MobileMe died a quiet death last week, with Apple transferring all the data to its iCloud service. Sure, this marks a significant increase in the cloud by Apple but it should also serve as a cautionary tale to users of cloud storage services – especially data synch and share services. Companies like DropBox and Box – and in fact, 95% of file synch and share services are not in the file synch and share market, they are in the cloud storage market – that’s how they make their money. What happens to your data if one of those services decide to move to another business model – perhaps even al la Facebook.
We have a saying here – YOUR data, YOUR way. It’s your data – why not use the tools you already have – including storage – to protect its distribution?
End users wants anytime, anyway, anywhere, any device access to their data – YOUR data – why not enable that with a tool that also allows you to choose where you want to store it? You can also use the tools you already have to authenticate users, log access, etc. You can even make ownCloud look and feel the way you want. Now that’s flexibility. Your end users get the synch and share tool they want and need, and you get the exact tool you need without needing to pay for things – like storage – that you don’t need.
Don’t wait for another cloud service to disappear, or to morph its business model. Take control of your data.
