Apple has always used third-party content delivery networks (CDNs) to deliver content to its customers, but it has long been speculated that the company wants their own CDN. These days we’re hearing that Apple is working on actually developing it. This news doesn’t come as a huge surprise considering Apple has cut out the middle man in most other areas. From the beginning, they have wanted to be as direct as possible in their company-to-customer relationship, specifically building their “retail store chain because Steve Jobs wanted to own Apple’s interactions with its customers.” Apple wants complete control of the quality of the consumer experience, and the way their content is delivered is no exception. Other companies, including Google and Microsoft, “have brought much of their data delivery platforms in-house” particularly because their data is delivered in such large amounts. Their control over content delivery is also financially better for them. Apple would do well to follow suit, and they know it.
It’s likely that Apple’s in-house CDN will negatively impact the companies to whom they’ve been outsourcing their data. This move toward an internal delivery platform will especially hit Akamie. Though Akamie has never explicitly stated that they deliver Apple’s content, “it’s widely known that Apple spent more than $100M with Akamai last year, for delivery of content and professional services.” Losing Apple as a major client is going to be huge for them. The other company that Apple uses is Level 3, but the impact Apple’s CDN will have on them won’t be as serious. Apple will still need some services from outside companies while building out their CDN. Level 3 can provide them with “IP transit, fiber, co-location and other products and services” that Akamie doesn’t offer.
No one is sure yet exactly how Apple wants to structure their network or what kind of data they’ll want to control the delivery of. They might “use it to handle more of their long tail content, the stuff that’s more difficult to deliver.” However Apple chooses to utilize its CDN, it will take them quite some time to build out the infrastructure for this. Even after moving their data delivery in-house, they—like the companies whose examples they are following— will probably still need to outsource some data to companies like Akamie and Level 3.
