SAN JOSE, Calif. — Confirming widespread rumors
recently filling the blogosphere, Apple confirmed Tuesday that CEO Steve
Jobs will deliver the keynote speech next week at the Cupertino,
Calif., company’s yearly Worldwide Developers Conference in San
Francisco.
And in a news release with a relatively surprising
amount of detail for a company that likes to play things close to its
vest, Apple said his speech would include details of its new “iCloud”
service. The maker of iPhones, iPads and other devices did not reveal
anything else beyond referencing its “upcoming cloud services offering.”
Bloggers and news sites, however, have been buzzing for weeks that
Apple has been in negotiations with major labels to allow iTunes
customers to listen to their music collections over an Internet
connection, regardless of which gadget they’re using.
According to CNET.com, Apple has wrapped up licensing
agreements with three of the four top record companies, including EMI
Music, Warner Music and Sony Music. The news site has also reported that
Apple and Universal Music, the largest of the major record companies,
could possibly sign a deal soon. This would give Apple recorded-music
rights to most of the popular music now available.
“To offer a fully functional cloud music service,
though, Apple still needs publishing rights,” said the report. “Sources
with knowledge of the talks said that the publishers and Apple are close
to an agreement and nobody involved in the talks anticipates anything
will prevent iCloud from offering songs from at least the four major
record companies and their publishing units.”
Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies
Associates, pointed out that Jobs has a clear advantage over competitors
in striking deals with the labels — as co-founder of Pixar Animation
Studios, Jobs was involved in creating some of the most successful and
beloved animated films of all time, including “Toy Story.” Those
connections will serve Apple well as he goes head-to-head with Amazon
and others to dominate entertainment-based cloud-computing services like
music.
Striking deals with the major labels, said Kay, “is
an ongoing conversation with Apple and everyone else who wants to play
in this space. But Steve probably has more contacts in Southern
California than anyone else in (Silicon) Valley. So he has a great
chance of getting deals with the major labels. He’s a familiar face down
in LA.”
Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer and who in
January went on his third medical leave since 2004, did not show up at
the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Cupertino in February and
was not on the conference call when Apple announced its earnings in
April. But Jobs did make a surprise appearance in March to unveil the
iPad 2.
The CEO’s health has been a matter of widespread
speculation, so his public appearance at the upcoming conference should
generate a lot of publicity. During the earnings announcement, his name
came up when an analyst asked how involved Jobs was in corporate
decision-making.
“We do see him on a regular basis,” replied Chief
Operating Officer Tim Cook, who is running Apple in his boss’ absence,
“and as we’ve said, he continues to be involved in major strategic
decisions, and he wants to be back full-time as soon as he can.”
Jobs, who will make his WWDC keynote Monday, said
when he went on his current medical leave that he intended to remain
“involved in major strategic decisions of the company.”
At the keynote, Apple will unveil: Lion, the eighth
major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced
mobile operating system that powers iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and
iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.
WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions
presented by Apple engineers. Mac developers will see and learn how to
develop Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and
capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest
innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the
functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can
bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.
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