Jobs to unveil Apple software innovations
Ailing chief executive Steve Jobs returns next week from sick leave to unveil Apple's latest generation of software, the firm announced Tuesday. The 56-year-old cancer survivor will present Apple's new operating system, dubbed "Lion," at a developers conference in San Francisco on June 6. Jobs went on leave in January, his third medical absence since 2004, but has retained his title of chief executive at Apple. He underwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and received a liver transplant in 2009, but Apple has not released any details about his latest health issues. "Lion" will be the eighth major iteration of Apple's operating system for the California company's increasingly popular Macintosh computers. Apple stock price finished the trading day up more than three percent to $347.83 after the morning announcement that the culture-changing company's renowned pitchman will play a starring role at the event. "If Steve Jobs is going to be there, it means something is going to launch," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. Apple's rare decision to disclose what Jobs and other executives will discuss could be intended to curb the rampant speculation that routinely precedes the company's events, according to Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg. "The key is to remember it is a developers conference," Gartenberg said. "They could be talking up software so people don't expect to see an iPhone 5 or a new Macbook." Apple promised that announcements would include an "iCloud services offering," which many expected to include streaming music. Apple provided no details. Google and Amazon.com recently launched services that let people store digital music in online "lockers" and then listen to tunes on any Internet-linked devices. Given Apple's success with selling music at its online iTunes shop and its relationship with record labels, a "cloud" service playing into those strengths makes sense, according to Gartenberg. "If they are going to introduce a new cloud-based service, it feels right that it would have something to do with music," Gartenberg said. Apple might also use the opening of the conference to announce a switch away from Intel chips in its laptop line, Enderle theorized.
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