Never miss an update Follow AppleInsider
Tuesday, December 28, 2010, 01:15 pm
Apple seeks iOS developers to expand cloud-hosted services
Apple is looking to expand its iOS development team with new employees who will enhance the company's cloud-based services for devices like the iPhone and iPad.Just before Christmas, Apple posted two new job listings (1, 2) for the title of "iOS Software Engineer." While the two full-time positions discovered by AppleInsider have different job descriptions, both describe an emphasis on remote storage for data access.
"Apple is hiring outstanding operations engineers to deliver and manage the next generation of hosted infrastructure serving Apple products and services," one of the listings reads. The other says, "Apple is hiring experienced software engineers to work on distributed computing for data with non-trivial properties, and efficient online services for data access."
One of the positions also seeks a candidate who has "experience developing large-scale offline or online storage systems." Both positions are based at Apple's Cupertino, Calif., campus.
Some may view the hirings as further evidence of a cloud-based iTunes or other MobileMe-style services from Apple. The hirings could also be an effort by the company to bolster its new cloud-centric Apple TV, a device that also runs a version of the lightweight iOS operating system.
Numerous reports have indicated that Apple is interested in creating its own cloud-based iTunes service, which could allow users to stream their own music library from any Internet-connected device. It is believed that some of the functionality could come from Apple's acquisition of Lala.
There's also an e-mail allegedly sent by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs earlier this month, in which he purportedly said that his company's MobileMe service would "get a lot better in 2011." The $99-per-year Internet-based service is an existing cloud venture from Apple, but a major portion of it, Find My iPhone, became free with the release of iOS 4.2.
Apple's massive data center in North Carolina was set to launch this year, though Apple has not yet made any announcements for its potential use. But many have speculated that it will be used for cloud computing, perhaps via MobileMe, and streaming services, likely through iTunes.
On Topic: iTunes
- Penguin agrees to $75M settlement in Apple iBooks price fixing lawsuit
- Editorial: Apple's billions are building an empire for the future
- Gameloft's Gangstar Rio, N.O.V.A. 3 go free on iOS for a limited time
- Apple releases iTunes 11.0.3 with new MiniPlayer, improved Songs View
- Google's All Access music streaming service to take on Spotify, Pandora
Previous Comments View All
I'm a fan of the word "non-trivial". I wonder what it means in this context... And I wonder if they ever look for someone with experience with data that has trivial properties...
Umm... wouldn't the new data center be useful for a software service that sells and tracks updates for your OS X software? Wouldn't they expect to get a lot of use for that? My guess is the Mac App Store will use the data center quite a bit!
They ought to start by improving the reliability and speed of the services that MM already offers.
I'm a fan of the word "non-trivial". I wonder what it means in this context... And I wonder if they ever look for someone with experience with data that has trivial properties...
It probably means that the data requires non-trivial computations on it to be useful. Plain old website pages would be an example of data with trivial properties: someone requests a page, you get it from disk, and shove it to the customer ASAP. No computation required, just shoveling bytes. Not necessarily trivial, but the engineering effort is in data storage and communication.
As I interpret it, some examples of "data with non-trivial properties" would be cartographic data that has to be rendered into custom tiles, movie data that has to be custom encrypted or scaled, search engines, and perhaps databases of some kind (although in that case Apple probably would have explicitly asked for someone with database expertise). Custom-compiled software would also fall under "data with non-trivial properties". Still, all this is just speculation, Apple still has plenty of room to surprise us.
I'm a fan of the word "non-trivial". I wonder what it means in this context... And I wonder if they ever look for someone with experience with data that has trivial properties...
They are perhaps meaning things like SETI or even Folding @ Home. The results of the former are obviously non-existant and the results of the latter are listed here:
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Papers
A lot of the papers are just about the distributed computing itself and nothing to do with the results of the computations. I'm sure it's worth contributing to global warming for though
.If this is iOS related and server-related, I wonder if this is part of an ARM server movement. Look at the ATV for example, it runs with a 6W PSU. Give it 1GB RAM, dual 2GHz Cortex A9 and those SSD chips in the MBA and you have a very small, power-efficient server.
Running iOS server would be quite cool because you would be able to manage them remotely using an iPad.
Just like its any other move, Apple is taking its time before making it big on cloud services.
IOS Software Engineer -- Apple is hiring experienced engineers to work on distributed computing for data with non-trivial properties, and efficient online services for data access. This is an opportunity to contribute to the backend foundation for Apple products, devices and overall experience delivered to millions of Apple customers.
This seems to be interesting/contradictory on several levels:
1) the backend foundation Apple uses does not run iOS, or, AFAICT, even OS X.
