iCloud Debuts | Video

| 6/10/2011

Personal technology giant Apple unveiled its latest venture Monday: The iCloud.

It`s likely to make users of Apple`s iTunes very happy, but probably have quite the opposite effect on Apple competitors.

Onstage despite ongoing health issues, Apple CEO Steve Jobs wanted to introduce the latest innovation himself.

"Now if I get something on my iPhone the pictures are sent up to the cloud and then sent down to my other devices," Jobs explained.

Not just pictures, but almost any data can be easily shared among the 200-million Apple devices in use.

The iCloud servers will store and stream a user`s iTunes music collection, a direct response to recent competition.

Earlier this year, Amazon began a cloud-based music streaming service and Google is in early stages of a similar service.

Apple has the advantage of already being the largest retailer of music in the world.

Music purchased from Apple via iTunes can be added to iCloud for free, starting immediately.

This fall users can also add include music not purchased through Apple for $25 a year.

Jobs also announced operating system updates for Apple computers and portable devices that enable full integration with the new iCloud service.

Some of the syncing functions, including photo sharing, will even work with Microsoft Windows machines.

Most of these new services won`t be released until the fall.

Some speculate that`s because a new iPhone 5 will be ready by then, in time for the holiday shopping season.

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