Much to the chagrin of Apple Geniuses everywhere, a new report claims “about half” of iOS device owners have never backed up their new toys via iTunes, a move that would certainly make tech support easier. Thanks to the forthcoming iCloud, that problem may soon be a thing of the past.
AppleInsider is reporting that there’s one group more excited about iCloud than any other, and that are the Geniuses who work at Apple’s retail locations. According to a blog report by OneFPS, “about half” of the customers who come to the Genius Bar in need of a replacement device “have never plugged them into iTunes after the initial activation and sync” -- meaning they have no good backup from which to restore a new device.
Needless to say, no backup means those users will have to start from scratch with a replacement device, a needlessly frustrating experience for both customers and Genius Bar techs alike. But that will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to the forthcoming (and free) iCloud.
Introduced as part of iOS 5, iCloud will allow users to set up a free account on the service and with the flip of a switch, their device will stay backed up to the cloud -- including Settings, playlists, device data and more. In the future, a customer needing a replacement device would then only need to log in to iCloud from the new device and all of their data would get pulled back down from the cloud and they’re back in business.
iOS 5 will be available this fall, presumably alongside a new iPhone and possibly even new iPod touch models as well. Among the many features introduced at WWDC 2011, iOS 5 will finally bring a “PC free” experience to iOS devices -- users will no longer have to activate and sync using iTunes, since Apple research has shown a large group of users buying their devices who don’t even own a computer.
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(Image courtesy of AppleInsider)
