Ping gets more useful

I didn't get Ping from Apple.  What good was it?  I mean even if you had all the artists in the iTunes 'verse online and updating, so what?  Well with the recent update to iTunes, it's starting to become more of what I thought it should be.   They finally added some features that iLike.com and last.fm had all along.

iTunes 10.0.1 makes it easier to share your favorite music with your friends on Ping. You can now Like or Post about music right from your iTunes library. You can also easily see the recent activity of a selected artist in your library, or of all artists and friends you follow on Ping using the new Ping Sidebar.

So now it gets more integrated into the core App, you don't have to visit the iTunes store to view Ping info.  It has a nice side bar like ilike.com (a service I've stopped using some time ago).  You get a facebook/twitter style timeline of what others bought, followed, commented, etc.  All of this is nothing new in the 'social media' world.  Nor is it done innovatively or particularly well.  I think it's too much of a 'me too' move by Apple.  Simply putting Apples brand and market presence behind it isn't enough.  Google Wave?  Microsoft Zune or Bing? The product still has to be good and useful.  So far Ping seems to be neither to me.  It also seems to be solving a problem nobody has.  Facebook and Twitter tell me all about what my friends are up to.  Do I want to go yet another place to see what they're listening to?

Hopefully Apple will roll out a regular string of improvements to the service.  In typical Apple fashion they're not rushing into this.  They released the first, fairly crippled version a few weeks ago.  They've already released the first update.  With any luck they'll release another before the years end.  I'd like to see it incorporate the Genius suggestions some way.  It'd also be interesting to give out some kind of badge or award for listening and rating.  They also need to improve the way you find people to follow and they suggestions they generate. Some other interesting features would be to suggest a 'mood' a person is in based on the music they listen to.

Now on to the wild speculation based nothing except my wishful thinking.  Ok, suppose they get cool new features into Ping.  So what?  Is it enough to reach the tipping point?  I doubt it.  But what if it's part of a bigger plan?  What if Ping goes beyond iTunes and takes the next logical step and gets integrated into iPods, iPads and iPhones?  Now it's more than music.  But that's not enough. I can already twitter and facebook on those devices. What if it extends further to the AppleTV? Now it's about what I watched in addition to what I listened to.  Now it's getting interesting.  That's one niche that hasn't been filled by cable or FiOS.  Tivo, Roku and Boxee are headed there, but they're one dimensional.   Watch a great TV show, then comment about it to all your friends.  Even better if it could be done while watching.  Ping your buddy while watching; 'Hey, I know you'd do exactly what Wolowitz did with the robot arm!'  Now Ping becomes something more than a copycat app.

Anyway you slice it, Apple has a lot of work ahead of them if they hope to turn Ping into another reason to use iTunes and the Apple eco-system.