The Potential Problems of Consumer Cloud Storage in China

...and what about iCloud?

Chinese PC maker Lenovo (HKG:0992) and cloud storage service SugarSync recently announced that they would partner to create an integrated storage solution for Lenovo PCs and tablets. According to the announcement, the service will be available on ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops, as well as Android tablets outside of China.

That last note is an interesting one though. I’m not certain why China is excluded from having this service, especially given that Lenovo is a Chinese company [1]. But my guess is that if SugarSync was ever blocked (my colleague Steven says it hasn’t been so far), then Lenovo would have a LOT of unsatisfied customers in its home market.

Dropbox, another cloud storage service, has been blocked for about as long as I can remember. Surprisingly though, Digitimes reports that Acer is bringing its cloud storage service (AcerCloud) to both North America and Greater China next month.

It’s an interesting point to consider though. Services like Google Docs and Dropbox, which allow users to create impromptu websites, have been used in the past to get sensitive news out of China – and this might be part of the reason why those services are currently blocked. SugarSync also allows for similar file sharing and could be used for a similar purpose.