Apple and social networking don’t have such a great history, but the Cupertino tech firm is ready to give it another go, if new rumors regarding a potential acquisition of the Path social app are true. According to PandoDaily, Apple is already in talks with the mobile social network and the merger is “essentially a done deal.”
Path, for the uninitiated, is a mobile-only social networking app launched in 2010 that features photo sharing, private messaging, and other features you’d expect from a basic social service. It isn’t as widely popular as something like Facebook or Twitter, but it’s estimated to have somewhere around 25 million users and could provide Apple with a decent platform to create its own network.
You may remember Path as the app that sparked a serious discussion about mobile app permissions and contributed greatly to the creation of the current iOS privacy settings when it was discovered that the software was uploading users’ entire address books to the network (and storing them there) without asking for permission.
[tweet https://twitter.com/davemorin/status/480050992486969344]
According to Pando, the network as it stands would likely remain wholly intact and could be integrated into Apple’s Messages app. For what it’s worth, Path co-founder and CEO David Morin was reportedly spotted sitting on the front row of today’s Apple media event alongside the company’s executives.
