Introduction

Apple is one of the leading information technology companies around the world. It has many competitors so the need to stay up-to-date with technology and have new and frequent programs and products out on the market is necessary. One of Apple's newest programs is called iCloud. A cloud computing program is defined as, "...a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications"(Webopedia). Basically with iCloud you can manage, view, and use all applications and sources from one device to another as long as you are backed up through iCloud. There are many competing cloud computing services and programs that have surfaced in the last year that Apple is up against.

Since Apple is competing with so many other companies they must find a way to make their cloud computing stand out from all the others. Apple products are being bought every day (iPhone, MacBook computers, iPad, iPod, etc.) and with those products iCloud is automatically installed. Steve Jobs, the creator of Apple and the inventor of iCloud (Apple's cloud computing system) was weary of coming out with this program mainly because he was competing with so many others. Bob Evans stated in his article, Apple's Next Billion-Dollar Idea, "If he [Steve Jobs] creates the iCloud - an enterprise-mobility cloud service - he'll position Apple at the incredibly strategic intersection of real-time information and robust mobile access to it"(Evans, 2009, pg.1). Through research and intense analysis I hope to answer what iCloud is, why it is better than its competitors (Google, Microsoft, etc.), what the risks are, and why I should use it with my devices.