I will use part of my answer to the comment right above yours:
I prolly shouldn't have used the name 'iCloud' to describe what I meant. What I meant was, Apple has a clear business interest in selling access to a 'cloud digital infrastructure'. At first it was iTunes (they sold that access to the record labels, but consumers subsidized that effort), now they are selling it directly to consumers. They also did it with the App Store, then the Mac App Store (they sold access to third-party developers).
That's three major forays they have done into the 'cloud services' business, but they have not unified the branding - like Amazon has done. Doesn't mean they are not a heavyweight player.
Also, just because they are not competing head to head doesn't mean they aren't competing.
GM made trucks, Yamaha made bikes. They don't compete for the same customer, but they do compete for some customers in some market segments. So that makes them indirect competitors.
Right now, as it stands, there are some customers (technically oriented) that might have rolled their own iCloud solution on AWS - but now they might not because they can use Apple's. Sure, that's a very small % of the market right now...but my point is that at some point - within the next decade I think - Apple will be more direct. It's only inevitable - assuming they want to keep growing as long as they can.
I prolly shouldn't have used the name 'iCloud' to describe what I meant. What I meant was, Apple has a clear business interest in selling access to a 'cloud digital infrastructure'. At first it was iTunes (they sold that access to the record labels, but consumers subsidized that effort), now they are selling it directly to consumers. They also did it with the App Store, then the Mac App Store (they sold access to third-party developers).
That's three major forays they have done into the 'cloud services' business, but they have not unified the branding - like Amazon has done. Doesn't mean they are not a heavyweight player.
Also, just because they are not competing head to head doesn't mean they aren't competing.
GM made trucks, Yamaha made bikes. They don't compete for the same customer, but they do compete for some customers in some market segments. So that makes them indirect competitors.
Right now, as it stands, there are some customers (technically oriented) that might have rolled their own iCloud solution on AWS - but now they might not because they can use Apple's. Sure, that's a very small % of the market right now...but my point is that at some point - within the next decade I think - Apple will be more direct. It's only inevitable - assuming they want to keep growing as long as they can.
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