The Cloud Floats Closer to Consumers

Two research conferences this week in typically sunny California will focus on bringing the cloud to consumer computers.

On Monday, Apple Inc. is expected to use its annual developers gathering in San Francisco to unveil a streaming-music service. The product will likely allow gadget owners to mirror their music libraries at Apple's data centers and access them via the Internet, a paradigm known as cloud computing.

The service

The service, which Chief Executive Steve Jobs is expected to unveil with the company's new iCloud Internet services, could eliminate the need for consumers to use up chunks of storage on their iPhones and iPods. Instead, they will be able to access their favorite songs anywhere there is an Internet connection.

Apple's expected music-storage service represents a major advance for consumer cloud computing. Already popular with businesses, which have moved large swaths of their data and applications to the Internet, cloud computing is growing in popularity with consumers, potentially ushering in a host of devices that aren't reliant on massive storage capacities to drive their functionality.

The videogame industry's E3 conference in Los Angeles

At the videogame industry's E3 conference in Los Angeles, console makers Sony Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. are expected to discuss ambitious plans for their entertainment devices. Many of those will revolve around cloud computing exactly or connected gaming more broadly.

Many videogame companies are now pushing online gaming because it can create something a traditional boxed videogame can't: recurring revenue. Many games, just as Activision Blizzard Inc.'s "World of Warcraft," require clients to pay for subscriptions, meaning the company gets a payment every month. Just in case to that predictable revenue, companies like Take-Two Interactive Inc. sell other material, just as downloadable maps for its "Red Dead Redemption" Western action game.

The videogame industry

These revenue streams are welcomed relief for the videogame industry, which suffered as the recession caused many clients to slash their entertainment budgets.

Apple's music locker will take on two competitors,Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., both of which recently launched similar Internet music offerings.

Of course, Apple already has a lot of experience in the cloud. It sells Internet services through "MobileMe," a yearly subscription service that syncs a user's contacts, calendars and email among their mobile devices and computers. It as well stores documents, photos and homemade movies.

Apple is as well expected to integrate its coming iCloud service into the straightway versions of its OS X computer operating system and iOS mobile operating system, both of which are big hits with consumers who are snapping up Macintosh computers, iPhones and iPad tablets at a rapid clip. What specific features iCloud will have is however uncertain, nevertheless as Apple's products evolve to meet the demands of increasingly more mobile clients, it will certainly be an important part of the company's product offerings.

The Justice Department is scrutinizing Google

The Justice Department is scrutinizing Google, Apple and other likely bidders for a trove of patents being sold by the bankrupt Nortel Networks amid concerns the patents could be used to unfairly hobble competitors in the wireless industry.