Apple Bridging Customers to the Cloud
To take advantage of and use all of the features of iCloud, a Mac user must have OS X Lion installed. So, if you are currently running Leopard, you will need to install Snow Leopard and then purchase Lion from the Mac App Store.
In an article sent to MobileMe customers, Apple has recommended that potential customers get in touch with Apple to receive a free DVD of Snow Leopard so that users can upgrade to Lion, and easily move to iCloud. They are giving Snow Leopard away to MobileMe customers for free to get them to use their iCloud because with its connectivity across devices the storage demand will explode as will the demand for their cloud storage and hence profits.
Apple is planning a new and major addition to their Apple Store Genius Bars. They are putting in wireless servers in Apple stores so you can sync up your data when you upgrade your phone. This way you don’t have to go and play with stuff on your computer at home – likely because the capacity of your PC (which they aim to replace) is not growing as fast as the capacity of the phone.
As for the profit, it just gets better, Apple now accounts for 50% of smartphone sales!
As you can see, Apple is drawing a clear path (and as seamless as they can get it) to bring as many customers to their latest platform. They just knocked out two of the big rebuttals for the upgrades cost and ease of data migration. It would appear like a strong strategy to increase their “sticky” factor with the iCloud experience and giving customers little to no excuse to go to another platform with their “data”. Where this comes into play for our industry is again re-iterating that Apple devices are here and they’re not going anywhere. While PCs are not exactly disappearing, Apple devices are clearly no longer that “annoying new toy the CEO bought’ I have to support now.
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