Rumor: Apple developing new video editing app for iOS devices, looks to target social media users

Apple is apparently developing a video sharing and editing applications that is being tested within its iOS devices.

The early plans are part of a newly directed focus to integrate social networking applications within Apple’s mobile products and are a response to the success of social media-focused companies such as Facebook and Snapchat, according to people familiar with Apple’s strategy. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

Where it’s thought that Apple’s hardware business is slowing, Apple’s services, such as the App Store and iCloud, have been generating increased revenue. Apple has failed to successfully launch social-media services in the past, including an iTunes-focused social network called Ping in 2010. Now as Snapchat and Facebook’s Instagram and Messenger apps grow atop Apple’s iOS mobile operating system, Apple is seeking to create its own features to remain relevant, particularly for younger users.

At present, Facebook’s mobile users are on its News Feed, Instagram and Messenger an average of 50 minutes a day, while Snapchat’s 150 million daily active users spend an average of 30 minutes per day with the photo- and video-sharing app. Of the top 10 free third-party iPhone apps in the App Store, Facebook owns three, while Snapchat owns two.

Apple’s updated iMessage, which Apple announced in June, will include new animated effects like balloons and fireworks to illustrate text messages, an App Store with plug-ins for sending animated images and stickers, and tools to draw on top of photos and videos.

The company is believed to be working towards tools that will allow users to record video, apply filters and distribute drawings to friends via social media. The software is currently being designed to be used mostly with one hand and with the intention that video could be shot, edited, and uploaded in less than 1 minute, the people said. At least one of the prototype designs for the app would shoot video in an Instagram-like square shape, one of the sources said.

Apple’s current plan calls for its project to become a stand-alone app, presumably as a download via the App Store, but the company may decide to package the functionality into the iPhone’s existing camera application, the people said.

The app is being developed in the same Apple department that developed Final Cut Pro and iMovie software, according to anonymous sources. Apple hired Joe Weil, the former president of a New York-based video production company, to lead the vision for the project, the people said. Weil, who co-developed a video blogging app called KnowMe, joined Apple in December 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The video sharing app is still in the preliminary development stages within Apple, and managers are weighing the app’s list of intended features. Apple is striving for a 2017 release, the people said, adding that the project could be killed if it doesn’t meet the company’s timetable and expectations. Apple has killed potential applications mid-development in the past.

Apple could theoretically choose to hold back the new social functionality yet again next year, according to the people. Regardless, the development work suggests the growing importance of social networking to the company. The renewed push that relies heavily on video also allows Apple to leverage its latest camera technology, such as a dual-lens system with more advanced zoom in the next iPhone.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via Bloomberg