SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefly emerged from a medical leave Monday as the company announced new software that makes Mac computers behave more like mobile devices.
He received a standing ovation as he appeared at Apple Inc.’s annual developers’ conference, his second major public appearance since he went on medical leave in January for unspecified reasons and duration.
Jobs left many of the specific announcements to top executives. In the first hour, he appeared on stage for only a few minutes. Typically, he’s on stage longer at major public launches.
Apple’s stock was down $2.05, or 0.6 percent, at $341.39 in afternoon trading. The stock was up in the morning, but fell soon after Jobs left the stage.
James Brown’s “I Feel Good” played over the loudspeakers just before Jobs walked on stage, looking thin, in his signature outfit of mock turtleneck and blue jeans.
One audience member shouted out, “we love you.”
Apple unveiled an operating system update for Mac computers called Lion. With it, Apple is expanding the ways finger-touches can be used to control the software. For instance, with the swipe of the fingers over the Mac trackpad, the user can switch from one program to another.
In another nod to bringing the computer closer to the iPhone and iPad, Apple is adapting more of its programs to run in a special full-screen mode, in addition to the traditional “window” mode.
Lion will be available to consumers next month for $30. A preview version was made available Monday to software developers.
Apple also unveiled updates to its software for iPhones and iPads. It will present notifications of new emails, missed calls and other events in a more intelligent fashion, reminiscent of the way Google Inc.’s Android smartphone software already does. The software will present all pending notifications in a list, accessible with the swipe of a finger.
The new mobile software, iOS 5, will have a newsstand for newspapers and magazines that you subscribe to on iPad. New issues are automatically downloaded and placed there.
Apple also announced greater integration with Twitter, so that you can tweet photos, for instance, directly from a photo app.
Jobs made a public appearance in March to announce a new iPad. On Monday, Apple said it has sold more than 25 million iPads since they went on sale 14 months ago.
Jobs was also expected to announce a new service called iCloud.
ICloud will apparently allow customers to store their music online. The company has been in talks with the major recording companies to make this possible.
ICloud could give users a wide array of music for their iPhones, iPads and Wi-Fi-capable iPods, without having to connect them to their home PCs to transfer songs. Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have launched similar services.
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