Jobs makes music on the 'Cloud'

Says iCloud, will ease managing content and apps across devices, and end the PC-centric era of computing

Declaring that the personal computer was no longer the central hub of people’s digital lives, Steven P Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, on Monday unveiled the company’s new online storage and syncing service for music, photos, files and software.

The new, free service, iCloud, will simplify how people manage content and apps across devices, and end the PC-centric era of computing, Jobs said.

It will automatically store on Apple’s servers many of the new files that a person loads onto a Mac, iPad or iPhone, and then make those files available on any other Apple devices owned by the same person.

Jobs said people will no longer have to manually sync mobile devices with their PCs, an approach that he said has become too unruly now that millions of people own music players, smartphones and tablets, each with photos, music, apps and other types of documents.

“Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy,” Jobs said, speaking on the opening day of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference here. “We have a great solution for this problem. We are going to demote the PC to just be a device. We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.”

“Everything happens automatically, and there is nothing new to learn,” he added.

At the center of iCloud is a new version of iTunes that will allow users to download on any device any song they have ever bought. Songs on a person’s iTunes library that were not bought from Apple can be added for $25 a year, Jobs said.

The iTunes in the Cloud service is available now. The other iCloud services will be available in the fall, when Apple releases the new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 5.

The iCloud service also works with documents, apps and photos through a new service, Photo Stream, that automatically uploads photos taken with an iPhone or iPad. And it will replace MobileMe, a failed $99-a-year service that allowed people to synchronise their calendar, e-mail and contacts across devices.

At the event, other top Apple executives showcased new versions of the Macintosh and iOS operating systems, which include scores of new features. But most attention was on the iCloud services, which analysts and industry insiders said would have more lasting impact on consumers, and were superior to and reached beyond those of competitors.

“This is a milestone in computing,” said Mike McCue, a veteran Silicon Valley executive who now heads Flipboard, a popular news app for iPhone and iPads. “The fact that you no longer have to think in terms of files and folders is a big deal.”

Others said they are worried that iCloud would strengthen the position of Apple, which has long been criticised for controlling its mobile devices too tightly. Although some of iCloud’s features will work with non-Apple PCs, the service will tie Apple’s gadgets more closely together, giving the company more power to dictate terms to developers and users. ©2011 The New York
Times News Service