[NewsPoster]

The introduction of new features in iCloud is being hampered by "deep organizational issues" at Apple, claims the sometimes-reliable The Information. The primary example is said to be iCloud Photo Library, which was announced in June and was initially expected to debut with iOS 8 in September. It missed that target, and even iOS 8.1 only ushered in beta support. It's also allegedly yet to be integrated with the upcoming Photos app for OS X Yosemite.

Apple is believed to lack a centralized iCloud team, or even a Photo Library product manager. The issue may be traceable to the way the company approaches new products; CarPlay, for example, is thought to have had similar developmental problems ahead of its launch, since it didn't fit into any of Apple's standard product categories. The iOS quality assurance team has had difficulties that may have led to the botched iOS 8.0.1 update.

Organization appears to be less of an issue with major projects such as the Apple Watch or Apple Pay. In those cases, the company has invested in creating new teams, often staffed by new hires with specific expertise. Apple brought on board a number of people in the fashion and watch industry as well as fitness and medical device experts ahead of the launch of the Apple Watch, and their roles are expected to expand as the product continues its development.

[pairof9s]

iCloud is still too obscure. It needs a Finder-like approach similar to its established competitors like Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. It's all well and fine to now have that in existence for Macs and web browsers via Yosemite; but the iOS devices desperately need an app to allow viewing, moving, and even editing all files w/in iCloud...the app-centric approach is a disaster in usability!

[prl99]

Of course this group of former WSJ writers will continue their investigative insight into everything Apple. It appears they've been in business for 1 year so they are experts on the organizational structure of Apple. https://www.theinformation.com/about

[bobolicious]

...should iCloud be more obscure ? The pop-up spam like eula notifications and sign on requests have me loathing the new Mac (i)OS - when the heck did users deserve being effectively harassed to agreeing to potentially loading private data onto a corporate server - who monitors if it is or remains really private - and then there is the question of the pesky patriot act... Good luck with that when things don't work out the way might have hoped...