观点：苹果发布iOS 5及iCloud，只不过一场秀

云端服务：苹果vs.谷歌

苹果近日召开的全球开发者大会(WWDC2011)上，乔布斯发布了iOS 5、iCloud、Mac OS X Lion三项系统应用。虽然没有出现下一代iPhone有些遗憾，但其中iCloud云端服务备受关注

，被认为是苹果藉由该服务再一次对其竞争对手展开进攻──这家电子业巨擘擦亮了其顾客价值招牌，而且看起来就像是该领域的先锋。

透过iCloud服务，苹果与谷歌和其他多种已经在市面上出现一段时间的云端服务，将展开更为密切的竞争。苹果此举是紧接在月前由其竞争对手──传统电脑业者戴尔和惠普宣布将投注大笔资金在其自有的云端服务上，而英特尔也开始协助其他推出云端服务的业者，借此巩固客户关系，并推动用户采用其x86架构之后。

比较苹果和谷歌的云端服务，会发现很有趣的情况。苹果的角色仍然介于从设备供应商跨足到提供线上服务的企业之间。而谷歌则正好相反。现在，这两家企业能否满足从设备到服务的中间部份，将是未来竞争的重点。

就在戴尔和惠普宣布计划建构大型云端服务的同时，苹果也表示他们有能力实现可确实对终端用户提供协助的云端服务。

乔布斯发布Mac OS X Lion、iOS 5、iCloud三项系统应用

苹果已经确立了一部份的iCloud服务项目，其中有一些是简单地对苹果过去曾失败的MobileMe服务展开重新设计。其他则是创新服务类型，如新的iTunes Match服务，它能自动完成在一个储存库(repository)中动获得来自任何服务之音乐的运作程序。但用户在这种情况下通常需要等待很长的一段时间。

苹果的储存、备份和其他音乐及电子书服务，都是其他企业已经在做，或是列为应该做的决策；基本上，所有提供云端服务的业者，都致力于让用户能从单一服务将所有类型的内容放到一个注册设备上使用。事实上这是废话，因为这是网路服务应该提供的。

苹果关注客户价值这点确实值得赞扬，因为他们看到了目前仍未被满足的需求──例如，当你的任何一台设备有新照片时，可以自动通知你其他的所有设备。但这也同时暴露出苹果之外的整个产业界至今仍未能广泛提供这种看似简单的服务。

这很有道理，若苹果真的想切入线上服务，它应该深入发展各种可实现线上功能的小型应用软体，这也正是其主要业务。毕竟，苹果是最近这阵子以来产业垂直整合的要角。

因此，对于苹果将把新的讯息和全新的订阅服务深入整合到iOS内部也毋须感到惊讶。这可望将新兴服务推广到消费者面前，并提供更大的开放性。这可能会是最佳，或是最差劲的一种锁定用户(customer lock in)形式，也可能是标准的封闭形苹果营运模式。

若谷歌或苹果转移到基于云端的电影服务，情况可能会更加有趣。以制片公司们联手开发的数位内容保护技术Ultraviolet为例，这个产业或许已经准备好启动这类线上电影服务了。而从文化层面来看，谷歌涉足数位版权管理技术的部份也可能比苹果更加深入。

当谷歌强化其在硬件领域的经验时，苹果也正在加强其Web服务。不仅推出谷歌Android智能手机来抢夺苹果的iOS地盘，现在，谷歌Chromebook也与苹果的MacBook展开正面竞争。

这与Mac vs.Windows之争类似。苹果的优势在于可全程控制其产品设计，从A5微处理器到Web服务均包含在内。而谷歌则可运用极大量的开放源代码开发商，以及原始设备制造商(OEM)来为其提供产品。

历史已经证明够好且成本够低的产品通常会脱颖而出。Wintel PC即为一例。所以我认为长期来看谷歌有很大优势成为赢家。

这家网际网络搜索引擎巨擘并未受到iCloud的影响。苹果的论点──花费5亿美元建立一座新的数据中心以协助推出产品听来有些可笑。而戴尔则表示今年将对其云端计划投入超过十亿美元。

与谷歌据说多年来已经在全球各地建构超过百万部服务器以打造分散式数据中心相比，这些数据微不足道。

欢迎来到苹果的云端世界。不过这也可能只是一场表演而已。

下一页：苹果在自找麻烦

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苹果在自找麻烦？

对于iCloud，OVUM首席分析师Mark Little评论说：

“苹果已经绷紧了它的神经，加紧创造一个云端媒体串流服务，命名为iCloud，好迎击竞争者Amazon和谷歌推出的服务。

如此一来，可能使苹果取得好位置，在授权协议的认可之下，让现有的iTunes音乐收藏可以从云端串流到任何苹果设备，而无须辛苦地上传。这媲美Amazon的Cloud Drive，和谷歌颇为懒惰的Beta版Music，它强迫使用者全部重新上传他们的音乐收藏。

