Comments on: Is Ping Apple’s Google Wave?

By: ComboApp

ComboApp — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:55:15 +0000

A week is not enough, yes – the service is still raw, but it’s in development. I would get back to this conversation, let’s say, in January 2011.

By: Max

Max — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:46:59 +0000

Should give it time, but it’s hard to take the product seriously when they name it Ping. That isn’t as bad as Microsoft selling a Zune. Dell naming a product the Streak was inviting verbal abuse.

Maybe they should call it FacePing.

By: chris Stevens

chris Stevens — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:13:38 +0000

it is a massive fail, not only do i not care what my friends listen to, the last thing i want is my wife friending me and seeing how much music i buy, what a totally rubbish idea.

By: AkA

AkA — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:36:54 +0000

Apple should stop the dilly-dally and provide what so many millions of iTunes users want: some native integration of Last.fm. Maybe comparing Ping to Google Wave is premature and a little unfair, but it all seems quite unnecessary when Last.fm is already established, popular, very decent, and links music to the iTunes Store anyway.

Anyone still unfamiliar with Last.fm should take a look, it seems to already provide everything Ping offers with regards to music and more. Lots of other free music/media players have native Last.fm integration, so surely it can’t be a question of some big money deal that puts the iTunes team off. Perhaps Apple is just trying to capitalise on the popularity of such communities in an attempt to boost its own sales…

By: Waffle

Waffle — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:36:14 +0000

Wave is a desperately needed product, and something nearly all of us have wanted at some time or another. The reason it failed wasn’t that people didn’t see the need for it; the reason it failed was that it *wasn’t very good* at meeting that need.

It has some excellent features and is technically very impressive, but being able to type letter by letter in real time is less important than the basic organisation of information.

For example, if I have an IM with someone, I can close the IM, come back tomorrow and the window will be largely clean, with perhaps a small part of the prior discussion and some sort of link or menu somewhere I can click on to see yesterday’s conversation.

If I Wave that person instead, the past discussion never goes away. It just grows, and grows, and grows. Large waves take minutes to load.

A web forum would divide up a long thread of posts into pages to save on loading time.

A wiki would divide up information in a random-access, searchable fashion.

My old Usenet client would show me the messages in collapsed form and let me click through one at a time.

Wave failed because it didn’t do the job, not because there was no job to do.

Currently Wave is perfect for one thing: Organising days out with friends. The problem is, nobody uses it, and you can’t organise time with friends without friends.

By: David F

David F — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:20:59 +0000

Props for being the first to make the comparison. But I agree with Mark Hernandez. Give Apple a few months to figure out how to swim with the sharks in these waters. It could end up being a fail if they don’t respond quickly enough. But I don’t think it’s a candidate for “Is This Anything?” quite yet. Apple has a less-than-perfect-but-still-relatively-good track record at using customer feedback to refine products and services. If they learn fast enough, Ping could yet turn out to be a way for songs to go viral the way videos can on Youtube. As a musician, I’m really really really hoping so. :)

By: David Pedersen

David Pedersen — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:14:05 +0000

Google Wave is awesome though! I wish it would be open to everyone!

By: AppDev

AppDev — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:29:39 +0000

This article is pretty silly. Ping has been out just 8 days now. New artists and users are joining everyday. I’ve discovered 2 new artists since using ping for the past few days. For something that just launched, it’s not bad.

Does anyone here remember facebook back when it was just a social network predominately used on college campuses? I do. Look at what it’s become.

I don’t think Ping will be the next facebook. I’m pretty sure that’s not what I was meant to be. However, let’s give Ping time before we start passing judgment.

By: John

John — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:24:59 +0000

Honest to goodness, my very first question was “What the heck is Ping?”

By: Tyson

Tyson — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:49:41 +0000

I disagree, Darrell. I’m not sure Ping was developed by Apple to be anything “big” or “game changing”. It’s simply a way for users to finally connect to one another through the ubiquitous iTunes, linking Apple & PC users together through their own application.

Ping’s main function will ultimately be as a free, user-driven, word-of-mouth advertising tool that will help artists and record labels sell more music.

There’s no reason to think, or hope, that it will be anything more. I for one am actually happy with Ping’s arrival. I’m not jumping out of my chair in amazement, but I can see it’s potential and think it will catch on to be a useful tool.

Just look at the stats… over 1,000,000 signups on Ping in the first 48 hours? I’d call that a success already.