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Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

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Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#51

Post by ThomPete »

Tycho wrote: post #45
ThomPete wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I can't speak for everyone, but I certainly did. It was also known that apple where buying into this space. Will see if I can find the reference. And I will make another prediction. Apple will have to take on Spotify once they reach momentum in the US (and I think they will with time) In other words iTunes music is going to turn into a streaming music service at some point.

Will they really have to take on Spotify though? Mightn't the content providers look at Apple's more attractive market and just pull the plug on Spotify (which would be cannibalising their own ITunes/Ping sales)?

That might happen of course, but the question is whether they will see that or whether they will think hey! two revenue streams.

None the less I believe music will go streaming, it has to which becomes really obvious once you try out spotify (well it did for me and most of my friends who use it)

Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#52

Post by nphase »

patrickk wrote: post #20
keltex wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple really is amazing. We keep thinking they are going to go after the usual suspects like Google, Microsoft, and RIM. Now they are aiming their guns at Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg must not be happy.

I would say Last.fm is closer to the centre of Apple's crosshairs

Also, Rdio

Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#53

Post by ThomPete »

steveklabnik wrote: post #49
ThomPete wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I can't speak for everyone, but I certainly did. It was also known that apple where buying into this space. Will see if I can find the reference. And I will make another prediction. Apple will have to take on Spotify once they reach momentum in the US (and I think they will with time) In other words iTunes music is going to turn into a streaming music service at some point.

> It was also known that apple where buying into this space. Will see if I can find the reference. You're thinking of the LaLa acquisition, maybe? http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/apple-kills-lala-musi...

Yes but also this.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/12/apples-reported-lala-...

Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#55

Post by zppx »

benologist wrote: post #47
zppx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Facebook has a client accessible in every platform out there and it is even accessible by a common browser, whereas with Ping I will need iTunes or an Apple device/software to use, also it probably will not have an API. I think Apple is just making things to profit more as a content distributor that it is becoming, Ping and the new AppleTV is just pointing in this direction, at least for me.

A lot of people already have iTunes ... not to mention with 230,000 new iOS activations a day they're coming pre-armed with massive traction. They could take it in a whole lot of different directions but nothing about iTunes is aimed at filling some tiny little niche. Why would they bother aiming so low now?

Sure there are ways to Apple amass a large user base with Ping, but I think it is hard to fight with the extensible, and relatively open, Facebook that can be accessed from any browser, I see no point for someone that does not use iTunes Store, an iOS device or iTunes installing iTunes only to use Ping.

I think that initially Apple does want to use it to profit more with areas that they already are strong and also gather some experience running a social network, and them expanding it, maybe with user media sharing and an API. I think games and apps will be a next focus areas for Ping.

Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#56

Post by danilocampos »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #50
danilocampos wrote: post #8

I'm skeptical about Apple doing a social media platform, yet iTunes is a perfect trojan horse. It might not even have to be good to succeed.

Do people associate using iTunes with social networking, however? Are you going to fire up iTunes to socialize with your friends on your Ping wall? Are you even going to invite your friends to your Ping contacts? Or are you simply going to keep using Facebook to post about that new album you just got that you really like?

Existing association may not matter, though. Consider that iTunes began as an MP3 player app. Full stop. That's all it was. At some point they added support for loading your songs onto portable MP3 players, but I don't remember if that was in 1.0 (this was pre-iPod).

Then they added a store, which wasn't a huge leap, but there's a difference between listening to music and shopping for music, even though one can drive the other.

Then they added movie and TV purchases. Not a huge leap from buying music, but nothing at all to do with managing your MP3s.

Then they added syncing your iPhone, which has a multitude of features entirely unrelated anything anyone did in iTunes before. But, hey, you need to sync your music, too.

THEN, App syncing and purchase.

I'm sure I'm missing a feature or two in the chronology, but you get the point.

iTunes has a rich history of having seemingly unrelated shit jammed into it. Sometimes there are alternatives for what iTunes can offer (Netflix Watch Instantly, Amazon MP3 Store) and sometimes you're locked in (iOS device sync).

But either way, Apple seems to get away with it. The trojan horsiness of iTunes gives them leverage to accomplish things that would be much, much harder for other companies.

We'll see if that holds for Ping. I wouldn't bet against it, even if I wouldn't put much money on outrageous success, either.

Hopefully iTunes 10 will at least be more performant. All this cruft has come with a cost.

Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#58

Post by sirn »

[deleted] wrote: post #44
patrickk wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say Last.fm is closer to the centre of Apple's crosshairs

[deleted]

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

That aside, I'm looking forward to see how this work out. Given that a lot of people could mistake RWW for Facebook login[1], maybe being stuck inside iTunes could be an advantage. In a sense of "Open iTunes, click this, here's your profile!"

[1]: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_wants_to_be_yo...

Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#59

Post by PStamatiou »

leviathant wrote: post #38

Given how poorly iTunes 9 runs on my quad-core Win7 machine with gigs and gigs of ram, I'm not particularly excited by this news. Wake me up when they've completely rebuilt iTunes. The only reason I keep it around is for my iPhone - I've switched to Zune (of all things) as my music manager, and actually quite like most of how it organizes things. On a less grumpy note, the $99 Apple TV they just launched is pretty sm…

really? I've never had any performance issues with iTunes on any of my boxes. Last one was a i7 quad Shuttle SFF, and my year old 17-inch MBP now.

Re: Apple announces iTunes 10 with Ping Social Network

#60

Post by gaiusparx »

zppx wrote: post #39
benologist wrote: post #22

Facebook must be crapping themselves a little - games, music, video and all the social aspects tied into a piece of software that's deeply integrated into a ton of people's lives.

But Facebook has a client accessible in every platform out there and it is even accessible by a common browser, whereas with Ping I will need iTunes or an Apple device/software to use, also it probably will not have an API. I think Apple is just making things to profit more as a content distributor that it is becoming, Ping and the new AppleTV is just pointing in this direction, at least for me.

It is more powerful than the follows in Facebook & Twitter for artists as it leads to direct buy $$ from their fans. They will definitely pay attention to Ping. I bet it will open up to movie stars, actors and authors in future.

If I'm not wrong, Ping could be just HTML pages within iTunes, as with some iTunes contents. So it is not difficult to be a standalone web app if Apple choose to.

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