September 2, 2010 by Mark Isle
Technology giants Apple have announced that they will be moving in to the social networking arena with the launch of a new network focusing upon music. The new network has been developed to rival the membership enjoyed by the key players in the social media arena, Twitter and Facebook. In addition to the music service, Apple will also be launching an ‘Apple television’ that will enable viewers to access films and television programmes over their browsers.
Ping, the new music discovery service, will be built in to the Apple iTunes software, enabling people to share their musical choices with other enthusiasts. iTunes is currently used by over 160 million people globally, and enables members to both download music and organise their song library into categories to update their MP3 players.
The chief executive of Apple, Steve Jobs, announced the launch of Ping at a press conference held to let people know about the firm’s new services for music enthusiasts. He commented: “One of the biggest things we focus on with iTunes is discovery. There are more than 12 million songs to choose from, so how do you find new stuff? So we’re launching Ping – it’s a social network that’s all about music. It’s like Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes. You can follow your favourite artists and friends and discover what music they like and are downloading.”
“We have listened to user feedback about exactly what they wanted from a set-top box, and had overhauled the device to meet those needs. They want on-demand access to Hollywood movies and TV shows, they don’t want amateur stuff. They want their movies and TV shows in high-definition, and want to pay less for this content.”
“And they don’t want a computer on their television – though this is a hard one for people in the computer industry to understand. And they don’t want to manage the storage of downloaded movies and programmes.”
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