Cloud service providers and TalkinCloud alike are keeping close watch on Apple’s iCloud initiative. It may be largely a consumer offering, but it has the potential to have a lot of ramifications for the Apple iPad and iPhone devices that MSPs are increasingly called on to manage. That’s why it’s a point of concern that Apple iCloud Senior Product Manager John Herbold has left the company – and cloud computing entirely.

The news comes courtesy of 9to5Mac, which noted Herbold is only the third high-level executive to leave Apple in 2011, with Mac OS X overseer Bertrand Serlet departing a few months ago and Stores head Ron Johnson last week.

During his four-year stint at Apple, Herbold was involved with the soon-obsolete MobileMe, which TalkinCloud Editorial Director and iPhone addict Joe Panettieri has had a love-hate relationship with since its 2008 launch. And it was Herbold who helped refine the MobileMe service into Apple iCloud, which has a much larger focus on media and file syncing.

Herbold has taken over as VP of Product at HealthTeacher, where he’ll be helping develop interactive software to promote good health to children. It’s a noble goal, to be sure, but it’s also a doozy of a career change for someone with so much experience in the burgeoning consumer cloud market.

So is Herbold just following his conscience, or is something amiss at One Infinite Loop? You decide. But I think the timing is awfully suspect, given the proximity to iCloud’s full launch.

TalkinCloud will continue to keep a close eye on Apple iCloud, so stay tuned.

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