Apple Inks Deal to Use Google Cloud Platform for Some iCloud Services

[Tech198]

So this is the end? Google will now start sharing iCloud info now to advertisers..... we're all screwed.

Remind me what the term "transparency" and "privacy" mean. because Apple doesn't know either..

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Any chance you've been selling it to the FBI? I know a judge who needs to know about it, before they conscript Apple to remove the security on a couple of hundred million iPhones around the planet.

We sold it to the FBI in 2008 and they bought lots more later on when they built a big Mac lap for hundreds of agents. The things going on right now aren't about having the technology to do it. It's about getting the legal go ahead to have easier access to phone content when they want.
[doublepost=1458174558][/doublepost]

Exactly.

But do we know what exactly Apple keeps in their own datacenters? I'd be curious to know.

Apple is also spending $4 billion on three more datacenters in the US and Europe.

Much of iTunes is (or was originally) run in their own datacenters. Use to be all Xsan and was awesome. Got to visit them a couple times when I helped the Treasury build their own PB SAN. Apple was the best priced at the time and had awesome reliability compared to the others.

 

[nt5672]

If Apple sets up the encryption themselves but puts the data in Googles cloud it will be almost as secure as if Apple did it themselves? Why less? In theory, Google could give someone (FBI?) access to the encrypted chunk of data and let them try brute force decrypting it without interference from Apple. Other than that, it's pretty darn secure regardless.

Except that is all speculation and until Apple gives its users the right to control all encryption keys we just don't know.

It is also just as accurate to say that Apple can now just trust Google with the central key (which they can create anytime without telling us), then when it gets leaked Apple can sidestep the whole debacle.

 

[Tech198]

Apple needs to give up on the cloud.

In this day and age, u'd actually be right.. While Siri is also using Bing servers, no one in their right mind would even say "Apple protects out info even with Siri" either...

Everyone, every cloud based service no one has their own, and keeps it at that.... we all borrow from each other... hence no privacy.

 

[Rocketman]

Hence all these companies needed to side with Apple against the FBI, since Apple may be using their servers (although I suspect they'd ~agree with Apple's stance anyway).

They have their own positions. Apple is free to support supporters.

 

[Abazigal]

This is a step in the right direction. I mean, at least now it stands to actually work when you need it. Now if only Apple would scrap Apple Maps for Google maps as a default app then we'd be on a roll.

You must be crazy. Have you forgotten what led Apple to create their own maps offering in the first place?!?

Apple must forever maintain its own versions of said offerings to serve as a hedge against the possibility that other companies may try to play punk and screw us around by withholding key features.

 

[kerrikins]

So this is the end? Google will now start sharing iCloud info now to advertisers..... we're all screwed.

Remind me what the term "transparency" and "privacy" mean. because Apple doesn't know either..

I highly doubt Apple is going to make a big stink about privacy with the FBI only to turn around and happily hand over all their iCloud data to Google.

 

[itguy06]

Not "having problems" is not always the right criteria. While Apple Maps have improved to the degree that makes them usable they are no match for Google Maps. The only reason people might prefer Apple Maps on Apple devices is the fact that Google Maps is a second class citizen in Apple ecosystem (intentionally so).

What makes Google Maps better? I search for things in Apple Maps, it finds them and gets me there. Works great - on par with Google Maps. Google Maps isn't infallible either - plenty have been sent on wild goose chases due to them.

But I forgot it's cool to hate on Apple's stock apps. Guess I should get with the program.
[doublepost=1458178121][/doublepost]

Apple needs to give up on the cloud.

Why? iCloud works really well for most. Not the same features as, say Dropbox but it works well. I share a lot of stuff between Macs and iOS and it works great. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote work well and look 1000x better than the garbage called Google Docs.

I get it - it's cool to hate on Apple's cloud services and apps. They are not class leading but reliable.

 

[deany]

I'm in the UK. Am I right in saying my ipad & iphone backups are stored in Arizona plus a backup of that backup in Europe?
Also how does the second backup copy get backed up?

Cheers

 

[falainber]

Not according to this Forbes article: Google Users - You're the Product, Not the Consumer

It's just a typical sensationalizing newspaper title. Nothing more nothing less. The author starts with a premise that "The old adage goes that if you’re not paying for a product, then by default you are the product. A perfect example of this is Google and its consumer services – search,YouTubeGmail etc." By the same token, since Apple customers use free Apple services (like iMessage) they are all Apple products. Ironically, with this definition, now that iMessage might be utilizing Google cloud (for which Google gets paid) Apple users will find themselves to be Google customers and Apple products. Who knew...

 

[jblagden]

Well, it's not like they were going to run it on OSX Server. Even they know better.

Since Apple discontinued the Xserve line, that’s not really surprising. And Macs generally cost more than they're worth in a server environment. It would be awesome if data centers used Macs as servers, but most Macs aren’t upgradeable enough for that and since a server isn’t a personal computer, you’re not going to noticed a difference in service between Linux servers and Macs.

 

[mistasopz]

Really? I use Apple Maps all the time and have no problems with it. I use Google Maps occasionally and don't see an enormous difference. Yes, it had problems when it launched, but have you tried it lately?

Yes I have and it's a total disaster. Things that were reported the day of the launch are still not fixed. Some areas are covered by clouds. Worst product of any company I can think of in recent history. Total embarrassment.

 

[Tycho24]

You post got me concerned. I went to Google (Alphabet) web site and checked their product list:

View attachment 621494

I could not find myself among their product offerings.