2) iOS does not do distributed computing
3) there are no [known] iOS devices that participate in online services except as a source or destination for sending or receiving files -- certainly not as a component of distributed computing network.
This could mean something as simple as wanting an iOS guy participating in all the design decisions for backend, distributed, and online services.
Or it could signal the intention to supply other iOS devices and services:
-- iOS backend servers in Apple datacenters
-- iOS Home Servers
-- iOS SMB Office Servers
-- iOS Enterprise Servers
There are several interesting possibilities:
1) there are several ARM-based general purpose web/file servers in development -- and an iOS ARM server would be cheaper and greener (much less power) than comparable Intel-based servers. These could be used internally by Apple and/or sold to enterprise, server farms, etc.
2) Rumored XServe replacement could be an ARM-Based iOS Server -- for SMB.
3) a small ARM-Based iOS Home Server / Time Machine (external RAID HDD) used to consolidate/backup content from multiple computers in the home.
4) 2 or 3 above could be a component of a distributed network, where some hi-use content is staged locally, and other low-use content is stored (and backed up) in the cloud and staged locally on demand. For the home this could be your digital media: iTunes purchases, home movies, photos, etc. For the SMB this could be the current period's files (year, month, quarter) with the archives stored in the cloud.
Further, I suspect that iOS will be folded into the next version of Mac OS X (and Mac OS X Server) or that these OSes will be able to run iOS virtually ala Rosetta (or better). So any Intel hardware running Mac OS X [Server] and iOS would allow easy migration from an Intel-based Mac OS X Server to an ARM-based iOS Server.
.
Nice pick up and interesting thoughts DA.
There are several interesting possibilities:
1) there are several ARM-based general purpose web/file servers in development -- and an iOS ARM server would be cheaper and greener (much less power) than comparable Intel-based servers. These could be used internally by Apple and/or sold to enterprise, server farms, etc.
2) Rumored XServe replacement could be an ARM-Based iOS Server -- for SMB.
Take Apples SSD blade found in the MBAs, put an A4 on it on it with some flash NAND and stick it in a 2U blade server that can house about 100 of these units from both ends with room for dual power supplies, which still use less power than current Xserves.
Latest Apple Headlines
-
iPad shipments could see first ever year-on-year decline in Q2, analyst says
~16 hours ago -
Google's Motorola issues second appeal of dismissed ITC case against Apple
~17 hours ago -
iPhone urinalysis app draws scrutiny from FDA
~18 hours ago -
South Australia's first Apple Store draws line hours ahead of opening [update: photos and video]
~19 hours ago -
Best Buy to offer $50 off all iPhone 5 & 4S models starting Sunday
~21 hours ago - more...
Want to write for AppleInsider? Submit your application now!
| Model | White | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPad mini (WiFi only) | |||
| 16GB WiFi |  |
$329.99 | $329.99 |
| 32GB WiFi | |
$429.99 | $429.99 |
| 64GB WiFi | |
$529.99 | $529.99 |
| iPad mini (WiFi + 4G) | |||
 |
 |
 |
|
| 16GB 4G White | $459.99 | $459.99 | $459.99 |
| 32GB 4G White | $559.99 | $559.99 | $559.99 |
| 64GB 4G White | $659.99 | $659.99 | $659.99 |
| 16GB 4G Black | $459.99 | $459.99 | $459.99 |
| 32GB 4G Black | $559.99 | $559.99 | $559.99 |
| 64GB 4G Black | $659.99 | $659.99 | $659.99 |
Lowest Prices Anywhere!
| Model | Price | You Save |
|---|---|---|
| Core i5 MacBook Pros w/ Retina | ||
| 13" 2.5GHz/8GB/128GB | $1,406.48 | $292.52 |
| 13" 2.5GHz/8GB/256GB | $1,479.99 | $519.01 |
| 13" 2.5GHz/8GB/512GB | $1,699.99 | $799.01 |
| Core i7 MacBook Pros w/ Retina | ||
| 13" 2.9GHz/8GB/256GB | $1,599.99 | $599.01 |
| 13" 2.9GHz/8GB/512GB | $1,799.99 | $899.01 |
| 15" 2.3GHz/8GB/256GB | $1,899.99 | $299.01 |
| 15" 2.6GHz/8GB/512GB | $2,299.99 | $568.01 |
| 15" 2.7GHz/16GB/768GB | $2,699.99 | $499.01 |
I believe Apple has been developing a new html5 / Javascript framework API including web user interface elements for its cloud. This will change web applications forever.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/20...e-develops.php
I expect some big cloud announcements involving the new data centers as well.
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/t...ta-center-faq/
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/t...er-faq-part-2/
Time will tell.