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Apple Reportedly Interested in Acquiring 'The Fancy', a Pinterest Rival

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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BusinessInsider has heard that Apple is presently in talks to acquire social sharing and commerce site The Fancy.
The objective: to secure a role for Apple in the growing e-commerce market, putting the 400 million-plus users with credit cards on file with Apple's iTunes Store to work shopping--with Apple getting a cut of the action.
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The Fancy is described as a rival to the fast growing Pinterest site which is used to share photos of items found online. The Fancy describes itself:
Fancy is part store, blog, magazine and wishlist. It's a place to discover great stuff, to curate a collection of things you love, to get updates on your favorite brands and stores and to share your discoveries.

Use it to create a catalog of your favorite things around the web and around the world. When you find something you love somewhere on the web, Fancy it.
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The Fancy's biggest advantage over its rival appears to be the ability for users to purchase items directly from the site. Both allow users to "pin" or "fancy" products found on the internet and allow other users to browse these items in various collections.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly met with The Fancy CEO at Allen & Co.'s Sun Valley conference. Cook even created an account on the service and "fancied" seven different items. Businessinsider speculates that Apple's interest in the company may have to do with a broader e-commerce strategy.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Interested in Acquiring 'The Fancy', a Pinterest Rival
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/04/apple-reportedly-interested-in-acquiring-the-fancy-a-pinterest-rival/
D

damir00

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2011
744
7
Pinterest is a complete waste - doubt it even exists five years from now.

TheFancy is just a home shopping channel in HD.

Would be *very* surprised if there was anything to this rumor.
 
F

Fainer

macrumors member
Jun 12, 2009
55
0
damir00 said:
Pinterest is a complete waste - doubt it even exists five years from now.
Click to expand...

It might not be around five years from now, but its a great site. There are a lot of really cool ideas on there that people from cooks to interior designers use. You have no idea.
 
C

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,578
1,694
Redondo Beach, California
What I DON'T want is any kind of "shopping clutter" on my computer screen. I use two layers of ad blockers already. I don't want Apple to become another Google.

I wish Apple would but their resources back into building computers.
 
longofest

longofest

Editor emeritus
Jul 10, 2003
2,924
1,682
Falls Church, VA
damir00 said:
Pinterest is a complete waste - doubt it even exists five years from now.

TheFancy is just a home shopping channel in HD.

Would be *very* surprised if there was anything to this rumor.
Click to expand...

Fainer said:
It might not be around five years from now, but its a great site. There are a lot of really cool ideas on there that people from cooks to interior designers use. You have no idea.
Click to expand...

My wife is constantly on Pinterist. It seems to have a very heavy female following.
 
A

ArcaneDevice

macrumors 6502a
Nov 10, 2003
766
186
outside the crazy house, NC
Pinterest is just another social fad and like Digg, Friendster, et al will be gone as soon as the next hip thing appears. The one thing keeping Facebook relevant is that it has it's tendrils in everything. Pinterest doesn't and The Fancy is the same.

If Apple buys in it will be just another Ping. Especially if it's behind the walled garden of Apple products. Being everywhere and something to everyone is the only way to keep a social tool relevant.

I for one have no interest in joining another online "club" when the majority of people I know barely keep their Facebook profile up to date.
 
skellener

skellener

macrumors 68000
Jun 23, 2003
1,786
543
So. Cal.
Apple - just stop already. You don't do social. You don't need to either. Stick to what you know. Hardware and great OSes.
 
longofest

longofest

Editor emeritus
Jul 10, 2003
2,924
1,682
Falls Church, VA
damir00 said:
Like I said...

QVC for internet users.
Click to expand...

saying that in reply to my quote is a bit demeaning to women :(

I know my wife "pins" essentially any idea that she has that she wants to keep around and get reminded of later to help formulate ideas. Kind of like an internet cork/bulletin board. And then she can see other's ideas and collaborate off of that.

At least I think that's the idea. Like I said, not a user myself. But I know enough to disagree with the notion that it's a "QVC for internet users".
 
N

nanotlj

macrumors regular
Jan 15, 2008
154
0
I think Apple should buy Path (not for Path itself) and use its talents to create a private social network based on iCloud or iTunes.
 
D

damir00

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2011
744
7
longofest said:
saying that in reply to my quote is a bit demeaning to women
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Nah. It's hot and sticky and I'm just being a bit of a grumpy-ass.

Don't mind me - apologies for any offense taken.

----------
nanotlj said:
I think Apple should buy Path (not for Path itself) and use its talents to create a private social network based on iCloud or iTunes.
Click to expand...

Why would I want to use a "private social" network?

Didn't they already try this with iVillage or whatever it was called back in the dial-up days?
 
deannnnn

deannnnn

macrumors 68020
Jun 4, 2007
2,090
625
New York City & South Florida
damir00 said:
Pinterest is a complete waste - doubt it even exists five years from now.
Click to expand...

I would imagine that a lot of people feel this way about MacRumors. When you look at a popular site like Pinterest and say "Why would anyone want to pin recipes and clothes onto a virtual board?", there are plenty of others who would look at MacRumors and say "Why would anyone want to read about the front panel glass specifications on an unreleased Apple device?"

It's all about personal taste!
 
Z

Z400Racer37

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2011
711
1,664
i sincerely hope not. i dont know fancy (or even pinterest for that matter) all that well, but i dont really see what purpose it could possibly serve them. theyre not potential multi hundred billion dollar markets, so i dont realy see how it could help them... but like i said i dont know them that well.

but with this talk of acquiring twitter, i really hope theyre not considering this... if theyre going to do social (which i really hope they do) they need to do it from the ground up internally. integrating from scratch what you listen to on itunes, who you message frequently, recommend friends based on who youre located near on a frequent basis, and most of all, make a user interface that isn't terribly cumbersome, that's very simple to use. Facebook's biggest problem (putting aside their crappy iOS app) is there is of use, relevance of the new changes, and most importantly their policies on security settings (i.e. the teacher that got fired because she posted something that she thought was going to be private, but facebook had changed her privacy settings without alerting her, and she got fired...).

Most of the social platforms out there to my knowledge are pretty poorly run, (especially Facebook) and I think that Apple could affect a very huge change in this arena, but only if they do it INTERNALLY, and from THE GROUND UP... I hope they do that someday (soon)...
 
A

Alex72

macrumors member
Jul 19, 2002
70
2
Los Angeles
I was under the impression that Pinterest has already established a pretty-much unassailable level of brand recognition. Trying to compete with it seems like trying to establish a new auction site to compete with eBay...
 
east85

east85

macrumors 65816
Jun 24, 2010
1,343
495
Eh, IDK about this. I suppose it would be hit or miss but Apple has more than enough money to throw around.
 
cms2

cms2

macrumors 6502
Aug 4, 2007
473
4
Texas
deannnnn said:
I would imagine that a lot of people feel this way about MacRumors. When you look at a popular site like Pinterest and say "Why would anyone want to pin recipes and clothes onto a virtual board?", there are plenty of others who would look at MacRumors and say "Why would anyone want to read about the front panel glass specifications on an unreleased Apple device?"

It's all about personal taste!
Click to expand...

I love MR, my wife loves Pinterest. Ne'er the two shall meet, but that's ok.

I personally think this would be a dumb purchase for apple, but what do I know?
 
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