Byline: Michael Liedtke and Marcus Wohlsen; The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO -- Steve Jobs re-emerged from his latest medical leave Monday to show off Apple's latest innovations and sustain the hope that he eventually will return to dream up more ways to reshape technology.
"We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud," the Apple CEO said.
The new iCloud service replaces Apple's MobileMe document-sharing offering, which costs $99 a year. The new iCloud service is free, Jobs said.
He was onstage for less than 30 minutes during a nearly two-hour event that primarily featured his subordinates.
Jobs announced that the company had struck licensing agreements with all the major recording labels on a new music-syncing system.
It will allow people to put all the songs they have ever bought from the company's iTunes store on up to 10 devices at no additional charge. Apple is offering to do the same thing with all books and applications previously purchased through its online stores.
All future iTunes purchases also will be automatically sent to all the devices, too. None of the transfers will require devices to be plugged into a single computer. It will automatically happen over wireless connections.
Jobs' keynote address at a conference for application developers marked his first onstage appearance since he unveiled the second version of Apple's tablet computer, the iPad, three months ago.
It comes five months after Jobs went on his third medical leave of absence in the past seven years to deal with an unspecified medical issue. He has previously survived pancreatic cancer and undergone a liver transplant.
Unlike during a six-month leave in 2009, Jobs, 56, hasn't said when he is coming back to work. The uncertainty made his every appearance even more of a spectacle because people don't know if it will be the last time they will see one of the world's most influential CEOs and cultural tastemakers.
Looking as frail as he did in his last appearance in March, Jobs didn't discuss his health Monday. That wasn't unusual; he has consistently treated his health as a personal matter and insisted that Apple's board remain mum, too, much to the frustration of some shareholders who believe they deserve to know more about the condition of the man whose vision drives a company with a $312 billion market value.
Apple tried to strike an optimistic note by playing the James Brown song "I Feel Good" as a prelude to Jobs' appearance. While he was onstage, Jobs seemed animated as he gestured frequently and paced about the stage. He appeared to walk up the steps of the stage slowly after sitting down in the audience a couple of times while other Apple executives demonstrated features of the iCloud service.
"He delivered all the key points, but it doesn't look like he is getting any better," said veteran Silicon Valley technology analyst Rob Enderle.
Jobs didn't look much different from his March appearance for the iPad 2, said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies and a longtime Apple watcher.
Having Jobs appear at major events remains important to preserving Apple's market value and keeping shareholders at bay, Enderle said. "As long as he is still showing up and looking like he can still do the job, that helps keep the pressure off the board to replace him," Enderle said.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, has been running the company, just as he has through all of Jobs' medical leaves. Jobs still has a say in major decisions.
The new music-syncing service Jobs announced Monday could be a boon for consumers because more than 18 billion songs already have been bought through iTunes. The new feature is available now.
Jobs also unveiled a way for most people to keep their entire music collections on the company's computers without going through the time-consuming hassle of uploading each song over the Internet.
The $25-per-year service, called iTunes Match, will allow people to play their personal jukeboxes on any device with iTunes software instead of keeping them tethered to a personal computer that must be synced with other devices. It's aimed at people who have transferred their CD collections to the iTunes library on their own computers, but also gives music labels a chance to be paid for pirated music. Apple is paying most of the iTunes revenue to the labels.
The music streaming is part of iCloud that represents Apple's attempt to persuade the tens of millions of people who own iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches to store documents, video and photos in three data centers.
The allure for consumers is to have all their digital content available on any device running Apple's mobile software, called iOS. For Apple, the iCloud service represents a response to similar storage services offered by Google and Seattle-based Amazon.com. Although those rivals have a head start, Apple is betting it can make the concept of online storage more appealing and convenient.
It will take a few more months to find out if Apple is taking the next step in the evolution of digital music and Internet storage. Most iCloud features, including iTunes Match, won't be available until the fall when Apple plans to release iOS 5.
Apple announced it will release the next version of its operating system for Mac computers, called Lion, next month. A preview of that software, which will cost $29.99, was handled by two other Apple executives. Lion will give Apple a jump on Redmond-based Microsoft, which recently said it won't release the next version of its Windows operating system until next year.
Material from the San Jose Mercury News was included in this report.
FACTS
Back on the job
Spotlight on Apple CEO: Steve Jobs interrupted an indefinite medical leave of absence on Monday to deliver the keynote address at Apple's conference for application developers. It marked the first time he has taken the stage in three months.
The reason: Jobs wanted to promote a new service called iCloud that will store music, documents and photos on the company's servers.
No health update: Jobs, still looking frail, didn't say when -- or if -- he will return to his job. Apple struck an optimistic note by playing the song "I Feel Good" before Jobs hit the stage.
The Associated Press
CAPTION(S):
Marcio Jose Sanchez / The Associated Press: Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who has been on another medical leave of absence, talks Monday about the music component of iCloud at a conference for application developers. (0417166893)
Kimihiro Hoshino / AFP / Getty Images: Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote address Monday comes five months after he went on his third medical leave of absence in the past seven years. (0417168458)
Copyright (c) 2011 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.
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