i202 Fall 2010 School of Information, UC Berkeley

While the whole world is going crazy over social networking, how can Apple be behind? Steve Jobs has taken it upon himself to make people think of Apple, as a Social networking company, on the lines of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and others. But will Apple succeed in changing people's mindsets? Only time will tell, meanwhile, check out the powerful list of social media offerings by Apple:

- Ping: A music-focused social network built into iTunes 10, the latest version of the music software. Allows iTunes users to virtually follow artists, connect with one another and share information on their latest purchases.
- Game Center: Online gaming network built into iOS, the operating system underlying the iPhone and iPad. Connects users to friends and other gamers for multiplayer games. Allows them to challenge friends to games and share accomplishments.
- Face Time: Video chat software built into the iPhone 4 and now the new iPod Touch. Allows users to make video calls with the touch of a button.

With the debut of Ping, Apple is set to be viewed as a formidable competitor for some of the other social networking companies. Currently iTunes has somewhere around 170 million users who download and update the application frequently to keep it in sync with their iPods and iPads. This automatically puts Apple in a commanding position where it can not only cater to its consumers who always wanted something more, but also set it's foot into the big bad world of mobile social networking, since Ping will also be accessible via the iTunes store apps on all the iOS devices. The other addition, Game Center, is also meant to cater to all the devices that run on iOS and build a gaming network for users to play multi-player games, challenge other players or simply check out who is the leader among those on the leader board. This seems a lot like the gaming network that Facebook has so painstakingly built with Zynga, and which was the creator of some of the most popular games played on social networking sites today. 

Along the lines of Skype, comes the next newest addition, called Face Time, which allows users to make video calls to each other through the touch of a button. Sounds fancy, but the underlying idea behind Apple going out all aggressively to capture the social networking market seems to be more than simply launching different applications. There is an interesting possibility that Jobs will bring together all these three applications and do something big. Who knows, maybe integrate all the three services together and build a massive network of music lovers and gamers, who may be able to share their interests and learn more about each other in real time, by using the Face Chat! This is going to be one fun watch, as Apple tries really hard to get "social" with it's consumers.

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