Apple and Facebook - It's complicated

"It's complicated" that's most likely the relationship status Apple and Facebook would show as their relationship status, after Apple launched it's social network effort Ping without Facebook interaction. Initially Apple negotiated with Facebook to link Ping with Facebook, but Facebook, which at this stage has grown to a significant size and is also aware of the value of it's data so that negotiations with presumably bigger players are no longer a done deal for the latter. After negotiations failed according to Apple due to not acceptable terms, Apple tried to use the regular Facebook connect API, but sees itself blocked from this service. Apple is not alone, Twitter and Zynga have already experienced the same. The question is, how long will it take for the two parties to agree on acceptable conditions and link Ping and Facebook ?

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