Introduction to iCloud

With the release of Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 and iOS 5.0, Apple made the iCloud service available. This service allows applications to store data in the cloud, making their data and documents ubiquitous and available from all the user’s devices.

The phrase the cloud is often misleading. When Apple says that user data is stored in the cloud, they actually mean that it is stored somewhere within Apple’s data centers. This could mean that a document might be stored in California, New York, Europe, or wherever else might be appropriate. The key benefit here is that as the programmer, you do not need to be concerned with how Apple stores the data or where. All you need to know is that ubiquitous user data and documents are available via Apple’s iCloud APIs.