ESPOO, Finland – I was at the DLD Conference recently where the big theme was Cloud Computing. To me, Cloud Computing promises a time where always-connected mobile devices are communicating back and forth with services in the Cloud. On one side, that allows me to keep on top of the various data streams I am receiving, but also allowing me to feed back info to streams that do their thing “up there” in the Cloud. On the other side, the mobile device becomes an interaction tool for what I keep in the Cloud, such that I can pick and choose my device, as needed, and fill it with the spirit of the Cloud.
Read on for more thoughts on this subject.
Netbooks
Jonathan Greene found a good video discussing netbooks. What’s interesting to me (and which Jonathan points out) is that the original intentions for netbooks are not looking like what folks are using them for. And I like that, since street uses are usually more interesting and more innovative.
While Jonathan has his sharp mobile eyes on power issues and extended use in mobile situations, I myself, as you can tell from my opening, am more interested in the Cloud aspect (I guess I have no faith in long battery lives in relatively larger mobile computers, do you?).
Trust the Cloud
Of course, if we put everything up in the Cloud, what guarantee do we have that it’ll always be there? Sarah Perez, from Read Write Web, has a insightful article on trusting the Cloud. She points out that popular services such as Google Notes, Jaiku, and Pownce, all gave up the ghost, just like that.
I remember discussions here at Nokia, years ago, that wondered what it would take to build trust in the Cloud. In the end, it would have to have the trust level of a bank. Who can assure that level of trust, especially when everything is free?
Excting or fearful or what
I will continue to point out netbooks and Cloud computing over the year. They are quite related to our mobile computers, such as the N97, and our services, such as Files on Ovi, Ovi Sync (in which I had a heavy hand), and even Share on Ovi (very personal objects).
An exercise for you: take a look at where your things are and where you do things. What is the split between you phone, our PC, and a server out in the Cloud? What does it reveal? Where do you think it is trending?
I’m curious to know.
Image from Jolicloud