You probably already know that Apple provides online storage of data/files from your various igadgets in the cloud. *Gestures vaguely upward.*
Apple stashes some of these files on its own servers, but interestingly, it also stores some of your overflow data in Amazon’s cloud… thus making a frenemy out of a competitor.
CNBC reports that Apple, with its $30m monthly spend on Amazon Web Services and a recently inked $1.5B five-year service contract, is AWS’s biggest customer.
Apple isn’t the only one floating on Cloud Prime
By the end of 2018, AWS (which now makes up 11% of Amazon’s total revenue) had signed $19.3B worth of multi-year contracts.
Customers include the likes of Adobe, Capital One, and Intuit, as well as several recently IPOd companies like Lyft ($300m through 2021), Pinterest ($750m into 2023), and Snap Inc. ($1B+ through 2021).
Ceasefire in the skies when it comes to server space
It’s interesting to see these rivals put aside their otherwise fierce competition in the arenas of video and music streaming, smart home devices, and AI servants, and play nice — even if out of necessity.
Netflix and Spotify are also AWS customers, and Apple has server space with Google and possibly Microsoft. It seems that cloud computing is a truce-worthy force… unless you’re a provider. Then it’s (storage) war.