Apple's iOS 5 Leaves Facebook In The Cold
First Posted: 06/ 6/11 07:02 P
Apple Leaves Facebook In The Cold
Apple has revamped the software that powers its iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to include, for the first time ever, a major integration with a social network -- but not the one you might think.
For the social media features in the new version of itsiOS operating system, Apple, the world's most valuable technology company, did not partner with Facebook, the world's largest social networking site.
Instead, the Cupertino company opted to team up with Twitter, a micro-blogging service that has around half as many members as Facebook and remains far from attaining its mainstream status.
Twitter will be built in to iOS 5 and integrated across multiple Apple applications. By signing into Twitter just once, users will be able to instantly send tweets containing photos, videos, links and more.
Experts suggest the Facebook snub stemmed from Apple’s desire to maintain control over the user experience and preserve its direct relationship with its customers, aims that clashed with Facebook's own ambitions.
As media companies, record labels and television studios know all too well, Apple wants to be the first point of contact for its users when they purchase a subscription, when they see an ad or when they browse for apps. The company has scrupulously maintained an iron grip over the entire experience consumers have with its products, whether at an Apple Store or in the App Store, which offers only applications that have been vetted by Apple.
Just as Apple has expanded its reach onto music players, television sets and computers, so too has Facebook grown its own platform, spreading its presence throughout the Internet in order to serve as the connective tissue for consumers’ interactions online.
The social networking site, once the online equivalent of the hard-copy Facebook directories given to college students, now serves as a hub for gaming, dating, sharing articles, renting videos, shopping, finding discounts and much more.
The social networking site, once the online equivalent of the hard-copy Facebook directories given to college students, now serves as a hub for gaming, dating, sharing articles, renting videos, shopping, finding discounts and much more.
