In cloud, you won't be able to hide
Capitalism is supposed to be about supply and demand. But the genius of Steve Jobs and Apple is to supply products that create their own demands.
iPhones, iPads and iPods are not life's necessities, but must-have lifestyle accessories among certain demographics around the world. So while rivals need to entice the news media to cover their latest products, Apple turns every one of its product releases into a must-see media event.
The launch shows of the charismatic Jobs - undoubtedly the world's greatest PowerPoint presenter - are the closest thing the tech world has to a rock star performance.
Apple's products undoubtedly bring ease and cool to people's digital lives. But its latest service, the iCloud, is something of a Faustian bargain.
As a free service, it will store music, photos, texts and other digital files on Apple's web servers, and make them available to all your Apple devices. So it liberates users from having to spend their own money and resources for storage. This may be the ultimate in convenience.
But it means your whole life could be stored on the Net - a scary thought.
Apple's iCloud follows the nosy lead of Amazon and Google. Amazon knows what kinds of books you read, Google knows your interests from the searches you make, and Facebook knows much about you and your circles of friends and associates.
Cloud technology has the potential to make you completely transparent to corporate interests, which have been able to monetise such information.
And, of course, governments are also interested. Beijing has already made known its ambitions to develop cloud technology and push mainland web users into it. We all know why.
