iCloud

(by Richard Holway 11.00pm 14th Apr 09) You will no doubt remember my many articles about MyTop over the last two years. Basically, with so many Internet Devices, I can’t afford the hassle of local data storage - let alone local apps. I need to sign in (on any ID) to MyTop which gives me full access to my data, my photos, my music, my contacts, my apps, my social network sites etc. I made the point that Facebook was a good start point for MyTop and even suggested that it would therefore make a good purchase for Microsoft as their consumer portal to the Cloud.

A reader today sent me a link to the ‘free’ iCloud service (launched last week– for more details see their press release) which, on the surface, has many of the characteristics of MyTop. The ‘problem’ I see with it (apart from its very limited 3 gig storage) is that I’d really like access to all the things I am used to – like Microsoft Office, Apple's iTunes, Facebook etc. A good start perhaps, but still a long way to go!

I doubt is any small startup could produce a viable MyTop. I really see this coming from Microsoft, Google or one of the majors.