Jobs loses originality ― pardon me?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs disclosed “iCloud” as the new growth engine but the markets reacted rather cooly to the idea Jobs pitched during a surprise appearance.

/ AP-Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

A thin but still energetic Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently interrupted his sick leave and took the stage in San Francisco, receiving cheers and applause for opening the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC) event.

Jobs has been eager to free up ubiquitous digital devices from his ``nemesis’’ ― the PC ― and the charismatic CEO claimed that the company’s new iCloud computing service was the ``right solution.’’

iCloud, which will sync PC’s music, photos, calendar and e-mail across all users’ devices instantaneously over the Internet, looks quite attractive.

The service is apparently aimed at challenging Internet giant Google, software leader Microsoft (MS) and Amazon, as the Cupertino, California-based Apple believes its management of software content has reached a level to overtake rivals in the ``world of content.’’

But financial markets were not enthusiastic about Jobs’ announcement, sending Apple stocks on a slide.

Some analysts claim that’s because of the lack of originality.

In one example, Apple gave out the ``Save’’ button in its apps. The app not only saves automatically, but users can access earlier versions.

``Google is running its auto-saving files in its Google Docs platform and the function is nothing new,’’ said Kim Hyung-jin, a 34-year-old worker at a software company in Seoul.

Also the music announcement by Apple, which is a reflection of its eagerness after Google and Amazon beat Apple with their cloud music offerings, is received as a ``me-too’’ one as the sync process is not fast, according to software experts.

Security concerns are also cited as another drawback for Apple because a simple phishing scam or intentionally-organized attack will easily dupe a user into surrendering username and password credentials that will expose the data stored in iCloud.

``For success, Apple has to prove to consumers and businesses that data is well-managed and protected,’’ said an official from Daum, Korea’s top-tier Internet portal firm, adding iCloud is missing enterprise security content.

``The same thing still happens with the iPhone. Apple still keeps quiet about security-related issues to its iPhone users. Many technical issues still remain,’’ said the official.

Jobs is losing weight and his presentation time was shorter than before, strengthening views over a management transition.

He was on medical leave from January ― reports say he has been treated in the past for a rare form of pancreatic cancer ― but the CEO has re-appeared for key events such as the unveiling of the iPad2 in March.

Apple brought Samsung and other leading smartphone makers to court by claiming that they had made a copycat of its popular iPhone and iPad.

Jobs said Samsung’s seven-inch Galaxy Tab tablets would be ``dead-on-arrival (DOA),’’ however, Tabs are still selling.

``The cloud computing business is more than attractive, bringing leading tech firms to join the fray. But what I want to say is Apple seems to be losing its luster. iCloud is not entirely sexy and some functions were already available,’’ said the Daum official.

``The iCloud service is a critical test for Apple as to whether to lift it as a true leader in the world of smart devices under its proven eco-system. But I don’t know yet.’’

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