Facebook Blocks API Access To Apple's Ping, Apple Removes Feature Altogether

So, there's been a bit of a controversy swirling around today. After iTunes 10 officially launched late last night, after the announcement from Apple, there were plenty of people wanting to get to try out the new social networking feature, Ping. Through Steve Jobs' presentation, Facebook was definitely included in the whole "social" aspect of the feature. But, people began to find out quickly that, oddly enough, Facebook was missing from the final product. There's now some clarification as to why that is.

Thanks to Kara Swisher of All Things D, who has been speaking to some sources familiar with the matter, it seems that after some talks, Apple and Facebook couldn't come to terms. The results? Facebook subsequently blocked Ping from accessing the API necessary to link the social networking giant with the new social networking, music-specific tool. The result is the inability to search for an iTune user's friends on Facebook, who are also connected to Apple's Ping.

Apparently, the API itself is open, and generally speaking anyone can use it if they need to. However, if the application in question is going to access it quite a bit, then Facebook requires an agreement, which is made to primarily protect Facebook's user data and infrastructure. Negotiations were certainly struck, and there was plenty of conversation, but the end result wasn't good, and now you can't use Ping with Facbook, and vice versa. Apple did indeed pull the feature right after its public feature — that's why some are saying they did have access, but don't anymore.

[via All Things D]