A new survey conducted by the NPDG Group has found that 22 percent of consumers are familiar with the term “cloud computing,” despite the fact that 76 percent of them said they’ve used a cloud-based service, such as email or online gaming, during the past 12 months.
However, that lack of familiarity shouldn’t hamper the upcoming launch of Apple’s iCloud service, nor the growth of similar services. AppleInsider quoted Stephen Baker, vice-president of industry analysis for NPD, as saying: “Whether they understand the terminology or not, consumers are actually pretty savvy in their use of cloud-based applications. They might not always recognize they are performing activities in the cloud, yet they still rely on and use those services extensively.”
Mr. Baker noted, though: “Even so, they are not yet ready to completely give up on traditional PC-based software applications.”
Ultimately, a lack of understanding over cloud computing likely won’t harm iCloud or any other similar service. As TMO noted last month, a recent survey showed that 34 percent of iPhone 4 users think they have 4G handsets, and that doesn’t seem to have harmed sales growth.