More on what iTunes Ping was and why it’s dead

jasonstiff asks: Okay…I’ll say it…what the hell is Ping? Oops…sorry…what the hell WAS Ping?

» SFB says: Apple’s stunted attempt at a social network, tied very closely to iTunes. Few people used it (partly because the network was mostly inside iTunes and therefore didn’t integrate with the Web or mobile very well), and considering that Spotify runs circles around it on the social media front, it actually probably hurt Apple in the long run, especially because it became one of the sticking points that hurt the company’s recently-mended relationship with Facebook. Famously, it launched with Facebook Connect, then lost it hours later after Facebook took away Apple’s API access because they didn’t run the launch past them first. The situation was part of the reason iOS 5 didn’t have Facebook functionality like Twitter has. — Ernie @ SFB