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Apple's Ill-Fated Social Network 'Ping' Launched 10 Years Ago Today

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Today marks the 10th anniversary of Apple launching its ill-fated social network Ping, which allowed users to follow their favorite music artists and friends within iTunes and discover what songs and albums they were listening to.

itunes ping 2010
Here is how Apple described Ping in a September 2010 press release:

Ping lets you follow your favorite artists such as Lady Gaga, Coldplay, U2, Jack Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma and more, to see what they're up to, check out photos and videos they've posted, see their tour dates and read comments about other artists and albums they're listening to. In addition, you can post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you've downloaded from iTunes and the concerts you plan to attend.

Despite a promising start, with more than one million users joining Ping in less than 48 hours after its launch, the service never truly caught on. Ping was officially shut down on September 30, 2012, with Apple CEO Tim Cook noting that "the customer voted and said 'this isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into'."


Apple launched a similar social platform for artists called Apple Music Connect in 2015, but it suffered the same fate as Ping, shutting down in late 2018.

Tag: iTunes
Related Forum: Mac Apps

Top Rated Comments

randolorian Avatar
randolorian
73 months ago
Look at those vertically-stacked window controls.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
69Mustang
73 months ago
You never win if you don't get in the race. They didn't win this one. I love the way Tim phrased the shuttering of Ping. "The customer voted and said this isn't something I want to put a lot of energy into." No sugarcoating, no spin. Didn't work. Moving on to the next thing.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
mondaiguy
73 months ago
I liked Ping. I was able to talk to musicians on it, like Brian Molko from Placebo. Trent Reznor would post stuff all the time. Ironically, there's still no music service that offers something like this. Apple should not have given it up. Would've been a good fit for Apple Music, and could have been re-worked.

Ping was better than Apple Music's current social implementation.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
N
nfl46
73 months ago
I gotta hand it to Lady Gaga; 10 years later and she's still relevant. Congrats on winning five VMAs a couple of nights ago and having a number 1 album and song this year.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
m4mario Avatar
m4mario
73 months ago
Apple failing in the social networking business is a loss to everyone. We would have at least one social network built with safety, security and privacy in mind.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Awesome Avatar
Mr. Awesome
73 months ago
Most of Ping’s failure was from its focus on music. If Apple had launched a social network that was a social network, not specifically a music social network, I think it would’ve been met with more success.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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