乔布斯隆重推出iCloud云服务

苹果的确想要将iCloud设计得比Amazon和谷歌的服务更加友善。聚焦在消费者体验似乎能帮助苹果继续称霸数字音乐市场，但是在很大程度上取决于选择哪种商业模式。

如果iCloud跟苹果陈旧又不太成功且无变化，年费99美元的MobileMe云端服务捆绑在一起，苹果可能是在找自己的麻烦。然而如果MobileMe之中的储存和应用程序，明显地透过其它服务升级，配上合理的价格，苹果终于能够创造一个云端平台，作为防御iTunes霸权地位的基础，而非只是单纯地一味对抗Amazon和谷歌，也许还能对抗更重要的Spotify。”

为了与iCloud相匹配，苹果的技术人员重写了MobileMe的代码

下一页：苹果可以学学Android

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苹果可以学学Android

对于新版本的手机操作系统iOS 5，分析师 Nick Dillon评论说：

“尽管iPhone简单易用的接口和多点触控，无疑震撼了2007年的智能手机市场，但是之后苹果为iOS带来创新的速度相对趋缓，结果其它竞争对手因此迎头赶上，甚至在某些领域超越iOS。

上次iOS更新后，Windows Phone平台也问世了。尽管它还没有像iOS一样尝到商业上的成功，微软手机系统戏剧化的改头换面，已经让苹果的样貌在某些方面看起来明显老气过时。第一个主要差异是不同应用程序整合和分享资料的能力，这是和苹果应用程序的独立式使用法最不一样的地方。

其次是iOS和云端服务的整合，这是苹果历来的弱点。除了少数的核心应用程序之外，iOS重度依赖第三方应用程序的功能，iPhone的广告也清楚地说明了这件事。其它平台，例如Android、Windows Phone和WebOS，已经整合了云端服务，例如将联络人通讯簿、电子邮件和实时讯息整合到系统核心，允许它们提供更完整的使用经验。

另一个苹果iOS可能需要改进的领域是iPhone和iPad不同版本软件之间的互动。苹果可以学学Android，为iPad推出新的接口，善加利用它更大尺寸的屏幕。在不同行动设备之间分享资料的能力，无论是透过云端服务或HP WebOS今年稍早炫耀的近场通讯NFC，都有助于改进拥有不只一项iOS设备的使用者的使用经验。”

iOS 5新特性一览

点击参考原文：Apple iCloud's starts air war with Google

《电子工程专辑》网站版权所有，谢绝转载

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Apple iCloud's starts air war with Google

Rick Merritt

Once again Apple has taken something most of its competitors are doing, polished the customer value part of it and come out looking like a pioneer.

So it goes with the iCloud service that brings Apple into closer competition with many services Google and others have been offering for some time. Apple's move follows announcements months ago by traditional rivals such Dell and Hewlett-Packard that are spending big bucks on their own cloud services and Intel which has been helping others launch cloud services as a way to cement customer relationships and lock users into the x86.

The contrast between Apple and Google in cloud is interesting. Apple remains a device company edging into a growing business in online services. Google is just the opposite. Now the two have essentially met in the middle for what will be quite a battle for the hearts and minds of the technorati.

While Dell and HP have announced generic plans to build big clouds, Apple has shown them a way to do it that really helps end users.

Apple has defined a half a dozen solid iCloud services, some of them simply reborn of Apple's failed MobileMe service. Others are fresh and thoughtful—the new iTunes Match service for example, that automates the process of getting all your music from any service in one repository. That's something that users have needed for a looooong time.

Apple's storage, backup and other music and e-book services are the sorts of things others are already doing or ought to be doing—making all content available on all registered devices from one service. Duh—that's sort of what Web services are supposed to be about.

It's a tribute to Apple's focus on customer value they saw such unmet needs as simply notifying all your devices when new photos are available on any of them. It's also an indictment of the rest of the industry that it has not delivered such simple things widely.

It makes sense now that Apple really wants to drive into offering online services it should bake online capabilities deeply into the gadgets that represent its main business. After all, Apple is the poster boy for vertical integration these days.

So it should be no surprise, Apple will bury the roots of its new messaging and news subscription services in to the bowels of iOS. That would give the fledgling services a hand getting in front of users and providing capabilities a more open alternative could not provide. This is a form of customer lock in at its best—and worst—and is typical of Apple's closed model.

It will be interesting to see if either Apple or Google move on to cloud-based movie services. The Ultraviolet technology developed in conjunction with movie studios is ready to start forming the basis of such online services. Google is more culturally likely than Apple to reach out to someone else's digital rights management technology.

Apple is going deep into Web services at a time when Google is increasing its hardware footprint. Not only have Google Android smartphones emerged as the leading competitors to Apple iOS, Google Chromebooks now directly compete with Apple MacBooks.

This is classic Mac versus Windows. Apple has an edge in controlling the design of its products from A5 microprocessors to Web services. Google can leverage a bazillion open source developers and OEMs to deliver its products, but it must heard those cats who will inevitably produce less than optimal work--but much more of it.

History shows good enough and lower cost usually win. Thus the Wintel PC. So I give Google a big edge here as the long term winner.

The Internet search giant is not shaking in its boots over iCloud. Apple's comment that it spent $500 million in one new data center to help launch these products is laughable. Dell committed to spending a billion on its cloud plans this year.

These amounts are drops in a barrel compared to what Google has spent with reportedly as many as a million servers in distributed data centers humming all around the world for years now.

Welcome to cloud computing Apple. It's going to be one heck of a show.