UPDATE: Check out purported screenshots of iTunes 9 showing social networking integration from German blogger Tobias Bischoff after the jump.
The coming version of iTunes 9 will feature social networking on steroids, and Apple may be developing a standalone social networking application as well, if an account Tuesday from Boy Genius Report proves accurate.
Citing a “a pretty reliable source” named Lindsey, the site reported over the weekend that iTunes 9 would feature “some kind of Twitter/Facebook/Last.fm integration” along with Blu-Ray and functionality to visually organize and arrange iPhone and iPod Touch applications.
The source appears to have described Apple’s plans further, saying the company is working on a separate “Social” application it plans to release at some uncertain future date. The app would integrate with iTunes to let users broadcast what music they are currently listening to, permit sharing of music with people on their network (but um, iTunes lets you do that now), connect with friend’s friends, and update all of their online statuses at the same time.
It’s not hard to imagine Apple would be working on social networking, since it’s pretty much the biggest trend on the Internet today. It will be interesting to see what the company’s take on social communications looks like, especially in the light of the fact that social networking capabilities are among the more compelling aspects of LaLa — a competing music distribution outlet CoM reported on previously.
It will also be interesting to see just how much “broadcasting” and “sharing” music labels and artists rights organizations such as ASCAP and BMI are going to stand for in the brave new social world that appears to be just over the horizon.
