Is Apple About to CHALLENGE Facebook?

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) rumored takeover of social networking website The Fancy may help the iPhone maker expand its e-commerce base considerably, according to analysts. Apple is in talks to buy the New York-based company that is considered the biggest rival to Pinterest, according to Business Insider. But while The Fancy encourages users to make wish lists similar to Pinterest, it has the added capability of letting them buy at least some of those items through its website.

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Pinterest was the fastest growing social network over the last 12 months, but The Fancy already delivers approximately $10,000 per day in sales, according to another report in Business Insider. The social network also takes a ten percent cut from sales.

If Apple were to go forward with the acquisition in its attempts to market a wider range of products to its user base, it would enter Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) territory. Facebook, which lets retailers set up shopfronts on its website, is, of course, yet to make much of a mark in that area in terms of revenue. However, according to Telsyte research director Foad Fadaghi, the potential partnership between Apple and The Fancy may turn out to be a lot more successful.

“Social networks, themselves, try to monetize their user base, but I think it’s interesting if Apple starts dabbling there, as well,” Fadaghi told ZDNet. “People are used to spending money with Apple, and not so much on Facebook.”

According to the analyst, Facebook is still mainly considered by its users as a social platform for interacting with family and friends, and not a place you can or should go to make purchases. Apple, though, already has the reputation of being a seller.

“Utilizing that high density and billing relationships that Apple has, to sell you other products and services, is potentially quite powerful,” Fadaghi said.

The Fancy is much smaller than Pinterest, with only about 20 employees, but has been valued at around $100 million and has Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes on its board. Apple has not made any potential plans public yet.

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