Apple Patents “Places”: New Social Network?

Apple didnt really get off to a good start with Social Networking with ‘Ping‘, so it appears they have moved onto something new by patenting a trademark for ‘Places‘, which is supposed to be a new Social Networking type service that will use the assistance of GPS to locate other iOS device users.

No idea yet of whether it will integrate with Ping, but the service is pretty much the same as Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla. Personally I dont see a point to another GPS-based Social networking service. Apple’s going to have to give us a really good reason to use it over the alternatives. What do you think?

[via Patently Apple]