All in the cloud : Huawei and HTC to offer cloud storage to their devices

Cloud computing is no longer a jargon limited to tech circles. It will soon become all pervasive. Firstly because of Apple’s iCloud solution which will be coming with soon to be launched iOS5. iCloud works with iPhone 3G S, iPhone 4 and the future iPhone which will be released on Oct 4, 2011. After Apple’s iCloud, few manufacturers are warming up to the cloud storage and services. HTC was the first to kick of the cloud debate and Huawei is taking it a step further.

HTC – Evernote

HTC has tied up with Evernote to increase the free storage space to 5 GB. Evernote as an app already exists and there is no particular value addition in terms of integration with the HTC tie up. All HTC users will be getting is some extra storage. Evernote would charge for that extra storage and for HTC customers it doesn’t. Evernote would still work the same way, as it always had.

HTC has taken its step towards cloud storage but not towards a cloud service.

Huawei Hi Space

Huawei is planning to offer cloud solution and a free storage of 10 GB with its new devices Huawei Vision and Huawei Mediapad. Huawei has already took a baby step towards providing Indian content by bundling Chetan Bhagat’s books with its Mediapad.

With the cloud solution, Huawei is increasing the stickiness of its tablet and its smartphone.

Storage is not service

Remember that storage is different from service.

What iCloud offers is a combination of both which is what it should be. What HTC is offering with its 5GB storage with Evernote is storage with just one service on top of it. I would rather see tightly integrated services than storage, but storage is a start.

I have a feeling that Android device manufacturers are beginning to get it.