Lol.... really????
You think the "products" that they charge for is how they make even any type of significant portion of their revenue whatsoever??? Please.... they make their money off selling ads, so they can "give away" things like Maps, Android, & Gmail.
If you don't realize that you're the product that's sad... and DEFINITELY does not warrant trying to make fun of someone who said that or whatever.
Quite to the contrary...

 

[TechRemarker]

I'm not sure I trust having my data go to Google any more than I would to the FBI...What guarantees would we have that Google is respecting the privacy of the data on iCloud?

(link)

You will never have a guarantee of privacy if you use the internet, since at anytime any server could be compromised. All you can do is choose providers you trust and hope for the best. Apple has been using Microsoft and Amazon for years to store data, so do you trust them with your data? While I also don't trust Google, I think Microsoft to be the least smart of the bunch so they would be more likely to be hacked or cooperate with the government in handing over information.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Google will be happy to hand over some of that data to the shadow government.

 

[alvindarkness]

Can somebody explain to me how iCloud encryption is helped by hosting the data with a company whose only business model is to scan every bit to profile me?

This is pretty much the last straw for me. I've worked so hard to eliminate Google from my digital life, and now this?

How private is Elementery OS?

No idea about using public cloud services with elementary, but as an OS it is fantastic. There are some really decent new distros appearing now. Solus impresses me greatly, extremely quick and responsive. Void seems to have a lot of potential also.

If you run linux on your router, you could just host your own services, that will hopefully appease any privacy concerns you have.

 

[elmaco]

Last month Spotify announced that they will use Google Cloud and now Apple, I bet they got it really cheap.

Somebody high up in Google want to show high growth for their cloud service in the next quarter. Cloud growth is what the analysts want to see, now that growth in license revenue have stagnated for many of the larger organizations.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

I'm not sure I trust having my data go to Google any more than I would to the FBI...What guarantees would we have that Google is respecting the privacy of the data on iCloud?

(link)

you wouldn't think a company like Apple can't produce contractual terms that say Google will pay a hefty fine for violating privacy? You think a company like Google will risk bad PR and purposely violate it, especially against the legal monstrosity of a team of Apple?

 

[vault]

What makes Google Maps better? I search for things in Apple Maps, it finds them and gets me there. Works great - on par with Google Maps. Google Maps isn't infallible either - plenty have been sent on wild goose chases due to them.

But I forgot it's cool to hate on Apple's stock apps. Guess I should get with the program.

Depends on where you live, I guess. Apparently Apple doesn't give a crap about my area, while Google has everything, together with public transport etc. Also Street View is really useful, unlike the Flyover gimmick.
I've reported several issues (some of them are still partially incorrect even after updates*), but I'm tired of doing their work for them.

* for example - I've corrected an address of some PoI, and now searching by its name and by its address brings up two different locations... I've reported it again and nothing's been done about it. Absolutely terrible QA.

 

[falainber]

Lol.... really????
You think the "products" that they charge for is how they make even any type of significant portion of their revenue whatsoever??? Please.... they make their money off selling ads, so they can "give away" things like Maps, Android, & Gmail.
If you don't realize that you're the product that's sad... and DEFINITELY does not warrant trying to make fun of someone who said that or whatever.
Quite to the contrary...

Ohh, I am certainly a "product". But then aren't we all? It all depends on how you define a PRODUCT. As you said, Google makes money on ads. Does not it mean that their PRODUCT is ads? Like literally? Obviously, there is a link between them giving out free tools and services and their advertising but so what? There is also a link between Apple giving out free services and tools (like iMessage) and their revenues, is not it? So, are we all Apple PRODUCTs too? Or is it just a PRODUCT of my imagination. Are you a PRODUCT of my imagination? Let's be careful here, shall we?

 

[Kajje]

GCP is far superior to AWS in almost all ways. It's also probably 30% less expensive on list prices.

Apple aren't dumb. iCloud is terrible because web engineers know Apple can't do services as well as Google, so why not go work at Google instead? This way, a familiar platform is available and they can start trying to recruit those people.

As for any perceived security issues: it's highly unlikely that the FBI has a tap into Google's network. The NSA might but that's irrelevant since they tap everything.

GCP is actually super secure in the sense that all data is encrypted at rest. As long as Apple follows best practice in only communicating over HTTPS/TLS, this is no less secure than Apple's own DCs.

True and on top of that Google has a far more wide spread network. Despite of what some Americans tend to think, there *is* life outside of the US. AWS and MS have rather poor connectivity outside of US and EU.

While GCP still doesn't offer the full stack in Asia to 'normal' customers, the infrastructure is there; they're using it after all for their own public services. Apple probably gets full access on all POPs, hopefully even through anycast.

 

[dan110]

Long overdue

 

[You are the One]

From a security perspective I'm actually not too worried, IaaS can be secure if done right. I'm sure Apple know what they do, why wouldn't they? They seem to be the only ones really getting it.

Generally, as companies go choosing between Amazon and Google would be something like this:

 

[H2SO4]

Given Apple's view on privacy I hope they roll out their data centers sooner rather than later.

Until that time you’re going to boycott right? The Apple view on privacy is PATENTLY, if the price is right we’re in. Even though we’re thermonuclear on Google we’ll take it.

 

[Kaspersky]

**** this ****, Apple! I pay more for your **** to stay away from google. **** OFF!