Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Dropbox hold the top two spots for cloud storage, according to a new survey conducted by Strategy Analytics.
When conducting the study, the firm looked at more than 2,000 different devices and found that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iTunes Match and iCloud made up approximately 27 percent of all cloud service users. Dropbox came in second place with 17 percent, while Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Cloud Drive snagged 15 percent of the cloud storage market and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Drive took 10 percent. Although there are quite a few companies in the cloud storage business, none of the others grabbed greater than a 4 percent market share.
The study noted that the most popular use of cloud storage is for music, notably through Apple’s iTunes. It found that about 90 percent of those who used Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s and Google’s cloud storage services were storing music. Even users of Dropbox, which isn’t connected with any kind of a music delivery system like the others are, use it to store music. About 45 percent of Dropbox users were storing music.
Cloud storage companies are actively courting customers, especially within the music scene as more and more companies realize just how important music storage is for the cloud industry. For example, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is offering to store up to 20,000 songs free and stream the songs to Android devices. Many competitors charge a fee for that amount of storage.
Strategy Analytics also found that cloud storage is still in its early adoption stage. The firm’s study found that 55 percent of Americans who are connected to the Internet have yet to use any kind of cloud storage device.
In addition, the study indicates that those in their early twenties are most likely to adopt cloud storage. It also shows that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s services attract more women than men.
