Apple's iCloud in China to be run by local company

The iCloud services of Apple Inc. in China will be operated by a local partner in southwest China's Guizhou Province from Feb. 28, the company announced Wednesday.

From then on, photos, documents and other personal information uploaded to iCloud accounts by Apple customers in China will be stored at a data base in Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co,. Ltd.

Apple will start informing its Chinese iCloud users from Wednesday, with data transferred and uploaded to the new data base automatically.

The move aims to increase transparency and offer Chinese customers a safer and more fluent experience, the company said.

An executive with Guizhou-Cloud Big Data said, "we are very proud and happy to be a partner of Apple, and look forward to the operation of the iCloud project."

Business analysts said the move will help Apple comply with Chinese law concerning customer data and allay some customers' concerns about security of their data.

Apple announced the new data base in Guizhou last July, with an investment of 1 billion U.S. dollars.

Other major technology companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, have also made similar deals to run data centers in China.

Guizhou is one of the least developed regions in China. Yet it has become a pioneer in China's big data development due to its beneficial climate, power supply and network infrastructure.

The provincial government has set up a leading group for big data, with the provincial governor as leader. Leaders at various levels are the "cloud chiefs" responsible for big data development in their own areas.