Apple wants a slice of the social sharing market and is building a new app that would work in a similar fashion to Snapchat, according to a report published Thursday.

Bloomberg claims the new app will offer video sharing and editing on iOS devices, and are part of a new focus by the company to integrate social networking applications into its mobile products in response to the success of Facebook and Snapchat, Inc.  Interestingly the push is said to be in part due to the slowdown in Apple’s hardware business, with Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook looking at ways to make more money from services.

The new app is said to allow users to capture footage, edit it, add filters, and upload finished videos to social networks using one hand in under a minute, with development being led by the same team behind Final Cut Pro and iMovie.

Development of the app is described as being preliminary with Apple striving for a 2017 release, however the “people familiar with the matter” added that the project could be killed if it doesn’t meet the company’s timetable and expectations.

Social expansion

Along with the development of the app, the report claims that Apple is considering additional social integration inside of iOS that will improve sharing to contacts system-wide; current integration includes recommendations for points of interest, contacts, and apps based on location, but Apple is looking at expanding on those features.

In addition, Apple is also said to be working on consolidating communications between iPhone and iPad users, allowing an app to show a single window where they can see all the interactions they have had with a specific contact.

It’s not clear at this point which of these features, if any, will be forthcoming in iOS 10, although it’s a logical conclusion to suggest that we will see at least some of these features appear at some point in the future.

Whether Apple can deliver a product to compete with Snapchat is another matter. While iMessage is a fairly popular product with Apple users, it is still limited to Apple devices only, and any new product would presumably have the same limitations. To succeed in social, a product has to have cross-platform support, particularly in a market where Apple plays second fiddle to Android in terms of market share.

iOS 10 is due to be released September 30.

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