iCloud, iCloud, iCloud. Apple managed to stir up a real controversy around this service, which most likely will not attract as many customers as some would expect. It was rumored that iCloud will completely replace MobileMe, will do audio streaming, it will synchronize all the data of our Mac, etc. and now we learn from John Gruber in fact, iCloud could even replace iTunes. The information presented by Gruber are of course just rumors, but his theory presents iCloud as a replacement for iTunes. iCloud could take over the task of synchronizing iDevices from iTunes, but of course the computer program from Apple will not be taken out of use in any form.
But in short let's just think about the ways that iCloud might be a major, dare I say game-changing, step away from USB tethering between iOS devices and iTunes running on your Mac/PC. I consider it just the new out-of-box experience. Rather than "Take this out, plug it into your Mac or PC (after first making sure your Mac/PC is running the latest version of iTunes), wait for it to sync before you actually play with it", you might get something like "Take this out, turn it on, sign into your iTunes account, and start playing with it.
John Gruber says that iCloud will not only replace MobileMe but will also bring some functions that were not even found in MobileMe. The possibility of synchronizing all the data on our iDevices with Apple's servers is one of these options and Gruber says that in our iCloud account we will have absolutely everything synchronized from the phone. Contacts, emails, applications, calendar data, books, movies, music, pictures, bookmarks, notes, absolutely everything that can already be synchronized with iTunes will also be available in iCloud. The interesting part is that from the moment these data are uploaded to iCloud, we will be able to access and transfer them to any other iDevice without the slightest problem, and in the case of a restore, we will be able to simply and easily download them directly to our iDevice.
Of course, the iTunes program will continue to be active, but for what you want, iCloud will be an alternative to consider. Apple has no way of forcing users to give up iTunes if iCloud will not be free, so iCloud will come as an alternative worthy of consideration. If the price of the service will be $99 annually, then there is a chance that the success will not be as expected, even if Apple would offer large storage space plus other functions in addition to those presented above. I'm sure that in Romania few will be convinced to pay $99 for such a service, even if the price is annual, so it probably won't be such an important function for us.
