Apple has an impact which can move the whole industry to where Apple leads them to. This impact can be hazardous for flash memory which are manufactured by NAND. Apple has used flash from NAND for its products. This had in fact set a tone for the market which was emerging. But now it looks like the iCloud which is a service fresh out of the Apple box, could end NAND’s demand. IHS iSuppli Memory and Storage Service has reported that this could be a possibility if iCloud takes off.
IHS’s memory analyst Dee Nguyen said that NAND has grown majorly because of Apple’s support. But this move from Apple can impact significantly as NAND does not have any other segment which is a growth rate as fast as in the component for storage in tablets and smartphones.
This year Apple has been the biggest customer for NAND flash memory as its iPhone and iPad has comprised of 30% considering the demand globally. As for the count, Apple represents 5.2 billion gigabyte- equivalent units, while the remaining 13.3 billion gigabyte-equivalent units are not from Apple’s warehouse. But iCloud’s arrival would change the stats majorly.
Nguyen said that if Apple makes a move from NAND to iCloud, there would be further decrease in NAND’s demand in the coming future. Further he stated that iCloud has a facility that its song’s free storage could reduce the need for tablet, smartphone or PC’s storage locally. If on a user basis, the consumption reduces by 100 GB, then this effect would hurt NAND’s demand terribly. Apple has a huge database and if this change is to happen, then NAND would have a lot to suffer.
In June, Apple in a conference which was for its Worldwide Developers, it released iCloud. The conference only proved that iCloud service can offer an integration which would be seamless and an access could be made of documents, applications, photos and music which would be restricted for Apple services. This can be however used only via Apple devices.
Comparing Apple’s iCloud to other cloud services, it can easily be said that no other competitor has a better ecosystem as compared to Apple. This even proves that Apple can make a long lasting negative impact on NAND’s future. Cloud service could be a threat in the future for NAND but in the short and midterm, its not a major threat.
IHS forcasted that there is a possibility that there would be a demand rise for flash which would continue up to 2014. Another point which works in NAND’s favor is that cloud services require the use of Wi-Fi and the availability factor is even limited. Again there is the cost which could save NAND for some time as cloud is priced at 24.99 USD as a storage fee which would be for iTunes Match. However the cost factor can be overlooked by users but if there are and issues which surround data security, it will be a rare hit. Again access of Wi-Fi is an issue which will be there as Wi-Fi is not widely spread as for now.