices together and it also integrates all of their Mac products. A highly complex system that synchs email messages, personal photos via Photostream, iMessage chats, FaceTime video chat interactions, iPhone and Mac location services and various interconnected apps like Game Center, Notes, Reminders and others.

It is a monumental task and one that's challenging even for an entity of Apple's sheer size. Imagine, Apple needs to keep tabs on each email message, each photo, each minute change for every mobile device as well as any notebook, desktop attached to that user's iTunes, iCloud or .Mac account. iCloud has been aped by almost every other PC manufacturer which is pushing some sort of backup, multi-screen or cloud synching initiative but Apple has done it longer than anyone else.

I've been using Apple's cloud products for over a decade. I signed up for one of the first iTools accounts in 2000, I even ran my personal website for years on that evolving cloud platform. But Apple's involvement with online services goes even further to 1994 with eWorld, a pioneering yet short lived eMail and bulletin board service that was the Mac user's AOL at the time.

As these services have evolved through time, Apple has freely developed the aspects that are necessary (like Mail) and discarded other aspects that feel trivial or unpopular (remember iCards?). One thing that's become clear is the desire for seamless operation and interoperability at the kernel level so that all devices with the latest OS versions can quickly and efficiently synch with iCloud.

Convergence seems to be another unifiying theme at Apple right now. The mobile-focused iOS has adopted features that were the domain of Mac OS and in return, the most current Mac OS X versions are in many ways emulating the look and feel of what one can experience on the iPhone and the iPad.

Time will tell whether we will see a unified OS for both mobile and Mac-based products or if iOS will eventually be the underlying technology to ship on all devices, even if Mac OS will continue (something like the way Windows 8 has both Metro and the Desktop in their devices). Personally, I think this approach is confusing and messy, certainly not what one would expect from Apple.

iCloud's features are also the ingredients that Apple hopes will draw iPhone and iPad devotees into considering an iMac or MacBook Air as a companion computer to their mobile devices. Yes, it seems that the smartphone and the tablet have risen as the lead devices, computers are now adjuncts, necessary only to run specific applications and programs and do the heavy lifting.

Expect iCloud to be a focal point moving forward with iOS 7 around the corner and whichever new Big Cat Apple announces in two months at WWDC.

As important as the apps and features themselves, seamless interplay between Apple properties, devices, stores, app and others will be necessary to keep Apple on top of the game.