Apple sets out vision for iCloud service

Steve Jobs appeared at an Apple conference for outside programmers on Monday with what he said was a new approach to personal computing: the iCloud.

The service is based on an idea that the Apple chief executive said he had a decade ago, and which involved computers becoming personal hubs.

To permit that advance, Apple in recent weeks secured deals with the four major record labels and music publishers that industry executives said will give them a 70 per cent share of revenue from the iCloud service, with Apple keeping the rest.

Amazon and Google, having been unable to reach agreements for similar services, have recently begun free "locker" services, which require the user to upload old songs in order to stream them back down to any device. Apple's version scans the user's before purchased material and duplicates it in the cloud automatically.

The gaunt-looking Mr Jobs admitted to previously missteps by Apple in cloud computing. MobileMe, a $99-a-year personal e-mail, calendar and back-up service, was "not our finest hour", he said.

Mr Jobs, who has been on medical leave from Apple, was making his first appearance at a public event since he launched the second-generation iPad tablet more than three months ago.