Can the second-most-profitable company in America leverage its popularity with hundreds of millions of consumers into a successful new social network? A beta of the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 4.3, suggests that’s what the computer giant plans.
The developer kit contains a folder called Media Stream that would allow iPhone users to connect and share photos, according to 9to5Mac. The beta suggests that in the future users will be able to subscribe to each other’s photo streams and even set privacy settings, a la Facebook.
9to5Mac said it appears Media Stream “will go way beyond photos in the future. We think Apple will expand this to music and videos, maybe like AirPlay between mobile iOS devices …”
The new system may be connected to Apple’s current cloud-based network called MobileMe, which offers such subscription services as Find My Phone, a calendar, and PC synchronization.
Ping Hasn’t Done Well
The question is: While no one knows smartphones, tablet computers, MP3s or paper-thin laptops better than the folks at Apple, is social media their forte? In September, when rolling out new iPods and the latest iTunes update, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Ping, a network that allows users to share music selection and artists with friends. CNN listed Ping as one of its Top 10 Tech Fails of 2010, saying “a lot of the time, it simply pushes you to buy music. Needless to say, Ping hasn’t really caught on.”
“Ping was just Apple dipping its toe in the water with a specific aspect of social networking,” said Michael Gartenberg of Gartner Research. “It was a baby step to begin to figure out how a social network can be integrated into their software experience.”
Given the epidemic success of Facebook and Twitter, Gartenberg sees a social-network component as a necessity for any mobile platform…