This is the exact reason why Apple shouldn't want to buy facebook (at least right now). The A4 chip is the first in a long line of supply chain consolidation. I

This is the exact reason why Apple shouldn't want to buy facebook (at least right now). The A4 chip is the first in a long line of supply chain consolidation. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years time we saw a Macbook Air with an A4 type CPU and a more iOS-integrated OS X (for both x64 and A4). The more ownership of the supply chain Apple has, the more they can inflict quality control standards on to it, and the cheaper they can make equipment. I think ping will succeed as far as Apple's initial goals are concerned (more iTunes sales), but will fail as a social network until they find a compelling way to integrate it into the iPhone experience. Personally, I think the killer app for ping as a social network is messaging and status updates (as every iPhone user has iTunes and thus access to ping) but Apple can't create a messaging client without raining on the Carriers' and developers' parades.