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With the latest update to iTunes (iTunes 10) comes Apple Ping its (long overdue?) social network for music. And, for a change, this time Apple is playing catchup (with Zune, for example, who has had a social network for music since day one)! Given the success of MySpace and the blow out popularity for a whole rash of music-based social network sites, it is surprising really that it has taken Apple so long to jump on this bandwagon. They are usually the innovators not the followers!
The nice thing about the new network is that it is accessible from our iPhones. Tap the iTunes icon, sign in to iTunes and go to Ping where there are three buttons to tap that take us to: ‘Activity’, ‘People’, and ‘My Profile’ views. We are also able to “Like” and “Comment” on posts. Not sure we can edit our profile picture or our details from the iPhone – we could not do it.
The most astonishing thing about Ping, however – at least to the iPhonegizmo team – is the fact that iTunes has links that send us to OTHER sites!!. Take for example the Taylor Swift profile:
On the profile page there is – on the right hand side bar – a “concerts” sub-category. And inside that there is “tickets” and THAT is a link that sends us to the Ticketmaster website!! No doubt Apple has done a deal – but still, this is the first time that Apple has been prepared to share their audience with anyone (well, that is overstating things as music and apps all have links to websites – but this link is not on a “sale” page)! Or did they but Ticketmaster while we were all asleep?
Given that Taylor Swift already has more than 130K followers and that Ping has been available for only a matter of days, we are not sticking our necks out by saying we suspect that Ping is gonna be a financial bonanza for Apple (Katy Perry and Lady GaGa have even more followers!). Especially when you consider how good the interface on iTunes looks.
You need to update iTunes and the software on your iPhone. Just go to Apple to get iTunes 10 .
BTW – Ping will also be available for iPad users – but they will have to wait till November for their update!