We just need to wait for AWS, Google Cloud and Oracle to follow this new tradition then.
It is 2020, what else can happen?
The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft continued last night as the fruity firm's cloud services took a tumble a mere day after Azure crapped itself. While Apple has remained silent on what happened (we asked; it did not respond), the vast majority of its services wobbled over a two-hour period early this morning (UK time). …
I know you said joke alert, but at one point at least part of icloud was on Azure, and it is very likely still partially served on it. From no less a reliable source than: https://www.theregister.com/2011/09/02/icloud_runs_on_microsoft_azure_and_amazon/.
It is 2020, what was once hilarious and unimaginable is commonplace. Watch some clips of the first US Presidential debate if you don't believe me.
icloud is mainly run on AWS, with some on Azure. In fact, according to various news outlets, its a fairly large bill each month - $30M / month
https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/22/icloud-apple-amazon/#:~:text=Amazon%20Web%20Services%20(AWS)%20are,be%20more%20than%20%2430%20million.&text=Apple%20also%20recently%20signed%20an,over%20a%20five%2Dyear%20period.
https://www.theregister.com/2016/11/28/howto_terro_manuals_still_on_sale_by_apple_amazon_and_waterstones/
""To protect freedom of speech and avoid censorship, unless a title is illegal we tend not to remove it from the iBooks Store," a representative at Apple told The Register."
Last time I saw a response from Apple on these pages . . . Mon 28 Nov 2016
Or not! Still having issues with new 8th gen iPads. They can't contact the iCloud login servers.
Apples status page (www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/) is all full of green goodness including iCloud sign in. (A note helpfully boasts Issues have been resolved!)
Apples support drones have no idea whats going on and can only offer the less than helpful advice 'try it again in a few days'. It is possible to get into your new shiny without using an iCloud login. But no new App store toys or cloud storage (or anything cloudy from Apple) till they fix it.