Companies still said to be in talks

Additional details regarding Facebook's dispute with Apple have emerged, suggesting that Apple attempted to connect Ping to the social networking service before both sides negotiated a deal. Although the Facebook Connect APIs are typically open for free use, the company requires an agreement when usage will have a significant impact on infrastructure.

Steve Jobs initially said links to Facebook were excluded because the social networking giant was demanding "onerous terms" for the service. New information suggests Apple included direct links to Facebook in the iTunes 10 public release, despite the violation of Facebooks terms, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The feature was even demonstrated onstage during the iPod event.

Apple's strategy apparently ran into a roadblock when Facebook decided to block Ping from accessing the APIs freely. Apple subsequently modified the system to remove the connection to Facebook Connect.

Both parties are said to be negotiating to resolve the dispute and bring the feature back to Ping.

by MacNN Staff