Steve Jobs On iCloud Nine

Steve Jobs hasn't been keen to reveal the reasons behind his recent medical leave, but it presumably isn't too serious because he was more than able to temporarily get back to work to announce a new service called iCloud. All of the talk before the announcement suggested that iCloud would allow customers to store music online, and therefore not have to connect to their home computer to transfer songs. There have been major concerns though, most centered on the issue of open source software. If Apple AAPL is scanning users' hard drives and making the content available using open source software, will personal information become vulnerable? What is the cost? How much storage will users get? Will content actually be stored in the “cloud”? And will customers be able to listen to or watch content on non-Apple devices? Speaking on CNBC, Lookout CEO John Hering was cryptic with his analysis. “Data won't be insecure, but it will be more insecure,” he said while dancing around questions, before adding, “Data is digital currency.” Apple did reveal that its next generation software, Lion, would be available from July as a download from the app store. Upgrades will cost $29. Mac-fans will undoubtedly spend that money in droves which is a little unusual because there is little new besides the design (and Launchpad, which just groups apps together, wherever they are stored on the users' system, at will). Still, $29 isn't expensive for an upgrade and Apple know that, with a Windows upgrade costing a lot more than that but with piracy rife, customers will pay. What Steve Jobs has managed to achieve, as his entrance onto the stage today proved, is a sense of loyalty with his customers, many of whom are borderline fanatical. Microsoft may still have the greater share of the market, but that is more out of convenience than anything else. Maybe Bill Gates just doesn't have that rock star quality.