Apple to kill off Ping after all, report says
Apple's social network for music is not long for this earth, according to a new report. The feature could disappear in a new version of iTunes arriving later this year.
Where does Apple's social network for music fit in, now that the company is injecting Facebook into the very core of iOS and Twitter into the Mac? Nowhere, which is why it will be deep-sixed when iOS 6 arrives, a new report asserts.
Citing "sources close to the company," All Things Digital says Apple's Ping will be no more, when the company rolls out the next major release of iTunes.
The launch of Apple's music-centric social network within iTunes 10 is largely considered one of Apple's recent missteps. The feature lets users post music tracks and albums to a feed to which other users can subscribe, viewing them from within iTunes on the desktop and on iOS devices.
During an interview at the D10 conference last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that he did not want to be questioned about the service, noting that the company's customers found it lackluster.
"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, adding that it didn't necessarily mean the product was headed to the annals of defunct Apple products. "Will we kill it? I don't know; I'll look at it," Cook offered.