Ping’s Future

John Paczkowski says Ping is dead:

Sources close to the company say that Ping, which still exists today in iTunes 10.6.3, will be gone with the software’s next major release, likely scheduled for this fall. And at that point Apple’s social networking offerings will shift to Twitter and new partner Facebook entirely.

I was under the impression that Ping was in more of a “we don’t know what we’re going to do about it” state, not a “yeah, we’re killing it” state. For example, Ping is still there in the iTunes app in the iOS 6 beta — but, it doesn’t work.

I don’t think anyone would be surprised if Ping goes away after Mountain Lion and iOS 6 both ship, and I know Paczkowski has good sources, but I don’t think Apple has made that decision yet.

★ Tuesday, 12 June 2012