Apple is kicking off its Worldwide Developers Conference next week with the unveiling of its cloud-based service, iCloud.
Next Monday, Apple will hold its keynote address before a packed house at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. In addition to iCloud, Apple said that it will detail its next-generation desktop operating system,Mac OS X Lion, as well as iOS 5, the next version of the mobile operating system running on its iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
The company also indicated in its press release that CEO Steve Jobs, who is on an indefinite medical leave, will participate in WWDC.
Apple stopped short of providing specifics about Cloud in this morning's announcement. However, details and intimations surrounding the launch of such an offering have been cropping up for quite some time, at the very least since Apple acquired online music-streaming service Lala a year and a half ago.
In January, music industry sourced told that they were in talks with Apple for a cloud-based, streaming music service that would allow users to listen to their tracks over the Web on computers and Apple's mobile devices.
Apple had signed a cloud music licensing agreement with EMI music and was closing in on deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. The company had already reached a cloud deal with Warner Music.
In today's annoucement, Apple did not specifically say that its iCloud service will resolve around music, referring to it tersely as a 'cloud services offering," more than one function.
