Last week, Marc Benioff wrote an article on TechCruch titled “Hello, iPad. Hello, Cloud 2.”

In it, Mr. Benioff (chairman and CEO of salesforce.com) writes:

Our industry has gone through many shifts, but ultimately, the big ones have always been about software, not hardware. Now, we are seeing a simultaneous software and hardware revolution. The key apps we use in productivity, collaboration, communication, entertainment, education, and even health, will all be rewritten to take advantage of the new capabilities. This will result in a new generation that looks more like Facebook on the iPad than Yahoo on the PC. Our industry is changing. We all need to step up to meet this change head-on or we will leave an incredible opportunity behind.

His article discusses how new (mobile) hardware, such as Apple’s iPad, lends itself to the evolution of computing habits and, points out that many large companies haven’t even reached the Cloud layer–still stuck on mainframes.

The article singled out what he considers to be Cloud 1.0 sites (Google, eBay, Amazon) and names social networking giants Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube to Cloud 2.0 sites… I find his distinction to be pretty right-on; as someone long fascinated with technology and its role in society, I appreciated his analysis.

Cloud 1.0 vs Cloud 2.0

To me, what really seems to stand out about the transition from Cloud 1 to Cloud 2 is more the shift toward the “personal” (than it is evolution in the hardware driving it…though I do admit the line can be blurry when it comes to such enabling factors…) The biggest commonality I see among YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook is that they rely heavily on individuals (rather than businesses/institutions) to contribute content.

Cloud 2.0 Sites Succeed because They Cater to the Ultimate Niche Market–You!

These Cloud 2.0 websites play into the trend of finding success in niche markets (through targeting unserved & underserved groups)–I mean, how much more niche could you get than an individual? (and how much more ‘catered to’ could you make someone feel than providing a customizable solution, updateable on a whim?)

Unfortunately, it’s a bit difficult to apply the efficiency of more-traditional successful business practices (like the assembly-line & one-size-fits-most models) when the niche is every single individual. A big part of the success of services like those of Cloud 2 is due to the ability of these sites to integrate new ways of thinking to get as close to these individual targets as possible.

The Weeds Grew In While I Was Busy Thinking About Me

I whole-heartedly believe that “Cloud 3″ will be a hybrid of Clouds 1 & 2–-a product of the return toward the void that will be created when everyone exists as his own niche market, rather than a community/collective.

Not Everybody is on the FaceBook-Bandwagon…

There’s a lot of disinterest in the Twitter/FaceBook/YouTube culture… For many of us, it has to do with the nature of such sites and the appeal that comes with their being ‘outlets’ to find/define one’s identity (read: Teen-Magnets.)

For some it’s more of a malaise, for others, however, there seems to be more of a stigma; either way, love it or not, there’s no denying that anyone who fails to see the value of trying to understand the powerful social (and potential economic) influence such sites have will miss the boat.

With music downloads flying off the servers at the rate of 100 songs per second (which works out to about 500,000 hours [or 57 years] of playtime PER DAY), it’s no wonder so many IT geeks following Apple’s contest have been predicting for the past couple of weeks that the 10 Billionth Song download would come round any day now.

While the Black Eyed Peas have virtually dominated the most popular song position for weeks now, it was Johnny Cash’s “Guess Things Happen That Way” that filled the 10,000,000,000th song sold spot. (I’ll spare you the plethora of bad puns involving the song title I’ve come up with…)

Sex Sells, but Apparently So Does Music

It’s a shame so much of the buzz around Apple’s download sales has been focused on the company’s ban of adult themed soft(core)ware [sex sells, right?]; today’s overshadowing of the landmark sale by the iTunes Music Store fails to emphasize the importance of such a feat. TEN BILLION–with a “B”–that’s more than the number of people on Earth! For perspective, 10 billion seconds ago would have been April 7th, 1693…plainly put, that’s a lot of songs!

Framed in terms of business, that’s a LOT of transactions. Ten years ago, it would have been a hard sell trying to convince even the biggest geeks that people would be so comfortable owning their music in digital format that analysts would be predicting 2010 would be the year downloads surpass physical music sales.

…of course, the icing on the cake is that not only do you not have to wait for the record store to open, but you don’t even have to get dressed to get that one song out of your head and into your ear buds…

Today’s Music Milestone Turns Up the Volume on Online Business

Apple opened its iTunes Music store April 28th, 2003, and, within 5 years, Apple surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US (announced April 3, 2008.) With Apple doubling its all-time music sales in just over 18 months (5 billion was reached in June of 2008), it’s a clear indicator that people’s attitudes and purchasing habits have dramatically changed from a decade ago.


With this clear increase in level of comfort with technology-based business transactions, and the inevitable *knock on wood* upswing in our economy (not to mention the benefits of convenience), more and more companies will be looking toward web-based solutions such as GoToMeeting as more immediate, cost-effective alternatives to flying people across the country (or world) for 2 hour meetings.

Touted by Apple as a “magical” and “revolutionary” product, the iPad, a.k.a. the “Kindle Killer”, received a mediocre reception when it made its debut in January.

To all those shoulder-shruggers, I urge you not to forget that the iPod was hardly a smash hit when it arrived on the market back in 2001; however, in less than 9 years, Apple has sold over 240,000,000 iPods — that’s almost 2.5 million a month! (Nothing to scoff at when their most popular models start at $149.)

But is the iPad much more than a large screen iPod Touch?

Technically speaking? Eh. Sure, it’s got access to the iBook Store *yawn*, but other than that it’s the (much) larger screen that’s its selling point. (There is the new A4 processor designed to make it zip around the web, but the fact that you can’t do things like run Adobe Flash files cancels that out for me…)

So, is it much more than an “iPod Touch Plus”? To most, it doesn’t seem that way; however, even if such is the case, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to add another flavor to Apple’s sleeper hit. According to Business Insider, Apple reported sales of the iPod Touch grew 55% in December 2009 over the previous year. Personally, I don’t think it’s any mistake that the iPad and the iPod are separated in spelling by only one letter.

So What’s Next? The Future of the iPad

As we move forward with the iPad, it will make its place in the market not from achievements of its remarkable hardware technology, but due to the strengths of Apple’s marketing machine. Much like many iPhone / Mac-lovers have come to learn, the seamless integration of desktop and portable hand-held devices is like angels’ singing. iPad 1.0 is Apple’s planting of a seed.

The strength of iPad 2.0 will be in being able to load, edit, and share vacation photos with friends and relatives by having them ‘magically’ appear on their handy devices when they turn them on. ‘Revolutionary’? Potentially…it’s clear that’s the next obvious step. The real questions is: What other tricks does Magician Jobs and his team have up their sleeves??