Here Come the Cloud Gadgets
The new year has brought out some cool predictions on the direction of cloud computing, and there’s plenty more where that came from. A new cloud-related trend (this one on the consumer side) that I read about on the horizon is the growth of services that stream movies, TV shows, music, video games, newspapers, magazines and books on demand from the cloud to a Web-connected portable or home computing device.
That would mean the end of physical content downloaded off the Internet.
If you think this is mere cloud conjecture and more hype, consider Comcast’s recent beta launch of Fancast Xfinity – a cost-free bonus for its cable/Internet customers that streams shows from partners like HBO and Cinemax, TBS and TNT to up to three of a customer’s computers, regardless of the physical location of the computers.
And remember Apple’s recent purchase of streaming music company LaLa Media? The strategy behind Apple’s move there is to create an alternative to its file-download process – which is time consuming and confines sales to its own customer base. The LaLa acquisition will enable Apple to sell virtual copies of songs or an album via instant stream, on-demand to your chosen device – be a mobile phone, MAC or PC. Another project in the making: a streaming subscription video service over the Web to devices such as the Apple TV set-top box, challenging the cable and satellite TV industries. CBS and Disney have reportedly expressed interest, according to a recent article I read.
Among other trends in development of cloud-based consumer devices:
A new generation of tablet-like smartbook computers that are bigger than a smart phone but thinner and lighter than a netbook portable PC. Look out for them this year, say Apple insiders, notes the story. Because these tablet smartbooks won’t feature a hard drive, they’ll be energy efficient and rely on Wi-Fi or mobile phone connectivity to retrieve and store content from the cloud. The smartbooks could also be used for Internet phone and video calling.
While consumer use of the cloud is a bit off-topic for this blog, there are parallels in the business world – such as more companies putting their apps on the cloud versus keeping them on expensive and high-maintenance servers.
Whether you’re a consumer or a business, changes are coming. For consumers, the days of buying songs to store on your computer may be a coming to an end. And for businesses, the days of keeping files or apps on an internal server are ebbing.