RBC reckons iCloud, iMessage likely to be popular

A new study by RBC analyst Mike Abramsky suggested Apple could get rapid adoption of the core services it rolled out with iOS 5. A full 76 percent of the 1,500 iPhone owners asked were either somewhat or very likely to use iCloud. Its value as online storage was likely to partly nullify one of Android's advantages and improve the "loyalty and stickiness" of iPhone users that might have otherwise jumped ship.

About 73 percent were also likely to use iMessage. The service is a rough parallel to BlackBerry Messenger and, like RIM's service, is expected to give users an incentive to find fellow device owners.

Of the new services, however, far fewer were likely to pay for an iTunes Match subscription, Abramsky found out. Only 30 percent were likely to pay the $25 yearly fee to get always-up access to their music collections. The cost of the service was the likely the only obstacle.

Extrapolating from his results, the analyst predicted that Apple could have as many as 150 million of its 200 million iOS users running iCloud, 146 million using iMessage, and 60 million on iTunes Match. The scope would make it nearly as large as Gmail's 200 million and come within half of the share of both Twitter and Yahoo, which each have 300 million. Actual use might be less since other countries may not see as much adoption as the US.

By Electronista Staff

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iPhone, Investor, industry, Gmail, Yahoo, mobile phones, Twitter, Apple, RBC, iOS 5, iCloud, iMessage