Apple's Ping Social Network Officially Closes

[MacRumors]

Apple has officially shut down its failed social network Ping. Reports in June signaled that Apple's social iTunes network would be removed from the next version of iTunes. Apple has since been advertising the fact that the service would shut down as of last night, September 30th. The Ping menu item no longer appears in the current version of iTunes.

Ping was launched in late 2010 and described as a social network for music, allowing iTunes users to share favorite artists and music. Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged in June that "the customer voted and said 'this isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into'."

The next major version of iTunes is due in October and will have a major overhaul of its interface. From our earlier coverage:

The updated media application will show albums in a grid interface with song listings unfolding below the album cover art when clicked. Searching is improved, showing inline results as you type and the MiniPlayer has been redesigned to show a miniature version of the album cover art and album and song information and playback controls.

The updated iTunes will also get iCloud integration to show all your media content saved in Apple's cloud storage service and save your position in movies or TV shows automatically so that you can pick up where you left off on another device.

Article Link: Apple's Ping Social Network Officially Closes

 

[Caliber26]

Ping went BOOM!

 

[fel10]

"Ping is going to be missed" Said no one ever.

 

[cRuNcHiE]

At least iTunes will be slightly less bloated now!

 

[Flood123]

<sarcasm>Ping was the greatest social network ever created.</sarcasm>

 

[nickn]

No surprise.

 

[darkslide29]

As much as I hate facebook integration everywhere, in this case failing to agree to terms with Facebook probably doomed Ping from the start.

 

[sasza]

R.i.p.

 

[Icaras]

The Ping menu item no longer appears in the current version of iTunes.

Confirmed! Thanks for cleaning up my Store Menu Apple.

 

[ThE.MeSsEnGeR]

Rest In Pieces, Ping... you will NOT be missed. AT. ALL.

 

[Skika]

And on that day nothing of value was lost.

 

[Foxer]

The next time someone criticizes Apple Maps (or something else) by invoking, "Steve Jobs would have never allowed this to be released," you can point out the failed logic of that statement with the simple word "Ping."

 

[blizaine]

Ping just shows that Apple can't do anything right!!!! What a bunch of losers!

oh crap, I thought I was on engadget. Nevermind.

 

[ChazUK]

Steve would have allowed this.

Bye bye Ping.

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[STiNG Operation]

It's almost like they're un-adopting their foreign exchange student "Ping."

 

[VanNess]

Can't wait for the NYT article claiming that this is another example of something Steve Jobs would have never approved and that Apple is in serious decline.

 

[HarryKeogh]

I really hope they change their minds, give it an overhaul and release it with the next version of iTunes. If they deeply integrate it with Mountain Lion and iOS it will really drive up the user participation. Add a "Ping" option to the "share" button and this will really take off and yeah, I'm kidding.

 

[cRuNcHiE]

The word "Ping" would be much better suited to the process of sending photos/files from one device to another via NFC.

'I'll just ping over this file to you'

 

[Parise]

Wait, this hadn't closed yet?

I thought this happened months ago.

 

[goinskiing]

Glorious day! PING was terrible.

 

[yg17]

And zero craps were given today

 

[eloscurosecreto]

Lawd knows I tried to get with ping, but it just never panned out. RIP.

 

[bse3]

I think Apple is in kind of a happy place right now. They got everything in order. In the beginning there was a lot of effort put into iOS, while OS X had to lack a bit behind. Now it looks like they are mainly tweaking and removing some of the last remaining annoyances, like computer-less iOS in v5, notification center. If there were not a lot of resources being free right now, I think the iTunes overhaul would not take place. I love it. Apple has an extremely solid base to keep building on. Releasing a mainly refactored Snow Leopard was one of the genius moves that led to that kind of awesome situation that Apple is in right now. Another is that, unlike in other mobile OS's, Apple only releases stuff that is finished and done right before moving on to the next pile of problems (ignore the Maps thing, please). I tip my hat to everyone responsible for those decisions. I wouldn't have been so smart. And now they get rid of stuff that didn't work out for them as expected, as to not waste precious resources. I wonder what they'll do for the next OS X and iOS, because I have to admit: Aside from a few smallish things, I cannot think of much I'd wish for the platforms.

 

[sitsonthefence]

I think this is conclusive evidence that social media is dead, as if apple can't make it work then no-one else can!

Edit: this was a poor attempt at sarcasm. Must try harder next time.