Thoughts On Apple’s Ping

September 2nd, 2010

Thoughts regarding Apple’s entry into social stuff, Ping.

The Good

• Clearly inspired by Facebook and Twitter, the most familiar sites to the vast majority of the population, and more cynically, the only social networking services worth bothering with anymore. Users will get how to use it right away.
• No website. Some see this as a negative, but in my case it’s a positive, as the web browser increasingly fades into the background in favor of mobile devices and apps. iTunes is literally, always running on my Mac Mini, is the only program set to launch on startup on my Mac, and I always carry an iPhone or iPad.
• Apple smartly made the iTunes app — a default install — act as a Ping client. Clicking on Ping URLs in Safari or Twitter open in iTunes. Eventual music purchases will also go through the iTunes app. The whole package works in that seamless Apple way.
• Obvious business angle — boosting iTunes sales. Most social networks go for tons of users first, hoping to figure out how to make money later. Ping is a social network built on top of the already streamlined and habitual purchase environment of iTunes. In a sense, all its review, likes, and sharing activity is merely advertising for iTunes content, and all sales a mere click away. Ultimately, Ping isn’t a social service in and of itself; it’s a feature of the already-established iTunes Store.

The Bad

• I spend more time and money on Apple’s non-music offerings: iPhone / iPad apps, movie rentals, and television shows. Ping activity must include these iTunes store categories before I use it regularly.
• Acute feeling of being in a walled garden, you can only like or comment on stuff for sale in the iTunes store, and there isn’t likely to be much exporting to other social networks.

Conclusion

Ping’s greatest strength echoes Apple’s best strategy: only getting into markets where there’s a good chance of success. It’s centered on music, something Apple knows extremely well through iPod sales, a huge user base of accounts linked to credit cards, user purchases, relationships with artists, and Genius data.

Regarding its closed nature: If Facebook is any measure, for better or worse, most people don’t care about “open.” Every iTunes music customer has already voted with their dollars, and the iPad is a success in spite of all the things tech pundits pointed out Apple wouldn’t let you do. Ping is targeted at the mainstream where the iTunes Store currently resides. Early adopter blessing isn’t a prerequisite for success.

In other words: if you don’t own an Apple product or have never purchased anything from iTunes for whatever personal, dogmatic reasons, of course Ping won’t make any sense. It’s for the millions of users who genuinely like iTunes, own iPhones / iPads / iPods, and make iTunes purchases regularly and impulsively.

With that in mind, plus the idea that it’s an iTunes Store feature — not a stand-alone service — I’m having a hard time seeing how Ping can fail.