Ahead in the clouds: Steve Jobs's good news for Scotland

LOOKING gaunt but sounding strong, Steve Jobs returned from medical leave last week to unveil iCloud, the rather gossamer moniker for what has been touted as a razor-sharp service that could signal the death of the PC.

The Apple faithful at the technology giant's annual developers' conference in San Francisco roared their approval as Jobs described a future where various mobile devices operate as a single unit, with information across phones, tablets and PCs automatically shared and updated without a thought from the user.

These devices will act as a conduit to the "cloud" - tech speak for remote data centres storing photographs, songs, e-mails and virtually any other file or application.

"Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy," said the casually dressed Jobs. It was only the second public appearance this year by the Apple chief executive, who has battled pancreatic cancer and began his most recent round of medical leave in January. It is the third time since 2004 that he has officially taken time off for health reasons.

"We're going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device - just like an iPad, an iPhone or an iPod Touch. We're going to move the hub of your digital life to the cloud."

His appearance came in the same week as two other technology giants - Sony and Nintendo - also unveiled their latest innovations, which mark a further move away from traditional gaming to mobile, "social" and online entertainment.

Although Scotland's gaming industry is still reeling from the demise of Dundee-based Realtime Worlds last year, experts say the advances are likely to spell good news for the country's games developers as products delivered digitally allow smaller teams on tighter budgets an easier route into the market.

Although analysts point out that cloud computing is nothing new - Google was born on the web and stores data in a cluster of online servers - they argue that the developments unveiled last week have shifted the industry up a gear.

Many point out that Apple itself has previously experimented with web-based services, launching the ill-fated MobileMe in 2008, which was dogged by glitches and breakdowns.

The difference this time, analysts say, is the deep integration between iCloud and iOS, the operating system for Apple's phones, computers, tablets and other devices. For users willing to be completely locked in to Apple products and services, keeping their data synchronised will be extremely simple.

Much of the iCloud chatter so far has centred on the implications for iTunes, Apple's popular digital media player for music and videos. Among other things, consumers with an iTunes library will no longer have to carry their collection around with them on a mobile phone or MP3 player, as they will be able to access their content from any internet-enabled device to hand.

It remains unclear whether Apple's synching nebula will offer the same support for films and games, which rank among the contents most-used on iOS devices. There is speculation that bandwidth restrictions could limit streaming of video and games from iCloud.

Any reluctance on Apple's part to immediately tackle such technical issues would be understandable, according to analysts, given some of the security problems experienced by others operating in this area.

"Sony is effectively cloud gaming, and look at what has happened there," says Steve Kitchen, managing director of download music and games provider Mobile Chilli.

Activity across PlayStation Network, Sony's online videogame offering, is only now returning to normal after hackers stole personal details of more than 100 million account holders in April, forcing the service to shut down for nearly a month. Various arms of the Sony technology and media empire have come under attack since the Japanese conglomerate filed a lawsuit against a young software programmer who created code that allows modifications to PlayStation 3.

Despite such uncertainties, Apple is certainly not turning its back on the booming gaming market. Its iOS 5, the latest version of the software due to be released later this year in conjunction with iCloud, will include a number of enhancements aimed at tapping into the growing popularity of "social" gaming, as well as gaming on the move.

The convergence of social networking and gaming is proving a powerful draw for investors even though last week's launch by Nintendo of its new Wii U at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles appeared to be met with some disappointment.

Wii U sports an astounding array of features and controllers and is in part aimed at attracting the new breed of gamers armed with internet-ready multi-touch smartphones and tablets. Though it is possible to connect to the internet and game with others, online play in the current generation of Wii games has been criticised as sub-par to rivals.

Investors' worries that Nintendo is still too focused on gaming hardware, rather than the looming battleground for software and online gameplay, marked down Nintendo's shares in the wake of the Wii U launch.

Sony, by contrast, last week deflected some attention from its recent woes with the launch of its next-generation portable gaming machine, PlayStation Vita. Hailed as Sony's biggest product launch since PlayStation 3 five years ago, PSVita will connect to the PlayStation Network, which in addition to multi-player gaming also allows users to chat to friends and surf the web.

Experts say that devices such as the PlayStation Vita and Wii U - as well as Apple's latest advances - will be good for Scottish games developers as there is now less emphasis on the production of boxed games sold in high volume through retail outlets and more emphasis on digitally-delivered products. This allows smaller developers with fairly limited budgets to bypass massive distribution costs and get their products out there to the millions of gamers across the globe eager to discover the next big thing in gaming.

"Digital is where the growth is, and that is good news for us in the future," says David Thomson, founder of Glasgow-based production company Ludometrics, noting that he and most developers in Scotland are now targeting the mobile and downloadable sectors.

"I have been in mobile games for pretty much all of my career, but it has really only been in the last three or four years that the ability for people to come in and make money has emerged. The common denominator is that it is all coming from these new channels that are opening up."

Richard Wilson, chief executive of UK trade association TIGA, said the opportunities for self-publishing are further extending the number of outlets available to home-grown developers.

With the variety of devices and delivery methods growing, so too will demand for content.

"The industry has moved very much from the days when gaming was the hobby of a select set to something now that appeals to a much wider audience," Wilson says. "It is good for consumers, good for the games industry and good for the wider economy."