Even the most passionate Apple fanboys will admit that the company’s iCloud serve can be a bit temperamental. Whether it’s the layout, syncing or security issues, iCloud just isn’t as good as similar cloud services from rivals like Google Inc. or Dropbox. And now we know why.

The development of Apple Inc’s iCloud is being hampered by “deep organizational issues” within the company, according to a report in The Information by Jessica E. Lessin. She says the biggest single problem is the lack of a centralized iCloud team within the organization:

“Apple doesn’t have a centralized team working on core cloud infrastructure. Such teams, which exist at Google, Facebook, Dropbox and elsewhere, develop common technology, with reusable components that can help projects get off the ground quickly.”

This shortcoming is remarkable in light of the fact that most tech companies consider the cloud to be the foundation of their software offerings, rather than an afterthought.

Lessin points to the case of Apple’s iCloud photo project as a perfect example of this disorganization. Codenamed Hyperion, the project was first unveiled by Steve Jobs back in 2011 as his vision for a seamless photo-syncing experience across devices, but almost three and a half years later it’s a vision that’s yet to be realized.

Apple has taken some steps, notably with its iCloud Photo Library, but even now this feature is still in beta. Anonymous sources within Apple who spoke to Lessin say the project’s snail-pace progress is due to the company’s internal structure – there’s no single project manager tasked with overseeing iCloud Photo Library’s development, and there’s no dedicated, centralized team working on the iCloud’s core infrastructure. Instead, Apple expects its software engineers to do “nearly everything on their own,” according to Lessin’s sources.

The only good news is that Apple is finally taking some steps to build a common cloud infrastructure, but even this is moving  slowly due to the company’s lack of a centralized team to take the lead.

Apple has long been praised for its ability to make beautiful hardware and software work together, but few will disagree its cloud services are sometimes lacking. Hopefully with its renewed focus on the enterprise, and its recent acquisition of cloud startup Union Bay Networks, we’ll soon see an improvement.

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