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Apple is ready to integrate a big name social network into its new OS - just as long as it's not Facebook.

When Apple introduced us to iOS 5 at WWDC earlier this week, one of the most attention-getting new features was its deep integration with Twitter. Every preinstalled iOS app now includes the option to share via Twitter and to even include your location. It’s a powerful tool and one many iOS users will be happy to use, but we have to ask ourselves: Why not Facebook? Don’t get us wrong, Twitter is a popular and far-reaching social network that boasts approximately 200 million users and one billion tweets per week. But Facebook’s grip on social media is something that cannot be challenged, and you have to wonder why Apple didn’t connect its service with iOS 5.

It’s not like it hasn’t been done before. Windows Phone 7 handsets integrate Facebook into its People Hub, and Android merges Facebook friends with your phone contacts. But now any app iOS users download will simply request Twitter credential permission, a prestigious position given how important your Internet identity is to developers. So why not Facebook?
Technical complications

The easiest answer is that it’s just not ready yet. Apple and Facebook could very well be in discussions about a partnership and are simply navigating a way to best do this. Facebook is a more complex platform than Twitter, there’s more users can do with it, and it stands to reason that weaving its intricacies into those of iOS cleanly and efficiently will require more time. It’s hard to believe that the brains behind Apple and Facebook couldn’t find a working approach, but both companies have very established brands and finding a compromise may mean it takes longer to reach a finished product. That said, this seems unlikely – mostly given the history between these two tech giants.

Apple and Facebook aren’t friends

If Apple opted to integrate Twitter because talks with Facebook soured, it wouldn’t be the first time the two companies’ business relationship suffered from disagreement. Ping, Apple’s music-minded social platform, integrated Facebook at one point. Unfortunately, it didn’t play out smoothly and the social network shut off Facebook Connect for Ping and said the two would have to agree on some sort of deal. Apparently, Facebook’s terms were not to Steve Jobs’ liking (he called them “onerous”) and the Ping-Facebook integration was dead. And where did Apple turn? Twitter.

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