Ping, Apple's Social-Networking Service, Is On Its Way Out

If I said "Ping" to you, would you immediately think of a social-networking service that's tied to iTunes?  The answer appears to be "no", as Apple is reportedly getting ready to close the doors on Ping from lack of interest.

This service debuted back in fall of 2010, and since then it has pretty much gone nowhere.  Its intent was to give music lovers who were also iTunes users a place to discuss their favorite songs online, but instead these people have gravitated to other social-networking options, like Facebook.

Since Apple announced its foray into social networking two years ago, the company has obviously realized that it should leave this to the experts -- recent versions of the iOS have had built-in support for Twitter, and earlier this week Apple's CEO Tim Cook revealed that Facebook is going to be integrated into iOS 6, the upcoming version of his company's mobile operating system.

The death knell for Ping is not yet official, but an unconfirmed report says that it won't be a part of iOS 6, which Cook unveiled on Monday. As evidence in support of this, those who have been testing the just-released beta of the next version of iOS report that Ping does not work in it.

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