Apple goes social
The ability for Apple to stay ahead in the consumer goods marketplace is inversely proportional to the speed at which competitors can launch similar products. Take for example the iPhone and the iPad and consider the quick market movements that followed from companies like Samsung, Google and Amazon.
Product features can be copied, operational systems can be developed but one big thing really matters: loyalty. And Apple has always had a big number of loyal fans. But the concept of loyalty seems to be changing with social media. Customers now seem to be more loyal to the social experience with their peer friends than to a brand´s gadget. Don´get me wrong here. Apple builds the best gadgets on the planet. But people don´t really want just gadgets. They want the best social experience a gadget can deliver and other companies have been delivering that, as well as Apple, providing each user with unforgettable social experience.
And how does that social experience takes place? Facebook leads by far! People are using their iPhones and amazing applications that use a Facebook login. The technological experience is Apple´s, the social experience belongs to Facebook. And who deserves the credit for that? What will we remember when we see a picture of a friend´s recent born child? Will we remember Apple or Facebook?
If I would risk a single prediction for 2012, I would say that this will be the year that Apple will launch it´s own social network.
Apple´s engineeers are usability masters, they understand a lot about people´s behaviour, they have a huge network of developers for the iOS, they have a brand that ressembles a religion, they have millions of connected people through their gadgets, consuming and sharing information and uploading it to the clouds through iCloud.
Those facts lead to one question: why hasn´t Apple gone really social yet?
The answer to that is market timing. Apple has mastered time to market like no other company and they seem to be always right when they launch new things, or even create new markets.
Now, they face competition from Google´s Majel in the mobile search arena and Facebook´s project Spartan in the apps arena.
How could they strike back at both companies with one single move?
The answer is simple: by using all their creative power to build an innovative social network that changes the way we produce, consume and share information. Will it be like Facebook? Of course not.
This patent from june 2011 shows some stuff they´ve been working on this year.
I expect that they will do to the social media industry what they have done to the computer, phone and music industry.
So, my bet for 2012 is that Apple will revolutionize the social media field.
They already have a social network. It’s called Ping. The fact you haven’t heard of it testifies for its immense failure. We don’t need another social network.
Ping is merely a precursor to Apple’s real iOS exclusive social network, in my opinion. The current Ping only failed because Facebook blocked it from sharing within a day of release. It would have otherwise been the precursor to today’s music integration, so you could instead argue that Ping was ahead of its time. However, as things stand, it sucks.
Apple’s network will be more a device network, rather than social network. No one can predict the functionality (though I’d stab at heavy location use and some early steps towards Apple getting a cut of real-world transactions), but it will undoubtedly be iOS only, adding an elitist air that once surrounded BBM.
Hi Chris and thanks for commenting.
Yes I´ve heard of it and I agree it is a failure. As far as I know, it was always focused on music.
What I expect from Apple is not another social network that does the same that Facebook or Google + does, but one that would improve our lives and provide us with higher degrees of connectivity, especially using geolocation, opinion and interests mining and, of course, better usability.
On the long run, companies who better understand their customers will win. It will be a behavioural analytics and data mining war.
Nothing best than having a social network to better understand customers behaviours.
Just the type of insghit we need to fire up the debate.
Hello! Just want to say thank you for this interesting article! =) Peace, Joy.