If it's good for the goose...Apple Goes Social with Ping

By Mike Shields, Mediaweek at Adweek

Apple dove head first into social media with the launch of Ping, the company’s latest version of iTunes, an offering comparable to Twitter for music lovers.

As expected, the company also unveiled a new version of Apple TV for $99, along with a TV show rental service. Initially, ABC and Fox have agreed to rent individual episodes of their series for 99 cents each.

With Ping, Apple has created a new social network that appears to serve as both a promotional platform for music artists and a music discovery vehicle. Users can elect to follow their favorite bands, and those artists can post photos, videos, album updates and tour dates via the service.

In addition, Ping allows users to follow friends and share information on their own music collections and their opinions on various artists.

There is also a "Recent Activity" feed, which automatically displays the top songs and albums users' friends are listening to or have downloaded recently. However, unlike Facebook or Twitter, Ping is not advertiser supported (iTunes has never carried advertising).

Competition Responds to Apple TV and Ping

Because Apple is entering some new market segments (or, in the case of Ping, some new markets, period) Apple is now a direct competitor to a number of other companies already in the social music and streaming content space.

Boxee, Rdio and Roku have all issued statements in response to Apple's latest moves and what, if anything, it means for the future of those startups.

Apple is describing Ping as a social network for music. It takes a very Facebook and Twitter approach to following friends and artists and is designed to make discovering and sharing new music super simple.

Rdio, a startup created by the founders of Skype, also lists music discovery as one of its core strengths and missions. Of course, unlike iTunes, Rdio is a subscription service that allows users to enjoy on-demand streaming music for $4.99 or $9.99 a month.

This is the statement Rdio sent us in response to Apple's latest social music plans:

"Today's announcement from Apple completely validates Rdio's social approach to discovering music through people," said Carter Adamson, COO, Rdio. "But in our view, sharing a short clip doesn't amount to sharing music and people are still restricted by Apple's pay-per-tune platform."