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Apple's iCloud and iTunes Match Are Top Cloud Media Services in U.S.

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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According to a report from Strategy Analytics (via Engadget) Apple's iCloud and iTunes Match are the most frequently used cloud media services, with a combined usage total of 27%.

To get its numbers, Strategy Analytics asked 2,300 Americans the following question: "Have you ever used any of the following online digital locker services which enabled you to store music, video (including TV shows and movies) or games online ("in the cloud" and stream them to an Internet connected device?"

cloudservices.jpg
Dropbox came in second at 17% and Amazon's Cloud Drive came in third with 15%. Google Drive came in fourth, with Ultraviolet, Samsung Music Hub, Online, LG Cloud, and Galkai following behind.

The survey revealed that the majority of people (at 55%) had never used a cloud media service at all, and as Strategy Analytics points out, Dropbox, with its second place ranking, is the only service without an associated content ecosystem. Music is a major factor in cloud usage with 90% of Apple, Amazon, and Google cloud users storing music. 45% of Dropbox users use the service to store music.
"Music is currently the key battleground in the war for cloud domination. Google is tempting users by giving away free storage for 20,000 songs which can be streamed to any Android device, a feature both Amazon and Apple charge annual subscriptions for," observes Ed Barton, Strategy Analytics' Director of Digital Media.
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Usage of cloud storage is skewed heavily towards younger people, being especially popular among 20-24 year olds. iCloud and iTunes Match were the only services with more female than male users, and Google Drive skewed towards a male subscription base.

Article Link: Apple's iCloud and iTunes Match Are Top Cloud Media Services in U.S.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/21/apples-icloud-and-itunes-match-are-top-cloud-media-services-in-u-s/
ConCat

ConCat

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2012
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In an ethereal plane of existence.
Well, iCloud doesn't require any file management. You turn it on and forget it. So simple to use literally anyone can do it. That isn't the case with Dropbox and most other cloud services. There's virtually no learning curve because there really isn't anything to learn.
 
Ted13

Ted13

macrumors 6502a
Dec 29, 2003
669
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So ironic -- the disconnect between what gets reported in the press and reality is so stark: Apple is more successful than Google as a Cloud company, Apple is more successful than Amazon as an eTailer, etc.
 
J

JoeIsInTheCloud

macrumors member
Jan 25, 2013
31
0
It's important to qualify this study looked exclusively at services used as "digital lockers" for media files. I would like to see metrics from users of cloud services for documents and business materials. I suspect iCloud wouldn't even make the list.
 
T

ThatsMeRight

macrumors 68020
Sep 12, 2009
2,289
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applesith said:
Does this include anyone who downloaded a previously purchased song to their Apple device?
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You're already an iCloud user when you just download something from the App Store, or take a picture and Photo Stream is on.

It's kinda the same thing with Apple's own claim that "Game Center" is the 'most popular' gaming network in the world. Basically, as soon as you launch a game on your iPhone than there's a big chance you will automatically connect with Game Center.

Do this once a month, and you are an active user.
 
paulsalter

paulsalter

macrumors 68000
Aug 10, 2008
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Some strange options in their

They combine iTunes Match and iCloud but then just look at Google Drive, where is the Google Music Match

Of course if you ask people if they store music on google drive not a great amount will say yes, ask them about google music and you might get a different answer

great way of leading questions to get the answer you want to see
 
KylePowers

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
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This is dumb, because it's inherently part of the ecosystem. I don't even know if you have to manually enable iCloud when purchasing an iDevice, but I can assure you if it provides the option, most consumers blindly press yes.

I have 2 Macs and 2 iDevices and I have never used iCloud for anything actually useful (aside from Photostream, which doesn't even sync videos).

Dropbox all day, errr'day - 25GB gets me a long way in syncing files between my Macs and accessing files from my iDevices (and any computer with an internet connection).
 
Yvan256

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
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Are people's music libraries changing so often that synching devices and storing files locally is not an option?

Especially when you consider the low monthly data caps imposed by cellphone providers in the USA, I find these statistics to be a little bit scary.

edit: is it me or is that chart really ugly? Looks like something generated on 90's software.
 
I

iphoneclassic

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2011
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USA
Looks like all survey pundits from elections moved to new jobs.

Lot of people may be using cloud without knowing it. Doesn't Amazon host Netflix. That alone should dwarf any other Media Service.
 
J

JoeIsInTheCloud

macrumors member
Jan 25, 2013
31
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iphoneclassic said:
Looks like all survey pundits from elections moved to new jobs.

Lot of people may be using cloud without knowing it. Doesn't Amazon host Netflix. That alone should dwarf any other Media Service.
Click to expand...

The services Amazon provides for Netflix are different from their consumer cloud services for media storage.
 
R

Razeus

macrumors 603
Jul 11, 2008
5,348
2,030
SkyDrive is not on there? I find that hard to believe...

I don't care for MS/SkyDrive since I'm now a Dropbox subscriber (100GB) and I have iCloud, Google Drive and Skydrive by default, but my main is Dropbox.

I did iTunes Match for the 1st year was out, but since they haven't bothered to improve it since it launched, I canceled it. All they needed to do was 1) have a check box for only explicit content 2) stream, rather than download to my iDevice.
 
nazaar

nazaar

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2008
577
298
uhm... isn't article specifically referring to iTunes / iCloud music matching usage compared to other music matching / cloud services?
 
Medic311

Medic311

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2011
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i use both iCloud and drop box - as do most of my friends who i share files with (over drop box). iCloud i just use for personal backups. so each serves a different purposes. comparing iCloud users to Dropbox users does not make any sense for the purposes of what this study is trying to prove.


iTunes Match for $25/yr is a great deal though - as i never need to have my entire music collection with me. i can get away with having a 32GB iPhone yet have 88GB+ of music at my finger tips
 
applesith

applesith

macrumors 68030
Jun 11, 2007
2,776
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Manhattan
bbeagle said:
Ummm... yes. You're using the cloud service to get your purchased song back.
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Duh you are using the cloud, but it's the same as downloading any song from iTunes as you did years ago...you can just do it again on another device. That's not what cloud is really about.

The user isn't proactively choosing to take advantage of cloud storage. Using the other services listed in the article require more initiative from users to choose to use.
 
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