iCloud Three new apps

Apple has created three new apps for iCloud. It has also announced that APIs for iCloud will be released to app developers. It's possible that non-Apple apps will be able to take advantage of iCloud features. Documents in the Cloud This app uploads Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents to the cloud for syncing. For example, if you create a Keynote presentation on an iPad, Documents in the Cloud stores that presentation. Then, ifyou have an iPhone that syncs to the same iCloud account and that iPhone has Keynote, that presentation is available for editing on the iPhone. Photo Stream This app enables you to take photos on any device and uploads them to sync with your other devices (for example, your iPhone shots appear on your iPad). Photo Stream also works with iPhoto on the Mac, and supports the secondgeneration Apple TV.

Because photos are so large, Apple says that photo syncing works over Wi-Fi or Ethernet, and Photo Stream has a limit of the last 1,000 photos on iOS devices (unlimited on Macs and PCs). Photos remain on iCloud for 30 days after you upload them, but you can save them permanently on a device by moving them to a new or existing album. iTunes in the Cloud The last new app is iTunes in the Cloud. For songs you've already purchased from the iTunes Store, there's a Purchased button that shows your entire purchase history of songs (purchased on any device). You can view by all songs, recent songs, or by artist. You can then download any song or album with the touch of a button. ifT his is the first time we've seen this in the music industry," said Jobs. "No charge for multiple downloads on many devices." You can download music to up to 10 devices, and you can also enable an Automatic Downloads feature that will grab any new purchases you make on other devices.

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iCloud apps Specs and availability

Each user gets 5GB of free storage for mail, documents, and backup. Fortunately, purchased music, apps, books, and Photo Stream photos don't count against that total. iTunes Match is initially only available in the US and costs $25 per year for up to 25,000 songs; UK pricing and availability was yet to be announced as we went to press (we assume that it depends on negotiations with UK record labels). iCloud is expected to ship at the same time as iOS 5 in the autumn, although users of iOS 4.3 can try out a beta of iTunes in the Cloud now by launching the iTunes app and clicking on the Purchased button. According to an Apple support document, current MobileMe users have had their accounts automatically extended until 6 June 2012, at no charge. After that date, the service will be discontinued. MobileMe users will need to sign up for iCloud, and will be able to keep their me.com or mac.com email addresses. Once your iCloud account has been established, you can move your MobileMe mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to your Cloud account. If you have an unused activation code for MobileMe, you can request a refund before 30 June 2012.

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iCloud apps App flexibility

iCloud will let you view your purchase history on the App Store, allowing you to re-download apps you previously bought, at no additional charge, to your iPhone, iPad oriPod touch. It doesn't matter what device you used for the original purchase. When you buy new apps, iCloud will automatically push them to all your devices. Similarly, with the iBooks app on your iOS device or the iBookstore on your desktop Mac or PC, you can get a list ofyour past book purchases and download these again to any ofyour devices. When you buy a new title, it will appear everywhere. When you start reading on one device, iCloud will save your place. Your iBook bookmarks, highlighted text, or notes are automatically pushed to all your other devices.

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iCloud apps iTunes match

What about music that wasn't purchased from the iTunes Store - for example, all those CDs you've copied yourself? Apple has come up with iTunes Match, a service that scans your iTunes library and tries to match it with the 18 million songs that Apple sells. Priced $25 per year in the US. UK pricing and availability was yet to be announced as we went to press. You'll get instant access to your iTunes library, and Apple will upgrade tracks to its standard 256kbit/s AAC format, even if the originals were lower quality. For those songs that Apple can't identify, you can upload them manually.

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iCloud apps Catch up with the revolution

Auto-backup
One aspect of iCIoud is automatic data
backup. Once a day. it will back up content
to the cloud over Wi-Fi. It won't back up
everything, however, only those files that
have been downloaded or changed. This also
means that when you purchase a new phone
or need to restore from a backup, you'll only
have to type in your Apple ID and password
to load everything onto that device.
It will back up purchased music, apps and
books, your Camera Roll (photos and videos),
device settings, app data, home screen and
app organisation, text and MMS messages,
and ringtones.

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iCloud music Different device, same tunes

Purchased music
Music you have bought from iTunes can be downloaded and stored on any of your devices.

Books wherever vou are
You can now buy books in iTunes and sync them across all your devices, though you still can't currently read books on a Mac.

Mail, Contacts & Calendars
iCloud replaces Apple's MobileMe and will sync up all your Mail, Contacts and Calendars across all devices

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