So the TL;DR version of the article is "so Apple can become a player in social" but it never address the question as to whether that's actually something that A

So the TL;DR version of the article is "so Apple can become a player in social" but it never address the question as to whether that's actually something that Apple would want to / need to do. To me this move would suck of Microsoft buying Hotmail, or getting into search or Messenger or any one of the things they go into when the internet started booming and they worried that they were getting left behind. And what's happened since? Microsoft have lost money hand over fist on them with little genuine strategic gain other than saying that they were in those spaces. Social is a pretty rapidly evolving space at the moment but other than Facebook is anyone really making money there? Google have made several plays with limited success, Twitter is interesting but has an unclear business model and most of the social start ups range from the uninspiring to the niche to the sort of thing that Facebook is just going to copy and crush if it takes off. And even Facebook, anecdotally at least, seems to be getting tired. I hear so many people talking of irritation with it, drifting away, even closing accounts. The figures continue to show growth but among the sort of people who were early adopters I'm personally seeing a complete lack of engagement with it. So yes, it would make Apple a player in social but really, is that something they want? In terms of keeping it out of the hands of Google or Facebook or whoever, if you think it's a good acquisition, you should buy it because of that. If you think it's a bad acquisition then you shouldn't care, in fact you should probably want them to buy it to have them waste a billion dollars. Oh, and I loved the idea "they fix Ping and monitize it". Is it just me or is this MBA speak for "Buy Twitter, ?????, PROFIT!!!".