Apple quietly struck a deal late last year to use Google Cloud Platform in a move that has enabled it to cut back its dependence on Amazon Web Services, according to a report from CRN.
Apple spends an estimated $1 billion annually on AWS, which powers parts of iCloud, iTunes and other offerings. But CRN reported the iPhone vendor has "significantly reduced its reliance on Amazon Web Services" since inking the deal with Google, although it hasn't abandoned Amazon's platform entirely.
Citing unnamed sources, CRN writes that Google executives have told partners that the Apple deal is worth $400 million to $600 million, although it isn't clear whether those figures refer to an annual spend or a specific amount of capacity.
"It's kind of a puzzler to us," an AWS spokesperson said to FierceWireless via email, "because vendors who understand doing business with enterprises respect NDAs with their customers and don't imply competitive defection where it doesn't exist."
Reports surfaced last year indicating Apple was building its own network to provide a faster lane for its content than traditional pipes from incumbent providers could deliver. In addition to building a faster network, Apple was said to be investing to upgrade its data centers. And Apple is spending $3.9 billion on new data centers in Arizona, Ireland and Denmark that will begin to come online later this year.
And last month Verizon was rumored to be in talks with Google about forming a strategic partnership that would include joint development of hybrid cloud services. The network operator is considering a plan to sell its data center business in a deal worth roughly $2.5 billion, according to reports, as part of a larger effort to realign its asset portfolio.
Verizon is also shutting down two of its public cloud service offerings this month amid increasing competition from AWS and Google. The carrier said it will no longer support Verizon Public Cloud Reserved Performance and Marketplace, although customers have the option of moving their data to its Virtual Private Cloud offering.
For more:
- see this CRN report
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Article updated March 17 to add comment from AWS