Apple had been rumored to have acquired the domain iCloud.com from Xcerion, which changed its own cloud service’s name to CloudMe. According to a report, this has been confirmed by unidentified people who are in a “position to know”.
AppleInsider says it has learned that the company has actually begun adopting the iCloud name within “several products in currently under development”. The publication’s Kasper Jade reports:
According to people familiar with the matter, Apple is prepping beta versions of both iOS 5.0 and Mac OS X Lion ahead of its annual developers conference that integrate with a service dubbed “iCloud,” enabling users to sync and store much of the same information they currently can with the company’s existing MobileMe service, such as bookmarks, email, contacts and iCal events.
It would only make sense then, that developers will get a glimpse at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June, which has been advertised in the following manner:
“At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”
It was expected that iCloud would be used for a cloud-based music service to rival Amazon, Google, and others, but the lack of any music-based word in the name means a broader scope would indeed make sense. I would guess that the iTunes brand will be heavily involved in any music-related aspect of iCloud.
iCloud.com is rumored to have been purchased from Xcerion for around $4.5 million. It doesn’t appear it has actually changed hands yet, as it currently redirects to CloudMe. It could just be early in the transition.