Looks like Apple is in for a slice of the social network pie. At a conference held 1 September, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled its first foray into social media, Ping, as well as a slew of updated iPods.

The iPods might be fancy, but it’s Ping that’s making headlines everywhere. Included in iTunes 10, which also sports a new logo, Ping is a music-themed social network, much like MySpace and Last.fm.

And because it’s built right into iTunes, there’s a potential 160 million users already on the network.

Ping will allow users to follow their friends to find out what they’re listening to; and like Last.fm, users can follow artists as well.

There'll also be a feed showing nearby concerts, and a Top 10 list of songs and musicians your friends are downloading from iTunes.

“This is about talking to people about music,” Michael Gartenberg, an Altimeter Group analyst told The New York Times.

So it won’t compete directly with Facebook, but it’s the music-based Spotifys and Last.fms that Apple has in its sights.

“This year we’ve gone wild,” said Jobs, referring to the products Apple will be rolling out.

Among them is a redesigned iPod Nano, which does away with the circular navigation wheel and sports a multi-touch display instead.

The new iPod Touch is also a significant jump from previous versions. Using the iPhone 4 as inspiration, the iPod Touch will ship with back and front-facing cameras, FaceTime function, and Retina display.





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