Apple tried to get social with the iTunes Ping network in 2010. Things didn’t work out so well. (Image via Wired)
Apple and social networking don’t have such a great history, but the Cupertino tech firm is ready to give it another go, if new rumors regarding a potential acquisition of the Path social app are true. According to PandoDaily, Apple is already in talks with the mobile social network and the merger is “essentially a done deal.”
Path, for the uninitiated, is a mobile-only social networking app launched in 2010 that features photo sharing, private messaging, and other features you’d expect from a basic social service. It isn’t as widely popular as something like Facebook or Twitter, but it’s estimated to have somewhere around 25 million users and could provide Apple with a decent platform to create its own network.
You may remember Path as the app that sparked a serious discussion about mobile app permissions and contributed greatly to the creation of the current iOS privacy settings when it was discovered that the software was uploading users’ entire address books to the network (and storing them there) without asking for permission.
[tweet https://twitter.com/davemorin/status/480050992486969344]
According to Pando, the network as it stands would likely remain wholly intact and could be integrated into Apple’s Messages app. For what it’s worth, Path co-founder and CEO David Morin was reportedly spotted sitting on the front row of today’s Apple media event alongside the company’s executives.
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Just no. Leave it some Apple. Yesterday was underwhelming enough without another embarrassing failed attempt at a social network.
Just no. Leave it alone Apple. Yesterday was underwhelming enough without another embarrassing failed attempt at a social network.
well come to think of it, i think yesterday was the first time Apple did live blogging… is it a test for something? Apple has my support here… with the watch on the other hand…
Should have bought Twitter when they had the chance years ago. Path like Ping is just a terrible names. At least Facebook is easy to speak.
If Apple are bringing path into the fold, it’s not about competing with the dreaded mire of awfulness that is Facebook, or Twitter which is heading to disaster as its current masters are slowly ruining it, or Google Plus, which everyone hates irrationally for some reason but I enjoy, it’s about giving something to Apple users, for Apple users.
You can iMessage Apple friends, maybe share photostream pics, but with Path as an integrated system it could be a social glue for Apple users that is currently lacking. Path would be the layer that adds a depth of social interaction that, while ‘i’ users would benefit, it wouldn’t kill off friends outside the ecosystem, and be a great addition to Apple Watch as well. Path while not wildly popular, that would obviously change drastically with hundreds of millions of Apple users reawakened to it, has a beautiful simplicity that’s just right as an Apple system.
With Path’s CEO front and centre at the keynote yesterday it’s looking very likely this rumour will play out, time to dust off my path account for my iPhone 6 Plus :-)
Apple, as well as everyone else, has been trying to compete with Facebook and put together their own social network. Their first attempt, “Ping” failed miserably. But what I hadn’t thought about until now is they already have one of the most successful social networks on the planet – its call iMessage. Adding Path to it is a really good idea!
Like Ford, GM, Lexus, Honda, BMW and Mercedes ….. competition is good, if they do it right. There are many other add on products, like Parks by Nature, that need to be connected to larger social media groups to make good products even better!
Apple, if you do it, then do it right and make them all worthwhile!