On September first, Apple introduced new iPods- shuffle, nano and touch- as well as a new, smaller Apple TV and a brand new version of iTunes.
Now in version 10, and with a new icon- gone is the stylized CD that has been on the icon since 2001- the biggest news with iTunes is that Apple has added a social networking component called Ping.
With Ping you can follow other iTunes users and see what music they like. They can also follow you, with your permission, and see what your taste is like. It’s really a social network in its infancy more than anything, but it has huge potential to grow.
Ping may not have all the social networking functionality you’ve become used to from the likes of Twitter and Facebook but it’s likely to have a big impact. With some 160 million users, iTunes has a big and dedicated user base, a user base that spends a lot of money too. Few of those users are in the Middle East though as we can’t purchase music with credit cards from the region.
But even at 160 million users, Ping is a social networking lilliputian compared to the likes of Facebook, which recently claimed it’s 500 millionth user.
Personally I’m unlikely to be using Ping unless it connects to Facebook and Twitter. I just don’t use iTunes enough to warrant me putting any time and effort into it. If it would connect to other networks then it’d be interesting for me and I guess for many others as well. Many others who live and breathe in iTunes are likely to be sharing away, revealing their interest in Britney Spears, Louis Armstrong and others.
Apparently Apple had been in discussions with Facebook over connecting Ping to their social network but Steve Jobs said that Facebook had “onerous terms that we could not agree to.”
Kara Swisher of All Things Digital reported that despite the two companies failing to come to an agreement, Apple added a connect to Facebook component to Ping, set to use the free and open Facebook API. They even had that enabled when they showed off Ping on stage as well as touting it on their site. Then, when iTunes 10 went live, Facebook closed off that access and Apple quickly pulled the plug on the functionality.
API or Application Programming Interface is in non-geek talk basically a way that different systems or software applications can talk to one another digitally. It’s how you can log in to many non-Facebook site using your Facebook credentials, for example.
For now it seems the two tech-giants are happy enough being mum on this subject but I bet you they’re talking to each other behind the scenes to try to sort it out. I think they’ll come to some sort of agreement soon and we’ll be able to Ping across to Facebook. In any case it’s a very interesting development that Apple shows this level of interest in social networking and we’re sure to see more coming from Cupertino in this regard.
This article originally appeared in Khaleej Times. The articles are published here one week after they appear in print. You can find all my Khaleej Times articles here.
