Ping never had a chance, but a recent report may show the way to Apple’s eventual success in the social media space. According to a report in The New York Times, “people briefed on the matter” say that Apple has been talking with the social media startup about making a strategic investment.
The numbers bandied about include an Apple investment stake of hundreds of millions of dollars, which might in turn increase Twitter’s high valuation of around $8.4 billion to a nicer-looking $10 billion.
While Apple and Twitter are not currently in negotiations, a stronger financial partnership would make a lot of sense, especially as Twitter continues to integrate more strongly with each iteration of Apple’s iOS mobile software, as well as a stronger integration on the Mac desktop with Mac OS X Mountain LIon. Facebook debuts as a more integrated service in upcoming iOS 6, but the relationship between the house of Zuck and the house of Jobs is tenuous at best, ever since the two companies were unable to make a deal to include Facebook features within Ping. Google, of course, is pushing it’s own social media presence, with Google Plus, and – oh yeah – also competes quite directly with Apple via the Android mobile operating system.
Investing in social media superstar Twitter would be a different approach for the typically buy-em-and-subsume-em Apple, but it would definitely raise Apples social media street-cred. Twitter’s growth into the market has been unparalleled, gaining more than 140 million monthly active users (MAUs) in a very short time. Twitter would benefit from the above-mentioned boost in valuation, a first for the social media business, as Facebook’s weak debut on the financial market still casts a pall over the web company. Twitter doesn’t need the money, per se, with a reported $600 million in cash and $1 billion in financing it’s garnered from investors and advertising.
It would be fantastic if these two companies connect, though, as Apple really doesn’t seem to “get” social media, and Twitter isn’t bound to compete with Apple in any obvious way. A partnership, even a limited one via an investment strategy, makes sense.
Source: The New York Times
