If only iCould love iCloud

From Josh Topolsky’s editorial today regarding Apple’s cloud strategy

While competitors like Google and Microsoft continue to pursue a strategy of “you everywhere” with front-facing web products that allow you to create and collaborate with nothing more than a connection and relatively modern browser, Apple seems to be moving almost backwards. Sure, syncing our devices is clearly an important and yet-to-be-solved problem, but Cupertino isn’t just improving sync across devices. It also seems to be concluding that it can’t — or won’t — compete on the web, and I think that’s a mistake.

I appreciate Topolsky’s desire for more and better from Apple, but I am concerned about the realization of what he is really asking for. If he is taking Google and Microsoft to be Apple’s competitors, I think it is worth noting that

• Google’s business model, and by extension goals, are different that Apple’s. Remember, if you don’t pay for it, you are the product.
• Microsoft’s business model (or lack thereof) shows that they may not understand how to make money from the web.

When Steve Jobs talked about a “go-to-market strategy” for TV, it helped to remind me that aside from being a perfectionist, he is also a brilliant strategist. Apple’s cloud strategy supports their revenue stream, and so does Google’s. I think that for Topolsky to say that it is a mistake for Apple to follow the same strategic vector is hard to justify from a business perspective, because Apple is killing it.

One commenter may have hit it when they wrote:

The issue I have with this [article], is it’s clouded by what [Josh] wants out of Cloud services, and not what can be done with it…I would rip Apple for doing what they entend to do poorly, and not for not doing what you wanted them to do