So, Steve Jobs released a bunch of things. And one of them is Ping.
What is it? It is a social network. About music. Inside of iTunes.
Today, I went and upgraded to iTunes 10. Now, right there, you look at that version number and you have to wonder. Version TEN. Like a lot of things where there are that many incarnations, they just keep tacking more and more onto it until it loses all track of what it was supposed to be.
So, I got into Ping. I turn it on for my Apple profile, fill out a few things, then I’m left staring at my profile. Then what? Follow some people, right? Well, I can follow other artists, but in terms of people I know, the only option I have is to invite them using their email address or search for them by name individually.
Apparently, there WAS a Facebook option in there, but it was removed due to a disagreement in terms between Apple and Facebook. I expect it will come back in time, however that will be after the initial glow of Ping has died down so it won’t matter as much.
Ping won’t grow at all until they have something besides email to find followers. Even without Facebook, you would think they’d have other options. Many allow you to tap into Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo to find your contacts. They didn’t even do that.
Then again, will it grow anyway? The interface is confusing. I can’t find anybody. I can’t say anything. All I can do is comment on the broadcasting from artists in the system. It is an island and one which is boring as snot. All we’re able to talk about is stuff Apple sells. Imagine that!
It is also inside iTunes. Now, as Apple says, this opens it up to 160 million users from day one. The problem is that it is tied to a client. And, WOW, what a weird program it is. Itunes was supposed to be about music (hence the name). Today, it is used for EVERYTHING when it comes to Apple’s mobile devices. It is used for books. It is used for backup for phones, transfering documents to devices, making MP3s. I know I’m leaving a LOT out (because it is too long to list).
Itunes has become Apple’s kitchen sink. As a result, it is bloated and complicated. And they went off and added a social network to it. In a strange way, Ping makes more sense to have in Itunes than some of the other stuff they’ve put in there. At least it has to do with music. It is, though, going to affect usage.
On the flip side, let’s step back and take the bird’s eye view. Apple’s intent is clearly to increase the level of engagement with their Store. They’ve got 160 million users with stored credit card numbers in that system. Get a bunch of them talking about your lineup, you get more purchases. It makes perfect sense from a business standpoint. However, Steve Jobs sitting on stage and pitching this as a social network… nope, sorry.
Apple’s hardware rocks. They are great at design. They always have been. So, their handling of iTunes and Ping is decidedly un-Apple of them. Itunes has become the huge wart on their face.
In the meantime, just today, my Android phone did an over-the-air operating system update to Froyo. My, how much easier the non-Itunes world is for some things. Weird. Imagine if Google made us tie into Picasa for Android updates. That’d be about the same level of stupid.
If Ping is going to have any major staying power, it will need to:
- Break free of Itunes. A cloud-based system is all but inevitable, but how well Apple will work with others has yet to be seen.
- Integrate with third-party services like Facebook and Twitter. That is where people are, and the engagement is far better there.
The very nature of Apple is against the way “social” works. It will be interesting to see how they move forward with it. For now, garbage. How well it will work for music discovery has yet to be seen.
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