Apple Signs Cloud Services Deal With Google

Google has signed up a rather large customer for its cloud services in the form of Apple, according to reports.

Apple has started storing parts of its services and user iCloud data on Google’s Cloud Platform, according to sources speaking to CRN.

CRN’s sources claim that Apple will be spending between $400m and $600m (£280m-£420m) on Google’s services, and that a deal was penned late last year.

AWS?

The move comes at a time when Apple has dramatically reduced its reliance on cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the iPhone maker readies its own cloud infrastructure to run iCloud and its other web services.

But because of this plan by Apple to start using its own data centres for its cloud service infrastructure, the deal with Google may be a short-lived affair.

Apple is set to spend almost $4bn (£2.8bn) on building new data centres across Ireland, Denmark, and Arizona. The move to its own cloud infrastructure should save Apple money in the long run, with analysts currently estimating Apple’s spending on AWS at around $1bn a year.

An AWS spokesperson told TechWeekEurope today: “It’s kind of a puzzler to us, because vendors who understand doing business with enterprises respect NDAs with their customers and don’t imply competitive defection where it doesn’t exist.”

Google, which is considered to be third place behind Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure when it comes to the public cloud market, will no doubt benefit from this customer win. It was in February when music streaming service Spotify announced it was to start using Google Cloud Platform.

Google, which wants to undercut AWS in the cloud price war, gains a competitive advantage because of its own fibre network that links its data centres pushing down prices for customers. For a customer like Apple, which has the type of cloud needs that demand constant reshuffling of customer data and to then dish it out to millions of devices, a small price difference can mean a lot of saving in the long run.

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