MoneyWatch Tech

iCloud: 5 Things Your Business Needs To Know

By Damon Brown

Updated on: August 2, 2011 / 12:54 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Late Monday, Apple (APPL) launched iCloud beta, the "free" cloud service that will be taking over the pay-to-use MobileMe. Apple developers can log in immediately to start using it, but general audiences will have to wait until next month. For now, enough details have leaked so your business can get prepped for using iCloud.

1. Update one, update all: Edit, move, or add an item on any of your Apple devices and it will be modified on all your Apple devices. For instance, if you move a document on your iPad, it will be moved on your iPhone, iPod, and iCloud storage.

2. Free--for 5 GB: Apple gives 5 GB free to every iCloud customer. Here's the pricing structure for more space:

10 extra GB (15 GB total), $20/year
20 extra GB (25 GB total), $40/year
50 extra GB (65 GB total), $100/year

3. Several things don't count against your iCloud storage space: Before you plan to pony up the money for extra storage, consider that many items don't count, including:

iOS apps
music (but only the music bought from Apple)
television shows
photos

4. It is HTML 5 driven: The web-based features should work great on your iPads and, presumably, iPhones and iPods. Between Apple's own dislike for Flash and Adobe's (ADBE) abandoning its own Flash platform, it makes perfect sense.

5. Similar to iOS, but online: iCloud is like an online mirror of your iPad, iPhone, and iPod software, which includes:

address book
calendar
email

iCloud will be out in September, likely launching aside the full iOS update with iPad gesture controls and other improvements.

Photo courtesy of Apple
Related: