Steve Jobs kicks off Apple event

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs kicked off the company's annual conference for software developers here Monday during which he is expected to unveil an online music storage service called iCloud. Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January with an undisclosed ailment, took the stage to a standing ovation shortly after the music sound system at the Moscone Center here blared out James Brown's hit "I Feel Good." The last public appearance by Jobs, a cancer survivor who underwent a liver transplant two years ago, was in March to unveil the iPad 2. "Thank you, that always helps," Jobs told the crowd of several thousand software developers attending the Worldwide Developers Conference. "We've got an awesome morning here today." Jobs and other executives plan to unveil the next generation of Lion, the software that powers Macintosh computers, iOS 5, the next version of the mobile operating system for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, and iCloud during the event. Apple has released few details about iCloud but according to multiple reports, it would allow for streaming of music hosted on Apple servers in the Internet "cloud" to various devices -- from computers to smartphones to tablets.