Within three years 90% of all connected consumer devices will be accessing information stored in “personal cloud”, according to a report by Gartner.
Gartner says the personal cloud is a new wave of cloud services, which allows consumers to seamlessly store, sync, stream and share using multiple connected devices such as smartphones, media tablets, televisions and PCs over the internet.
Gartner managing vice president Andrew Johnson said that the emergence of personal clouds reflects the “4S experience”, consumers‟ desire to store, sync, stream, and share their content on regardless of device or platform seamlessly.
“The shift to the personal cloud will accelerate rapidly in 2012 as consumers learn how to use new services on their devices,” said Johnson.
“As cloud services become part of people’s lives, device vendors and platform providers must integrate cloud services in order to win customers in 2012 or risk being displaces by those that offer these services. Brands must stretch across multiple devices, platforms and services.”
Companies like Netflix, Google Apps, Amazon Music, Microsoft SkyDrive and Apple's iCloud are already market leaders in this space.
According to Gartner, consumers will spend approximately $2.2 trillion on digital technology products and services in 2012, or about 10% of the average disposable household income.
By 2015, consumers will spend some $2.8 trillion worldwide on connected devices, the services that run them and content that is transferred through them.
"The notion of personal cloud is not new, the refinement and diversity of services for consumers is," said Johnson. "Online backup and synchronization companies have been offering personal cloud for years. However, a big change has occurred during the past couple of years, with the growing adoption of mobile and portable devices that have limited internal storage and rely heavily on cloud services. What distinguishes the personal cloud from what came before is its ability to store, synchronize, stream and share as needed allowing consumers greater flexibility in choosing devices and platforms."