We are born, we live and we die. This is the cycle of life, and in the case of Apple’s music-minded social network Ping, the Grim Reaper may come calling much sooner than expected.
AllThingsD is reporting that Apple is planning to abandon its Ping social network service starting with the next major version of iTunes -- presumably iTunes 11, which is likely to launch in the fall alongside the next iPhone.
Instead, Apple will leverage existing partnerships with Twitter and Facebook, two services who are clearly better at this social stuff than Apple has been thus far.
At the recent D10 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook fielded a question from the audience about the fate of Ping, and the executive didn’t mince words.
“We tried Ping, and I think the customer voted and said ‘This isn’t something that I want to put a lot of energy into,’” Cook revealed, announcing at the time that he planned to take another look at the service before making a decision.
Although Ping is on life support with the latest iTunes 10.6.3 released on Monday, developers have discovered that the feature is MIA on their iOS 6 test devices, which has led many to believe it’s just a matter of time before Apple pulls the plug.
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ilove my mac
June 20, 2012 at 7:18am
Well that didn't last long... I figured it would die soon... Not a single person I know used it...
ryanbyui
June 14, 2012 at 6:31am
Ping was a vehicle to sell music on iTunes, that is why it failed. It was not a social network.
ebrainer1
June 13, 2012 at 8:28am
I have no sympathy for Ping at all. Sure it had its good points, but it was crippled from the beginning by not allowing any connection to other social networks, not even to find friends.
