Apple announced their social network Ping would be removed in the next version of iTunes. It didn’t build the excitement as Apple wanted it to. Because of the integration of Facebook with iOS6, and also integration with Twitter, Apple decided to retire the network.
Ping was announced on September 2nd, and saw 1 million users in the first 48 hours. After that, it didn’t see the growth it wanted. Of course, it didn’t help to be behind the walled iTunes garden.
Will Facebook Replace Ping in iTunes?
Since the announcement that Facebook will become integrated in iOS6, it makes one wonder if Ping will get replaced with Facebook or Twitter. That way, you still have a social network in iTunes.
With a social network in iTunes, you can have people publicly announce what they are watching and listening to. It’s technically free advertisement to say “Hey! Buy from iTunes, because your friend Joe did!”. So it only goes to see the integration happen. Either that, or turn iTunes into web-based software.
According to All Things D, Ping will be removed in the next major revision – coming out this Fall. In the meantime, when you download something from the iTunes, store, just choose the drop-down and share on Twitter or Facebook.
I wonder if this means they will return the “ping” for updating podcast listings in iTunes, now that you can’t confuse it with the “ping” social networking features.