The Apple of Web Hosting

Sitting here typing on my iPad I am forcefully made aware of what makes Apple products so successful - they work as expected and provide a great user experience. This is primarily because, unlike windows, Apple are able to control the hardware platform and ensure that all the software will run on it. They also put a lot of work into the user interfaces - making them simple to use, intuitive (usually) and replicating the same style across different devices. This got me thinking about why there is no web hosting service that achieves these objectives. I think one of the reasons is that, like Microsoft, web hosts can't control what software is being run on their platform. If they did there would be a huge fall out from customers. In fact, in the world of shared web hosting customers really want the same privileges as a root user without having to be concerned about the effects their activities have on other customers. Then there is the issue of user interfaces - usually designed by engineers or developers and rarely simple to follow.

Here is what I think would need to happen in order for a web hosting service to give the same end user experience as an apple product:

- Each user needs to be on a virtual machine so they can't affect any other customers access to the system.
- This needs to be cloud based with continuous back up.
- The host needs to supply and update all the scripts permitted on the system - possibly charging for each one in the way apps are charged for on ios devices.
- The user interfaces need to be stripped down to a very simple front end. I had some experience of doing this with cPanel and it worked quite well at reducing customer support enquiries.
- Faults need to be fixed proactively so that users rarely see them.

At the same time customers will need to become used to paying a bit more for hosting. I don't think it's possible to run a viable service like this for less than £10 a month, £15 if it involves multiple domains.

If somebody did set up such a service and aimed it at people looking for reliable simple hosting I think it could make money. Whether it would ever get enough traction to become the Apple of web hosting is another question entirely.