Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Named King of Cloud Computing

When it comes to storing most of our online entertainment, Google Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG) and its Drive file system isn’t top dog. Neither is Microsoft Corporation(NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s SkyDrive or Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN)‘s Cloud Drive. The winner? Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) , says a new report from Strategy Analytics.

The survey asked respondents which digital locker services they use to store music or video. iCloud and iTunes topped the list with 27% using Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL)’s services. Surprisingly, Dropbox ranked second, two percentage points ahead of Cloud Drive.

Source: Strategy Analytics.

Whether or not this is the first time anyone’s taken a serious look at the “entertainment cloud,” I think it’s fair to say that — up to this point — we’ve largely overlooked Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL)’s growing presence online. How we could not? We’re too busy covering efforts by Google and Microsoft to win users to their respective cloud productivity suites.

Let’s take a break from that back and forth for a moment and consider a few numbers not included in the Strategy Analytics report, but which reflect the Mac Maker’s increasing influence:

Last month, Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) marked 1 billion downloads of iTunes U course content.

Also last month, the iTunes Store celebrated 25 billion songs sold.

Finally, in January, CEO Tim Cook said Apple had sold a half billion iOS devices.

Source: Apple.

Imagine if only a third of them were backed up to iCloud. I’m almost surprised Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t possess a greater share of the entertainment cloud. At the very least, I suspect some of its $140 billion fortune might go to building an overseas data center for serving the increasing number of iOS devices in use in non-U.S. markets.

Put simply: The cloud is expanding fast but, if the data is to be believed, not nearly as fast as iCloud.

The article Apple Named King of Cloud Computing originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Tim Beyers.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He owned shares of Apple and Google at the time of publication. Check out Tim’s Web home and portfolio holdings, or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Apple, and Google and owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

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