Apple to kill Ping with next major iTunes release
Apple will reportedly kill off the Ping iTunes service when iOS 6 is launched this fall, euthanizing the social music network that has suffered waning participation since its introduction in 2010.
According to sources close to the matter Apple will finally abandon Ping when the next iteration of iTunes rolls out alongside iOS 6, confirming rumors that the service is not long for this world, reports All Things D.
In his spotlight session at the D10 conference in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company might kill off Ping but vowed to add more social integration into its products, a promise fulfilled when system-wide Facebook integration for iOS 6 was announced at WWDC on Monday. Facebook inclusion adds to the already-installed Twitter functionality of iOS 5 which allows users a variety of options like tweeting photos and webpages.
While Ping is still active in the recently-released iTunes 10.6.3, which brought iOS 6 beta compatibility to the media management software, sources say that the social network will be redacted in the program's next major release currently scheduled for this fall. Apple will instead move to rely on social network companies like Twitter and Facebook which already have huge installed customer bases.
Ping first debuted in 2010 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs unveiled iTunes 10. "It's sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes," Jobs said of Ping, and went on to say that the network was all about music. At the time critics had mixed feelings about the feature's future prospects.
Initial adoption was promising as over one million users signed up within the first 48 hours, but momentum slowed and it seemed Ping was destined to become yet another Apple side project.
It was later revealed that Apple had contacted Facebook for possible integration with the worldwide social network, but "onerous terms" kept that from becoming a reality. Hopes were rekindled when Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was invited to by Jobs to discuss Ping over dinner, though the talk apparently bore no fruit.
The music discovery network has since been downgraded with no substantial updates in the pipeline, meaning that the end is likely near.
?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 said.
According to sources close to the matter Apple will finally abandon Ping when the next iteration of iTunes rolls out alongside iOS 6, confirming rumors that the service is not long for this world, reports All Things D.
In his spotlight session at the D10 conference in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company might kill off Ping but vowed to add more social integration into its products, a promise fulfilled when system-wide Facebook integration for iOS 6 was announced at WWDC on Monday. Facebook inclusion adds to the already-installed Twitter functionality of iOS 5 which allows users a variety of options like tweeting photos and webpages.
While Ping is still active in the recently-released iTunes 10.6.3, which brought iOS 6 beta compatibility to the media management software, sources say that the social network will be redacted in the program's next major release currently scheduled for this fall. Apple will instead move to rely on social network companies like Twitter and Facebook which already have huge installed customer bases.
Ping first debuted in 2010 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs unveiled iTunes 10. "It's sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes," Jobs said of Ping, and went on to say that the network was all about music. At the time critics had mixed feelings about the feature's future prospects.
Initial adoption was promising as over one million users signed up within the first 48 hours, but momentum slowed and it seemed Ping was destined to become yet another Apple side project.
It was later revealed that Apple had contacted Facebook for possible integration with the worldwide social network, but "onerous terms" kept that from becoming a reality. Hopes were rekindled when Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was invited to by Jobs to discuss Ping over dinner, though the talk apparently bore no fruit.
The music discovery network has since been downgraded with no substantial updates in the pipeline, meaning that the end is likely near.
?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 said.
Comments
Thank God! I hate Ping.
I am willing to bet that less than 8 people use Ping.
To me, Ping was dead the day it was released, and I tried to sign up for it, but it did not work unless I made some info public (in other words, it did not let me make some details private).
Amen, what a useless program. I hope there will also be a kill switch for Facebook when it arrives on iOS6. Who wants this shi± forced on them.
PING. I tried it and it really didn't make me feel better. I think its a wasted space on any server.
Live and learn.
Ping was mehware - seemed functional enough, but in the end... meh.
That many? /smile
Just getting rid of that sh!t alone will make it worth upgrading iTunes.
This only stings in that the purchase and shuttering of Lala was now for nothing. Rdio and Spotify are improving on the social aspects, but that is something that Lala really got right. Also, maybe I can finally shut up about Lala now. lol :P
I'd like to know when they're going to overhaul iTunes? IT just keeps getting slower and bloated. Apple need to do something about it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by scotty321
I am willing to bet that less than 8 people use Ping.
Well I have 7 active friends (real live people that I converse with regularly) on Ping.
Quote:
Originally Posted by damians
I'd like to know when they're going to overhaul iTunes? IT just keeps getting slower and bloated. Apple need to do something about it!
Please, iTunes is lean compared to many other apps. It's got a small footprint and doesn't hog resources. I think when most people bring this up they mean they want different apps for music, movies, books, PDF's music videos, TV Shows and apps. That just seems counter intuitive to me. I'd much prefer one app to rule them all.
Apple should be embarrassed.
Am I the last person on earth who actually realizes the trivial details of my daily activities are just that? Incessant socializing is a terminal disease so far as character is concerned.
Egads… Not even I care about what music I listened to yesterday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
…iDisk…
Then why's everyone whining about iDisk being taken away? I could have sworn everyone loved it.
Never mind people liking .Mac…
Die, die, die.... kill, kill, kill....
(just don't ask me to calculate Pi to the last digit...)