At Apple, Cloud Experts Wanted
Apple Inc. has been taking small but important steps toward a shift in the way its customers access their digital content beyond the downloadable software that has been vital to the company's success. — In recent weeks, Apple has been looking …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the latest step in a slow rebuild. Back in March 2010 Apple was reported trying to store your video in the cloud, but by July of that year its cloud effort was described as not fully baked — the ambition outran the execution.
Since then the pieces have been reassembling: in October 2011 Apple was reported prepping a movie cloud service, and on this same date the Journal separately reported Apple seeking executives for cloud-based services. The hiring push for rank-and-file cloud experts signals the executive search is being backed by a broader build-out.
First-order effects
- Apple is now competing directly for scarce cloud-infrastructure talent, meaning higher compensation costs and a hiring race against companies that already run large-scale cloud operations.
- Customers' access model is set to shift from downloaded files stored on each device toward content served from Apple's servers, changing what an iTunes purchase physically is.
Second-order effects
- A working movie cloud service would let Apple re-cut its licensing conversations with studios around streaming rights rather than per-download sales, pressuring the economics of the existing iTunes store.
- Device marketing shifts with it: storage capacity matters less when media lives server-side, which changes how Apple positions iPhones, iPads, and Macs against rivals still selling on local capacity.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple's center of gravity moves further from a hardware-plus-downloads company toward one where recurring cloud services carry the customer relationship — a structural change in how the company earns from each device sold.
- Sustained demand for cloud specialists points to a durable talent market where consumer-device firms must pay infrastructure-company wages to stay competitive.
The trend: Consumer digital media is migrating from downloaded files owned per-device to cloud-served libraries, and Apple's hiring is its bid to stop arriving late to that shift.