What Will iCloud Be?

With Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote in just a handful of hours, the news feeds are afire with people opining on what we’ll see at the conference — especially since we know iOS 5, iCloud and Lion will be unveiled. But what are the details? It looks like iCloud might be bigger than we originally thought. Cult of Mac has a very interesting exclusive, and they say that iCloud will be accompanied by a refresh to Time Capsule, which will serve as a file host connected to iCloud. You back up your documents to Time Capsule, and then can use iCloud from any machine in the world to get at them.

John Gruber has written a lengthy post about what he knows, what he thinks is happening, and what he would like to happen. His sources are generally immaculate, but his key takeaway (in my opinion) is this “don’t think of iCloud as the new MobileMe; think of iCloud as the new iTunes.” As in, all your computers and devices sync files from iCloud, not from iTunes.

We’ll know more in just a handful of hours.