RIP Ping: Apple remove failed social network from iTunes
Apple have pulled the plug on the Ping social network, removing the doomed social sharing service from iTunes.
The announcement to cut Ping was made quietly alongside the iPhone 5 launch, with Facebook integration in iTunes 11 taking over social duties.
Launched not so long ago back in 2010, Ping added social elements to iTunes, letting users publish playlists and check what friends and notable musicians were listening to. However, it wasn’t an intuitive system, making it difficult to find pals with, and proved a fairly transparent attempt for Apple to wrangle even more money from your pockets through iTunes downloads.
With the rise of music app sharing through Facebook, including SoundCloud and Spotify, Ping was dead in the water from the start.
“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,'” Tim Cook admitted back in June.
Facebook integration with iTunes replaces Ping in the new version of the media app, launching in October, adding “Like” and “Share” buttons to the usual iTunes set-up.
For the few people using Ping playlists, they’ll be able to convert them to Apple’s publishable playlist format, iMixes.
