The latest services launched by Apple Inc. stumbled on their first day Thursday, with users reporting that they have lost access to their e-mail and experienced hourslong delays in download and installation of iOS 5. Both problems may signal that Apple's servers are not up to the huge demand.

Perhaps Apple underestimated Internet traffic during the first hours of iOS 5 downloads and overestimated the capabilities of the iCloud software. iOS users are quick to run to Twitter to vent their installation woes with most of them complaining about errors in their download and long hours in downloading the update. Users for iCloud are complaining about the errors in user authentication, which Apple says it has now fixed.

The iCloud is the Blood in the Water

The iCloud embarrassment is not being ignored by other cloud services, specially by smaller providers like Box.net that offer iOS users with free 50GB storage. Cloud services are also available with Apple's rivals Google and Amazon. Most importantly, Amazon has a better platform for them to leverage their cloud services with their Kindle brand.

The Apple iCloud Litmus Test: iOS 5

The iOS 5 download not only tested Apple's servers but their distribution ability. The company should have known about the amount of people going for the next iOS release and have arranged for a better distribution model than just download. Judging from the download time, iOS 5 is a huge download. Perhaps they should have had their Apple Genius Bar offer to install it for the devices. Disc installation like SP packs from Microsoft years ago would not have been viable since they have started to eliminate optical media from their brand starting with the Mac Mini. It would not send a message of consistency for the brand. One thing is for sure, Apple didn't bring their A-game in this update in terms of distribution.

Apple fans would chalk up these recent events to the services being new and a work in progress. The problem with this stance is that this is an Apple product. It works out of the box. You should not have to do anything extra or wait for hours because this is the Apple brand we are talking about. While they do set the trend of mobile computing, they are by no means the innovator. Their technology is not experimental or in beta like Google services. "It just works" was the claim of their founder, Steve Jobs. Apple engineers are lucky not to have him around to chew them out because this is a fiasco like MobileMe in 2008. Oh wait, iCloud is MobileMe.