Apple getting social with iTunes

By August 12 2009, 10:25 am 3 Comments
Tagged: , , , , ,

A new month, and a new salvo of Apple rumours to wade
through – this time concerning iTunes, with the web salivating over the
prospect of an iTunes/Twitter/Facebook/Last.fm partnership.

 

Thing is, it ain’t gonna happen.

 

It certainly looks like Apple is planning some sort of
social networking integration with iTunes, and soon, but don’t expect Twitter
or Last.fm to be involved.

 

Those in the know have probably seen a couple of screengrabs
from the purported iTunes 9, which curiously followed rumours that the newest
version of Apple’s music player would integrated with Twitter, Facebook and
Last.fm.

 

The photos have since been debunked as a hasty Photoshop
job, by someone with far too much time on their hands.

 

But even with photographic evidence, a rumour such as this
just doesn’t make sense.

 

The idea is that iTunes would broadcast what songs its users
are listening too, to Twitter and Facebook profiles, which would be simply,
annoying – especially those among us to keep music playing several hours of the
day.

Furthermore, Apple has never been a company to jump on a bandwagon, especially
concerning a faddish little microblogging website with major operational
issues.

 

A partnership with Last.fm makes less sense. The two
companies work in a similar vein, and Last.fm (as much as I love it) is far
from an established brand, Apple would have nothing to gain. Many of the
features that makes Last.fm shine, such as it’s ‘similar artists’ tab, are
available on iTunes anyways (iLike).

 

But Facebook. Maybe, just maybe. The two companies
established a partnership a while back, by allowing iPhoto users to publish
their pictures to their Facebook profiles.

 

Looking at the big picture, the rumours generally deduce
that Apple is planning to push a social networking strategy through its iTunes
platform, even though the details might have been mixed up.

 

Digging deeper into the rumour pile, it appears Apple is
preparing to launch some sort of social media app, whether for iTunes, its OS
desktop, or the iPhone, that would consolidate various streams into one juicy
platform.

 

Sound suspiciously like FriendFeed – rather a FriendFeed
killer, which gives this rumour (some) legs and puts some more weight behind
the companies surprise sell-out to Facebook this week.

 

Better late than never, it looks like Apple is ready to
embrace social networking, but likely on its own terms – a sort of “social
media browser”, which would allow users to search and share content with
their friends.

 

Perhaps this will be part of Apple’s plans to ‘reinvent’ the
digital album, by including loads of additional content with iTunes purchases.

 

Apple rumours, as per usual, are common and vague, but this
one is keeping an eye on. Speaking of which, where’s my iTablet?

 

 

 

  • Gordon Macmillan

    I really like Last.FM, but it has been really overshadowed since Spotify arrived on the scene. Hoping to see some resurgence from the Last.FM team. I love the Last.FM radio feature particularly. It is a great way to discover new music.

    Likewise i can not see Apple working with others. It so rarely does. It likes to play with all of its own toys.

  • Gordon Macmillan

    | thought there was going to be a punchline. There kind of was, George Galloway a force for good? Hugh you are joking.  Four times married “gorgeous” George who attacked his rival candidate because he drank alcohol during his campaign, who has a slavish love affair with terrorist group Hamas, who saluted Sadam Hussein (“Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability”; a man who used weapons of mass destruction against his own people and the Kurds.

    When British and Allied forces were removing the Taliban from Afghanistan, Galloway proclaimed “the Taliban are not the enemy for me”. A terror group who kill women, children, murder teachers who teach girls and blow up schools. Nice people.

    A man who moves around the country like a snake oil seller, carpet bagging from city to city in the hope of winning a seat.

    Hugh i think you are confusing the idea that independents can be a force for good with people are an actual force for good. Galloway is nothing of the sort.

    But why listento men, it was the late Christopher Hitchens who summed up Galloway, perfectly:

    “This man’s search for a tyrannical fatherland never ends. The Soviet Union’s let him down, Albania’s gone, the Red Army’s out of Afghanistan and Czechoslovakia, Saddam has been overthrown….(but) the hunt never ends!”

  • Hugh Salmon

    Gordon,
    Because of Galloway’s litigious past, and respecting this is not my website, I did not want to analyse his policies or make judgements on ‘the man’ or his views on Brand Republic. I have left this to you, the reader (possibly the only one!).
    My point is that Galloway, in Bradford West, persuaded the voters to flock to him in droves – not the opposition parties. Our political system is so rotten (see posts passim) that you cannot ignore this and, in a democracy, you have to ‘respect’ this achievement.
    Clearly, I hope that other ‘Independent’ candidates, perhaps with views closer to yours expressed below, and more integrity than our careerist party politicians, will find it easier to break through because of what Galloway has achieved.
    That is why I have tried to separate the ‘brand’ from the ‘man’ and kept my own views on the man to myself and away from my central point – which is that he persuaded voters to tear themselves away from their old tribal loyalties, or apathy, both of which I witnessed first hand at the last Election and posted on this site at the time.
    Hugh

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