Apple is joining the social network game in two big ways. The first one is Game Center, which will be launching next week on iPhones and iPod touches with the next updates of iOS. The second is Ping, which launched today as part of iTunes 10 and will come into iOS as well.
I’ll be bring a full Ping and Game Center review in the coming weeks. How often do we have a social network launch that’s already tied into hundreds of millions of people? I like Ping so far, but all I’ve done is set up a profile and connected with one friend. It’s hard to judge a social network based on one connection and a half hour’s worth of using it.![Ping Logo]()
Still, Apple brings social networks into its fold in a big way. It’s worth arguing that the great feature of iOS 4 won’t be that Apple finally brought multi-tasking to it’s devices, but rather it brought social to it’s two biggest services, Apps and Music.
Ping is music based right now, but it’s easy to see it scale up to the other iTunes commodities such as TV episodes, movies, and books. That’s probably why the name is so generic rather than music focused. It’s no surprise they launched Ping the same day they launched the redesigned the Apple TV product.
Ping could easily steal the thunder from Facebook credits and the virtual commerce Facebook is building. Imagine one place where you can easily see what media your friends and peers consume, what they recommend and criticize, and buy to your heart’s content. It’s hard to imagine a future where Ping doesn’t do all this. Ping will pay for itself very quickly.
Game Center will revolutionize mobile gaming. It will be the Xbox LIVE for iOS and set the standard for mobile gaming networks. Similarly to being able to play the games you already have with your friends, just imagine the power Game Center has to recommend. See all your friends are playing Farmville 2, but you don’t have it? Hop over to the app store, buy it, and then challenge your friends. The ways to monetize and sell apps are huge.
Both of these social networks will be tied into over a hundred million devices. Nearly every one of those devices is tied to a credit card. If they are relatively useful and easy to use in any way, the potential for them to grow and make money is huge.
Apple has come up with a model for social networks that pay for themselves out of purchases, rather than advertising. Do you think they will last? Will they be the next big thing from Apple? I want to know if you think you’ll even use them.