Apple's Ping reaches one million users in 48 hours

Apple has today revealed their first social network endeavor, Ping, has already reached one million users in just over 48 hours.

Ping, one of the most acclaimed features of iTunes 10 which was announced on Wednesday at a special Apple event alongside new iPods and a revamped Apple TV, is Apple's first social network, and allows users to share what music they're buying on Apple's iTunes Store. Users can become friends with others just like on other existing networks such as Facebook, and can amongst other things view custom music charts based on what songs their circle of friends have been buying on the iTunes Store and "like" and comment on other users purchases.

With more than 160 million users already running the iTunes software, it wasn't going to be long before Apple broke the 1 million user mark - and today the Cupertino-based giant confirmed they've passed the milestone already, revealing one-third of all users who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping already.

“One-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping,“ said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services in a statement today. “As many more people download iTunes 10 in the coming weeks, we expect the Ping community to continue growing.“

While Apple seem content with the current rate of sign-ups to Ping, some commentators have expressed their surprise at the fact that the milestone wasn't reached earlier -- within the first 24 hours -- given the huge number of active iTunes users.