Apple may refuse Amazon Web Services

As the user base grows, so does the load on data centers - in recent years, this is clearly seen from the history of the fall in iCloud services. Now, analysts at Morgan Stanley have reported that Apple may use Amazon Web Services (AWS) in favor of its own data centers. This will contribute to the opening of three new data centers in the next two years in addition to the seven existing ones.

The total area of ​​Apple's own data centers by this time will exceed 232 thousand square meters, which is about 40% of the total 622.4 thousand square meters occupied by AWS servers.
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“We believe that the construction of these data centers is a signal to Apple’s withdrawal from using AWS services for the next 18-24 months,” according to Morgan Stanley.

The transition to the use of our own data centers is a signal of a high level of profits from the company's cloud services - last year, profits from iTunes and the App Store amounted to $ 31 billion and in 2016 this figure will only increase. But the rejection of AWS will also affect Amazon, whose revenue may drop significantly. This year alone, Apple can spend on AWS about $ 1 billion, which represents 9% of all cloud service sales in 2016. Over the past year, AWS generated $ 7.8 billion in profits for Amazon, and in 2016 this figure will be about $ 10 billion.

Morgan Stanley’s analysts ’forecast doesn’t indicate good reasons for Apple’s refusal to use AWS data center servers, but it’s possible that this was influenced by the company's desire to improve the stability of its own services. Moreover, Amazon recently began to actively develop its own application store and streaming services. With Apple spending on AWS construction and use of its own data centers is fully justified. Of course, the cost of maintaining the company's data centers may also be affected by the use of renewable energy sources only.

On the other hand, in recent years, services such as Netflix, General Electric, and Capital One have switched to AWS, abandoning their own data centers. But Apple often made unexpected decisions regarding third-party and proprietary services.