Feiler - Learning iCloud data management: a hands-on guide to structuring data for iOS and OS X

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A Hands-On Guide to Structuring Data for iOS and OS X

Jesse Feiler

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Feiler, Jesse.
Learning iCloud data management : a hands-on guide to structuring data for iOS and OS X / Jesse Feiler.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-321-88911-9 (paperback : alkaline paper)
1. iCloudHandbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Cloud computingHandbooks, manuals, etc.
3. Database managementHandbooks, manuals, etc. 4. iOS (Electronic resource)Handbooks, manuals, etc. 5. Mac OSHandbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.
QA76.585.F45 2014
004.6782dc23
2013043333

Copyright 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to (201) 236-3290.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-88911-9
ISBN-10: 0-321-88911-8
Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at RR Donnelley in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
First printing, February 2014

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When Apple announces new products or new versions of its operating systems, there is usually a big press event, and frequently there are lines of people waiting at Apple stores. Theres generally a pattern to these announcements. In the case of the operating systems, the major announcements are made at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June. In some years, developer previews of one or both operating systems are made available earlier in the spring. Over the course of the summer, developer releases are made available. Rumors of the availability of the new iPhone begin circulating, and, sometime in the fall, Apple sends invitations to a media event to be held in a week. At that event, a new version of iOS is shown to the public along with a new iPhone. The public release of iOS comes a week later, followed by the availability of the new iPhone. Later (often the following month) the process is repeated for the iPad, Macs, and OS X.

This has been the schedule over the past few years, but there is no guarantee it will be repeated. What is important to note is that there are specific dates for the announcement and release of the products and operating systems. iCloud is a very different matter. Over a number of years, Apple has built a significant hardware and telecommunications support structure to power iCloud and its other network operations. As is the case with many such infrastructures, the details of it are kept confidential. We know the location of some of Apples data centers because they often require building permits and other public documents and permissions, but they are usually kept out of the public view. There has been no ribbon cutting or turning of a key to launch iCloudit has been a years-long process (and it will continue for years to come).

In addition to the hardware infrastructure, iCloud has a software component. However, that, too, has been a years-long development process. As you will see in this book, parts of iCloud are implemented in the user interface of the operating systems, and other parts of it are implemented with relatively small changes to existing frameworks and APIs. For developers as well as consumers, public announcements about iCloud have been part of the announcements of new versions of the operating systems as well as of hardware.

In short, iCloud is not a product: its a pervasive technology and a companywide strategy for Apple. Unlike Apples hardware and software products, iCloud has no part number and no version. It is part of products across the company.

For that reason, it is not easy to write about iCloud or to learn to develop for it. This book was first envisioned in early 2012, but as it took shape, it became clear that some of the most powerful pieces of iCloud were not yet in place. Rather than rushing out a partial book and relying on the possibility of a revised edition sometime in the future, Trina MacDonald and Addison-Wesley agreed to push back the publication date so as to include the information from WWDC in June 2013, and Im very grateful to them for doing that.