Apple clearly isn’t interested in owning the touch smartphone and touch screen tablet market. They’re not even content with the ludicrously popular brand of mp3 and multimedia players they have as despite a few teething problems following its launch, it looks like they’re making a pretty good show of social networking too. Apple’s new Ping social network has made it to the 1 million user milestone just 48 hours after it was launched and their smug representatives believe that this figure will continue to grow and grow to new heights.
Ping is supposed to be more of a niche social network than the likes of Facebook. It is primarily geared towards music lovers, especially obvious when you consider that it was released just in time for the iTunes 10 release. Users can follow their favourite artists as well as their friends and keep up to date with the latest goings on in the music industry.
Essentially, everybody that downloaded iTunes 10 was encouraged to become a member of Ping and with 3 million downloads, that means an impressive conversion rate of 1 in 3. However, the site has been subject to a couple of problems already.
Apparently, Apple had initially wanted to join forces with Facebook when the service was released but their demands were too high and Steve Jobs was adamant that he would protect the Apple name and fortune. As such, the Facebook button which had appeared on Beta versions and screenshots was replaced with an Email Friends link.
Ping has also joined the ranks of social networking sites to be hit by spammers, meaning it’s passed yet another milestone very early on in its lifetime. Users (whose credit card details are linked in some way to their accounts) are encouraged by spammers to fill in a short survey to be in with a chance of receiving a free iPhone 4 – the irony isn’t lost on us.
Are you a Ping member yet or do you still prefer Facebook?
Let us know on Facebook (we’re not on Ping yet).