Tighter iTunes Twitter integration rumored to take place of Ping
Coming on the heels of multiple claims of past Apple talks with Twitter, including old whispers of an investment in the company, a new report reveals the iPhone maker may be looking at using the micro-blogging service to fill the gap left by Ping when the service shuts down this year.
According to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday, Apple is continuing to find ways to expand Twitter's presence across its product line and sources say the next step may be a deeper "melding" of the service with iTunes.
The new information comes after a New York Times report saying Apple was in investment talks with Twitter, a claim ultimately refuted by the Journal as being year-old news. The two companies remain close partners, however, and are moving forward with plans to more tightly integrate Twitter into iTunes, sources say. Currently, Twitter's iTunes tie-in is limited to finding followed users on Ping.
It was reported in June that Apple will likely kill off its long-suffering music-minded Ping social network when the next iteration of iTunes is released later this year. During the D10 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted that Ping would be phased out but vowed to add more social networking functionality to the company's products like the recent addition of Facebook to iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion.
Ping's death is not surprising given the service is largely unused relative to other social networking solutions. While initial adoption saw over one million users sign up within 48 hours, a slowdown prompted Apple to focus its efforts elsewhere.
?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 a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday, Apple is continuing to find ways to expand Twitter's presence across its product line and sources say the next step may be a deeper "melding" of the service with iTunes.
The new information comes after a New York Times report saying Apple was in investment talks with Twitter, a claim ultimately refuted by the Journal as being year-old news. The two companies remain close partners, however, and are moving forward with plans to more tightly integrate Twitter into iTunes, sources say. Currently, Twitter's iTunes tie-in is limited to finding followed users on Ping.
It was reported in June that Apple will likely kill off its long-suffering music-minded Ping social network when the next iteration of iTunes is released later this year. During the D10 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted that Ping would be phased out but vowed to add more social networking functionality to the company's products like the recent addition of Facebook to iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion.
Ping's death is not surprising given the service is largely unused relative to other social networking solutions. While initial adoption saw over one million users sign up within 48 hours, a slowdown prompted Apple to focus its efforts elsewhere.
?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
Oh, please no. I want less of "the social" in my OS, for heaven's sake.
Fun fact, what do you notice about this post? It's 140 characters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Oh, please no. I want less of "the social" in my OS, for heaven's sake.
Fun fact, what do you notice about this post? It's 140 characters.
Here's 140 characters for you:
MS has Bing. Apple drops Ping. Well, ringy ding ding that thing!
The entire progress of OSes and the internet is tied to socialization. Just be thankful it's Twitter with it's very simple and limited format instead of FaceBook being added to iTunes.
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Just be thankful it's Twitter with it's very simple and limited format instead of FaceBook being added to iTunes.
Give social networking an inch…
For once I agree with TS. Although I think both Twitter and Facebook should be included but be able to be TURNED OFF .... SYSTEM WIDE!!!
:-)
Ping can be turned off and has had that feature since day one so I don't think that will be an issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Oh, please no. I want less of "the social" in my OS, for heaven's sake.
Fun fact, what do you notice about this post? It's 140 characters.
If you don't use it it won't bother you, for those that do it might be a benefit to them. Twitter integration in ML (nor iOS) hasn't bothered me a bit, nor should it, as it's just one more sharing option that doesn't negatively affect my workflow or experience. I'm glad it's there, because I know for a fact that people do use it. Newsflash: A large part of the internet is social networking, and a ton of people use twitter, whether you like it or not, so not having integration while everyone else has it will be viewed as a negative. As long as they don't hit you over the head with it, you shouldn't complain about it.
I welcome the addition of twitter and facebook integration into the system wide OS for better sharing and auto posting of my music listening habits. Of course ease of use and control of what gets shared will dictate how much I will use. But anything is better than my current setup, which is like a track in iTunes, Ping pass it to twitter and twitter spits it onto my facebook.
I'm not sure how much more Twitter can be integrated to iTunes. You can already link the two so purchases you make, reviews you write, things you "like" and ratings you give show up on Twitter.
If the rumors are true, I'll be bummed to see Ping discontinued as it never reached its potential. If Apple opened up Ping to include all the things sold on the iTunes Store that would be a big help. Because of Ping I've discovered some great things that I never would have run across another way.
Twitter silently added the Cash ($) tag so, for example, $AAPL will lead to all comments with that same stock tag. I could see Apple paying for their own tag or having the Twitter display songs that users link to with rich info they way they now show videos and other into on their website.
Couldn't agree more. Even without Ping iTunes was bloated. Can you imagine what it would have run like with MS Vista equivalent social networking infrastructure in the mix?
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Fine with me. I don't see Twitter as social, but as informational.
Who uses RSS anymore? Twitter has totally replaced that.
Twitter isn't the water cooler that Facebook is or the desolate spytrap that Google+ is.
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I've always wanted a tighter twitter.
What is Ping?
And, does anyone care about it?
Who in the hell wants this? I know of allot who don't. Remember .mac . I liked that better than me.com. What are they thinking?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Oh, please no. I want less of "the social" in my OS, for heaven's sake.
That is because you live in a small dark room with no friends, no job, no life and you want everyone else to be as miserable as you are.
Originally Posted by mstone
That is because you live in a small dark room with no friends, no job, no life and you want everyone else to be as miserable as you are.
Yep.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tylerk36
Who in the hell wants this? I know of allot who don't. Remember .mac . I liked that better than me.com. What are they thinking?
Don’t worry the @me.com will soon be switching to @ICould.com In iOS 6.
Originally Posted by Topdrag
Don’t worry the @me.com will soon be switching to @icloud.com In iOS 6.
When you say 'switching', you mean 'adding'.
Indeed, they might add it. But it won't replace it as .Mac still works. It's even in my sig