Apple has recently announced that they will be unveiling the latest cloud storage service at the upcoming 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6 th. The WWDC is held annually in California at the Moscone Center which is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco. The convention takes place over 5 days and during this time Apple announces their latest software and technology for developers. The WWDC has taken place since 1983, each time with CEO Steve Jobs kicking off the convention with a keynote speech. Although Jobs has currently been on medical leave Apple has confirmed that he will still take part of this year’s convention kick-off.
from http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/about/, June 2011
This year, Apple plans to unveil their latest cloud storage service along with their next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X and iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which is used by the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
The past couple of months have given way to much speculation regarding the Apple “iCloud” Storage. It is said that the service would work similar to Amazon Cloud Drive and Google Music Beta. However, since Apple’s service would possess licensing agreements they will be able to offer extra features that will provide them with a competitive advantage. One of the features is said to be a scan and match action that scans the user’s hard drive for music files and automatically matches it to a music file already on their service, thus eliminating the time it takes for user’s to upload their music. The iCloud music service will also offer users the option to store and access their music from any location or device with an internet connection.
Apple has reportedly already signed cloud-music licensing agreements with EMI Music, Warner-Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and is currently finalizing a deal with Universal Music Group. In late April, Apple purchased the domain name iCloud.com from a Swedish company Xcerion which has now relocated their cloud storage service to Cloudme.com. It is rumored that the iCloud domain name was purchased by Apple for around $4.5 million and although no exact details are known as of yet, it is unlikely that this service will be free.
Since 2007 the number of attendees at the annual conference has been capped off at 5,000 with the ticket prices reaching $1,599 in 2010. The tickets for the 2011 conference maintained the $1,599 price tag and sold out in a little less than 10 hours, beating out last year’s sales which took 8 days to sell out. In addition to the 5,000 attendees there are usually around 200 special guest attendees making the Worldwide Developers Conference one of the most sought out and anticipated technology events of the year.
Check back next week for the latest updates and all the details from the Worldwide Developers Conference.
To learn more about Apple’s annual event visit More About WWDC!
Thanks for reading!
Dustin
Tags: Apple, Apple iCloud, cloud, cloud service, cloud storage, iCloud, music, storage, worldwide developers conference, wwdc
