Ok, so first things first. I don’t like Apple. At all.
Yes there products are very pretty looking, and I know people rave about them.
But - I don’t like the way Apple products function and their business strategy kind of annoys me. I don’t feel people should have to box themselves as Apple users vs. Windows/Microsoft/Sony etc. users. I think you pay a lot of money for Apple’s image, rather than purely their function.
So all of this being said, in comes Ping.
For those who are yet to hear about or use Ping;
Ping is a social network for music. “Follow your favorite artists and friends to discover the music they’re talking about, listening to, and downloading”.
Initially I thought – neat. Sounds great.
Then I find out that as someone who doesn’t use iTunes (as I don’t own an iPod) – I cannot use Ping.
It is very possible for Apple to create a downloadable computer app that allows you to upload your playlists, and update your recent purchases, and therefore is available to all. It’s the fact that they have made it exclusive to iTunes users that annoys me. Apple is very much trying to monopolize their market, and is not promoting a healthy marketplace, in my opinion.
Secondly there is the fact that Ping has made their artist accounts invite only – this meaning that Apple ‘invites’ artists to use Ping. Immediately the independent sector of the music industry hit the roof. How do we get our independent artists on Ping they all asked? Apples delay of about a week in response caused a lot of tension – but finally they have stated that they are keeping their quality control high and therefore Artists wanting an Artist profile should go through their label or distributors (TuneCore primarily and CDBaby to follow), who knows why Apple hadn’t provided information and though about this more before their launch.
MySpace have lost. A declining social network has now officially been replaced, something slicker and easier, and by (nearly) everyone’s best friend – Apple. And fair to Apple – MySpace has not been trying hard enough for a very long time, despite knowing that music was the only way to bring business back to their site.
I’d like to see how Ping is doing in a couple of months’ time. They’re already had a bit of a disagreement with Facebook, and it doesn’t look like the two will be linked anytime soon. Many social networkers do not want to update all of their social networks separately, they want apps that allow ease and speed but as much social interaction as possible. Many people are commenting that Apples exclusivity will be there downfall. The fact that Ping is limited to iTunes users is going to work both ways for Apple – a percentage of people currently without iTunes may sign up to iTunes to be able to join the latest social network fad, and the other percentage without iTunes just won’t care enough about Ping to have to worry about installing iTunes. I know which percentage I’m part of.
September 10, 2010