Apple's Ill-Fated Social Network 'Ping' Launched 10 Years Ago Today
Today marks the 10th anniversary of Apple launching its ill-fated social network Ping, which allowed users to follow their favorite music artists and friends within iTunes and discover what songs and albums they were listening to.
Here is how Apple described Ping in a September 2010 press release:
Ping lets you follow your favorite artists such as Lady Gaga, Coldplay, U2, Jack Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma and more, to see what they're up to, check out photos and videos they've posted, see their tour dates and read comments about other artists and albums they're listening to. In addition, you can post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you've downloaded from iTunes and the concerts you plan to attend.
Despite a promising start, with more than one million users joining Ping in less than 48 hours after its launch, the service never truly caught on. Ping was officially shut down on September 30, 2012, with Apple CEO Tim Cook noting that "the customer voted and said 'this isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into'."
Apple launched a similar social platform for artists called Apple Music Connect in 2015, but it
suffered the same fate as Ping, shutting down in late 2018.
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