China Mobile to roll-out 16GB MEGA-cloud platform
Store your data in China. We dare you
Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery
The world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, China Mobile, is finally jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon with its own iCloud rival, which will also be available to internet users outside the People’s Republic.
The ‘Mcloud’ service is currently being tested and will be ready before the end of the year, offering users a whopping 16GB – more than three times the amount of free storage offered by Apple, according to China Daily.
Shen Hongqun, deputy general manager of China Mobile’s data business department, described the service as a “digital information bank” for users.
"In the past, people deposited valuables in banks. Now, as we enter a digital life era, we have new demands to keep our information safe, such as messages, files and photos,” Shen told the paper.
Beijing Daily (via Sina Tech) had more details, claiming Mcloud would work across iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices as well as Macs and PCs, which could tempt more users.
However, given the paranoia that exists around Chinese firms, especially in the US, it remains to be seen how enthusiastic customers will be about China Mobile having hold of their data.
State-run China Mobile is easily the largest operator in the world, with over 650 million subscribers and as such anything it does has a major impact on the future of the mobile industry in China and beyond.
The appearance of Mcloud will be a minor blow to Cupertino – chipping away at the popularity of yet another iOS feature.
Apple and China Mobile have not been the best of buddies in the past, though, with the fruit-themed tech maker continually frustrating China Mobile by failing to build an iPhone designed specifically for its home-grown 3G standard TD-SCDMA. ®
COMMENTS
Comparing a business to the Chinese government
No is one is comparing storing data at Apple or Google to giving it to the Chinese government. We're comparing giving it to the US government to giving it to the Chinese government. Because if you think that Google or Apple won't give up your data should the feds ask, you are deluding yourself. They won't tell you they are doing this of course, it'll be done via a law we aren't allowed to know about that Google and Apple aren't allowed to tell us about, just like the wiretapping that all the big US carriers did (except Qwest, but they probably are no longer safe since they got bought out by Centurylink, convenient wasn't that?)
Of course, if you are not a US citizen, you may not care too much if the US government looks at your data, so long as you aren't doing anything terrorist related. Or drug related. Or money laundering related. Or help Wikileaks. Or any other "subversive" organization. On second thought, even if you aren't a US citizen you probably should be concerned about giving your data to the US government...
Funnily enough I trust the Chinese with my data in a cloud about as much as I trust the USA, which probably explains why I am a ludite that stores nothing of any importance solely in any bloody cloud.
>given the paranoia that exists around Chinese firms, especially in the US<
I'd personally trust the Chinese cloud more... not such good extradition possibilities if you leave a note saying something like 'Fuck the Chinese authorities' compared to the stupid FBI or CIA twats finding a note that says 'Fuck the American intelligence agencies' demanding your presence in a kangaroo - sorry, American court.
>anyone who believes their government is better in this regard than the US or Chinese is fooling themselves.<
As a British citizen I would be more than happy to use a British cloud service, for tho' our government is as corrupt and wanting to spy on their own citizens, as the others, I still kind'a trust them more.
'Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.' Ford Prefect.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Data control in the cloud
Cloud based data management
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
