Facebook bought Instragram for $1 billion, partially because Instagram was a threat to Facebook's online photo empire, and part because they were a mobile, not web-based company that Facebook really couldn't understand, much less match.
Should Apple have bought Instagram first, for those very reasons?
Apple's attempts at social networking, especially Ping, have been less than stellar. Their interest in photography, however, as been on the uptake. The iPhone 4S has a great camera, and the late Steve Jobs commented that photography needed a revolution.
Photo Stream is an okay way to share and backup photos, but it's not sexy the way Instagram is, and nobody loves it the way Instagram users love Instagram.
If Apple could launch a social network for music, why couldn't they buy a social network for photons?
Apple will no doubt keep Instagram on the iOS platform no matter what, and with a robust API maybe Twitter-style integration could be in the feature future.
If Facebook ever launches their own platform and removes it from the App Store, Apple could copy it -- or make their own unique take on it -- fairly quickly. They could easily add filters the way they added fun effects to the previous generation iPod nano camera.
So Apple is better served to let someone else foot the bill for Instagram, no matter how cool it could have been as part of iOS.
But it would have been an interesting alternate "What If?"
"Apple buys Instagram, renames it Pong..."
Should Apple have bought Instagram first, for those very reasons?
Apple's attempts at social networking, especially Ping, have been less than stellar. Their interest in photography, however, as been on the uptake. The iPhone 4S has a great camera, and the late Steve Jobs commented that photography needed a revolution.
Photo Stream is an okay way to share and backup photos, but it's not sexy the way Instagram is, and nobody loves it the way Instagram users love Instagram.
If Apple could launch a social network for music, why couldn't they buy a social network for photons?
Apple will no doubt keep Instagram on the iOS platform no matter what, and with a robust API maybe Twitter-style integration could be in the feature future.
If Facebook ever launches their own platform and removes it from the App Store, Apple could copy it -- or make their own unique take on it -- fairly quickly. They could easily add filters the way they added fun effects to the previous generation iPod nano camera.
So Apple is better served to let someone else foot the bill for Instagram, no matter how cool it could have been as part of iOS.
But it would have been an interesting alternate "What If?"
"Apple buys Instagram, renames it Pong..."