Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, aiming to capitalize on a shift away from personal computers, introduced a service that stores music and other files online and keeps devices synchronized wirelessly.
The product, called iCloud, will let users move their “digital life” from PC hard drives to remote data centers in the “cloud,” Jobs said Monday at Apple’s developers’ conference in San Francisco. As part of the service, Apple iTunes, the biggest music seller, will let users keep their existing music library in the cloud for $24.99 a year.
“If I acquire a song and buy it right on my iPhone, I want to get it on all my other devices,” Jobs, 56, said when he introduced the service. “Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy.”
Apple is using iCloud to retain its dominance in the smartphone and tablet markets amid fresh competition from devices powered by Google Inc.’s Android software. The service helps improve how users can access content across different Apple devices, keeping customers from defecting to rivals, said Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
“The world we’re headed to is where you don’t have to think about which gadget has your stuff,” Gillett said. “As people get their content organized around one of these personal ecosystems, then it will be incredibly sticky because migrating won’t be convenient.”
Apple’s new music feature, called iTunes Match, will scan every song in users’ libraries and match it with a copy in the cloud. That means customers don’t have to upload all their music song by song. That’s a requirement on rival services.
iCloud will be available this fall as a free download, when Apple releases its new iOS operating system for mobile devices. The service will include 5 gigabytes of free storage for users’ files, plus unlimited room for purchased apps and books, as well as photos.
The new version of iOS, which runs the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch media player, won’t require users to plug in their devices. Applications and files will be updated wirelessly.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California., fell $5.40, or 1.6 percent, to $338.04 Monday on the Nasdaq.
The product, called iCloud, will let users move their “digital life” from PC hard drives to remote data centers in the “cloud,” Jobs said Monday at Apple’s developers’ conference in San Francisco. As part of the service, Apple iTunes, the biggest music seller, will let users keep their existing music library in the cloud for $24.99 a year.
“If I acquire a song and buy it right on my iPhone, I want to get it on all my other devices,” Jobs, 56, said when he introduced the service. “Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy.”
Apple is using iCloud to retain its dominance in the smartphone and tablet markets amid fresh competition from devices powered by Google Inc.’s Android software. The service helps improve how users can access content across different Apple devices, keeping customers from defecting to rivals, said Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
“The world we’re headed to is where you don’t have to think about which gadget has your stuff,” Gillett said. “As people get their content organized around one of these personal ecosystems, then it will be incredibly sticky because migrating won’t be convenient.”
iCloud will be available this fall as a free download, when Apple releases its new iOS operating system for mobile devices. The service will include 5 gigabytes of free storage for users’ files, plus unlimited room for purchased apps and books, as well as photos.
The new version of iOS, which runs the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch media player, won’t require users to plug in their devices. Applications and files will be updated wirelessly.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California., fell $5.40, or 1.6 percent, to $338.04 Monday on the Nasdaq.
