Rumor: Updated Time Capsules To Act As Personal iCloud Servers?

According to a recent source-fuelled rumor, an updated line of Time Capsules - which may be announced at tomorrow's WWDC keynote - will play a major role in Apple's iCloud movement. The news comes from Cult of Mac, in an article that hit the Web earlier today. Essentially, the website's "source" builds on rumors we've already heard - namely, that Apple is planning on updating its line of Time Capsules to include an Apple A4 or A5 processor, and that the products will integrate deeper with Macintosh computers and iOS devices. According to Cult of Mac's source (who wanted to remain anonymous), this could indeed be the case. The source notes that Apple's iCloud service will make Time Machine backups available online. But, that's not all. A "Home Folder" stored in the cloud will contain users' documents, pictures, video and music. It will reportedly be possible to access this golden-folder on the go, on a computer or iOS device. All of this sounds rather standard, until we get to Cult of Mac's "surprising thing" - that iCloud won't rely on Apple's North Carolina data center (as expected), and that "the system will be based on Time Capsule." According to the website:

As rumored, Time Capsule will be updated, becoming less of a local backup and more of a personal cloud server, like the newer souped-up NAS (Network Attached Storage) drives from companies like Iomega (we reviewed one here). The new Time Capsule is rumored to run on iOS and come with embedded A4 or A5 CPUs. Our source didn’t have any information about the hardware, but detailed how the Home Folder access system works. Files saved on your computer are backed up instantly to Time Capsule, which makes them available to remote Macs and iOS devices.

As Cult of Mac admits, not everything is clear. Namely, why isn't Apple planning on using its North Carolina data center? And why should users host their own files? Obviously, some iCloud users may be concerned about security issues, but not everyone owns a Time Capsule. Clearly, there's a lot to unveil at WWDC's keynote presentation, which is why we'll be live blogging the event and updating the website with news as it becomes available. Check back with us tomorrow morning.

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