Massive Growth in Apple's Cloud-Based Services Eclipsed by Debate on Financials

[MacRumors]

While talk of flatline growth dominated media responses to Apple's financial results yesterday, the massive growth of Apple's cloud-based services appeared to go largely unnoticed.

In 2012, reports iPodNN, the number of iCloud users grew from 85 million to over 250 million. iTunes subscribers have topped 500 million, generating a record $2.1 billion profit for the quarter.

iMessage has also proven to be a hugely popular service, with users sending over two billion messages a day from over 500 million devices, with the total iMessage count now having surpassed 450 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook addressed the focus on online and web services during yesterday's conference call:

In terms of other services, we feel fantastic about how we're doing. In Notification Center, we've now sent over 4 trillion notifications, and this is mind-blowing. As Peter mentioned in his opening comment, for iMessage we've now sent over 450 billion and are currently sending those over 2 billion per day. With Game Center, we've got over 200 million registered users. We have 800,000 apps on the App Store with over 40 billion downloads. And so I feel really, really great about it. There is obviously more stuff we can do and you can bet we're thinking about all of it.

Cook has repeatedly referred to iCloud as a "strategy for the next decade" for Apple. He has also characterized the increasing reliance and trust consumers place on cloud-based storage and services as "truly profound" and "a fundamental shift" in the way content is accessed.

Article Link: Massive Growth in Apple's Cloud-Based Services Eclipsed by Debate on Financials

[alent1234]

and yet i can't recover sent messages from icloud

[JaySoul]

iClouded, your future is, young padawan.

[ctdonath]

service usage is approaching the order of magnitude of a billion users.
is making over $2B/quarter without even trying.
stock down 10%.

BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY!

[adamfilip]

lets just be able to save files directly to it please..

also let us use other email addresses with iCloud mail sync
and not just @icloud ones

[ouimetnick]

Fix all the bugs in iCloud. It is so unreliable. Sometimes delayed mail, and the bookmarks and favorites don't always show in Safari (on my iPhone) iTunes Match screwed up the order in my smart playlists. No web hosting or iDisk like in Mobile Me.

How hard is it? Google can do it, so can DropBox and all the other cloud services.

[MonkeySee....]

This is good. Its because of Apples cloud services is why I am now purchasing content through iTunes more than ever. I can't be bothered to sync with iTunes any more so being able to purchase it one one device and then download it on any device via the cloud is pretty handy.

Its these services that tie all my Apple products together is why having an iPhone is so important to me.

[Meandmunch]

Only 2 Billion iMessages a day? That equates to a single high school full of teenagers. I think they should look at those numbers again.

[bushido]

its okay so far but it needs a real data storage option.

also iMessage needs some improvements, its taking FOREVER to send a picture or it claims its sent but didnt actually arrive or the other way around.
i also still have the "bug" on ML where it shows the #1 indicator but i actually read all the messages and it doesnt go away unless i reboot. sometimes messages i read on my iPhone or iPad suddenly pop up in the middle of the convo on my mac days later

and dont even get me started on the iTunes Match or should i call it iTunes Mess

[deannnnn]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

iMessage has also proven to be a hugely popular service

It's enabled by default to replace text messaging. Half the people who use it don't even know they're using it. It's not popular in the traditional sense where something new comes out that everybody wants to get and use.

[madmin]

I'd like to be able to Bind to iCloud in a similar way to Binding to Open or Active Directory. People and companies should be able to Bind to their own Cloud service rather than just Apple's iCloud.

[MonkeySee....]

Originally Posted by alent1234

and yet i can't recover sent messages from icloud

Originally Posted by JaySoul

iClouded, your future is, young padawan.

first 2 posts are negative ones. What a surprise .

[DDaddyx2]

Give us a Windows client for iCloud so we can drop files into it like Dropbox. That would help a bit with companies invested in iOS who are using Dropbox right now.

[MonkeySee....]

Originally Posted by Meandmunch

Only 2 Billion iMessages a day? That equates to a single high school full of teenagers. I think they should look at those numbers again.

You think a school full of kids send over 2 billion iMessages

[srxtr]

I bet if Apple increased the 5GB free iCloud storage to 25GB people would use it even more

[vmachiel]

Come one eddy "Mr fix it" cue, make iCloud awesome.

[Meandmunch]

Originally Posted by MonkeySee....

You think a school full of kids send over 2 billion iMessages

Humor bro, it was an attempt at humor. If you knew any teenagers it probably would have made more sense.

[bushido]

Originally Posted by MonkeySee....

You think a school full of kids send over 2 billion iMessages

[newyorksole]

Originally Posted by adamfilip

lets just be able to save files directly to it please..

also let us use other email addresses with iCloud mail sync
and not just @icloud ones

What do you mean? How would Apple sync mail that isn't their own? You can set up your mail accounts on any Apple device. They just aren't a part of iCloud.

[Boomish69]

What they just realised cloud computing is the future now! if only they had got Mobileme right in the first place. I bet compared to Google cloud services Apple are nowhere. I hate using it but Chrome is what Safari should have been years ago..Apple seem to have a terrible problem with some products of coming up with a good idea but not really continuing to developing it after it's initial release..iWeb, MobileMe, Logic, iDVD, dare I say even the iPhone!

[jayducharme]

Originally Posted by bushido

and dont even get me started on the iTunes Match or should i call it iTunes Mess

This is the biggest disappointment for me. Match has the most potential for Apple, IMO, providing convenience and quality at a bargain price. Unfortunately it truly is a mess right now. If it's fixed, it could be huge.

[ifij775]

yea, iCloud has real potential, but it makes me want to say "show me the money".

[jabingla2810]

Originally Posted by MonkeySee....

You think a school full of kids send over 2 billion iMessages

It was a joke... I expect this from the Americans, but you're in the UK, I expect better from you!! :P

[CJM]

Originally Posted by jabingla2810

It was a joke... I expect this from the Americans, but you're in the UK, I expect better from you!! :P

Austere times.. Our country's losing it!

[jabingla2810]

Originally Posted by DDaddyx2

Give us a Windows client for iCloud so we can drop files into it like Dropbox. That would help a bit with companies invested in iOS who are using Dropbox right now.

"Files" are not something in Apple's future plans.