I was just thinking.... Apple has dumped some serious money into iCloud, and I guarantee they have more surprises up their sleeves... With all of these rumors about "iPhone Nano" and then the rumor this morning about the phone being "lighter and thinner" (I know that's sort of a given, but just hear me out)... I have this theory that iPhone 5 will be "iPhone Air". Having limited on-board storage and looks to the cloud for all of its content.... A total iCloud based iPhone. Looking at where the MacBook line is going, it wouldn't surprise me if they decide to take a similar approach with the iPhone. They would then sell two versions of the iPhone, making the 4 the more expensive version with on-board storage. One of the iPhone Air's selling points would be that it actually "streams" its content from iCloud... It just seems to me that this is where the tech is heading... thoughts?
How come so many people don't understand that icloud is a *synching* service, not a streaming service. You will still need that storage space and it would be really sucky for Apple to reduce storage space on a device. iCloud won't help you there.
Which means if you want to use something, it will be downloaded on your phone, you're not going to be able to use it up in the iCloud, it's not like Google's Chromebooks (you have to download it to use it). Which means you need storage space for it. Having no storage space on your phone means that you'd have to constantly download stuff to use it, then delete it. Really sux for games where it would constantly erase your game saves.
And personally, I'm fine with that. In fact, I'd be downright pissed if they made it like Google's Chromebooks, I don't want to have to connect to the cloud to use my stuff. I like it more like how apple is doing it where they just use it to keep all your devices in synch with each other.
Problems with streaming:
1) I think some article pointed out with data plans going the way they are, it is cheaper just to spend money on having a good amount of storage space on your device than to pay for the data that you'd have to stream if you wanted to use most of your stuff on a cloud service. Plus people seem to think this will be cheaper for them cause then they won't have to spend money on the storage.
2) Not even counting the problem I just outlined with that thinking, do you really think that they will not charge for you to store your stuff on their servers (They're only giving you 5 GB free and there is mention of ability to pay for more storage). So, sorry, even streaming doesn't save you from paying for storage costs.
3) Streaming means that you'd have to have internet access to use your stuff. A synching service means that most of your stuff stays the same across devices, but if you don't have internet access (say you are on a train or out in the boonies), you still can use your data. Once you get back to having internet access, it will make sure your other devices are brought up to date on any changes done. To have to have internet access to use my stuff would piss me off. I thought we moved on from dummy terminals.
(Actually, I read an article that had a good point. Dummy terminals/using the cloud to stream your apps like in google's chromebooks, is actually a great thing for businesses cause then they get more control over what their employees can access but for personal stuff it sux).
The phone needs some onboard storage. Plus, as the person above mentioned, this really isn't possible with the unlimited data plans going away. (even if we still have them, you have to account for horrible signal, slow speeds, etc). Honestly this is the worst thing that can happen. It basically makes my phone a brick at school with no service.
