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Instapaper's free version goes on extended hiatus, dev explains why
Marco Arment has an interesting writeup on his blog about his iOS app Instapaper (and, of course, the web service that runs behind it). Arment says on his blog that he's quietly been removing the free version of the app from the App Store, and that's resulted in a surprising effect: sales of the full app have actually increased. Because of this, Arment says he's rethinking a free version completely, and may not bother ever bringing it back to the App Store. Traditionally, free or "lite" app versions are very helpful -- they give users a taste of what the app does without any overhead costs to them but the time to download, and they can raise awareness of an app in certain situations. Of course, the drawbacks are that a free app doesn't make any money, and it can often be a drain on resources, requiring extra development time or support. That's where Arment says his problem comes in -- the free app isn't really worth it, doesn't convert to paid as he'd like it to, and perhaps most interesting, actually causes some "image problems." A lot of free users don't realize that the free version has a limited featureset, so they aren't even seeing what the full Instapaper app can do. Moreover, the reviews for the free app (drawing from a pool of users who haven't invested anything in the app, and can "download and dump" but still review it) are noticeably worse than those for the paid version. The whole post is intriguing, and it really goes against some of the conventional wisdom on free versions of apps. Of course, I think games are different than Arment's service, but it's true -- while a free app will likely grab you a larger audience than just putting out a paid version, it still may not be the best thing for a specific app to do. Instapaper Free is gone for now, says Arment, and it may not be back at all.
Instapaper updated to 3.0, now includes social features
Instapaper, the iOS app that lets you save online articles for later offline reading, has just hit version 3.0. Already an app featured on many "must have" lists for both the iPhone and iPad, Instapaper has gained a mountain of new features in its latest update. The app and Instapaper website now have native sharing with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinboard and Evernote; according to developer Marco Arment, "You can post to any of these services from the app offline, and the app will queue up the post to be submitted next time it's online." That feature alone might make Instapaper worth its US$4.99 asking price, but new (completely optional) social features make it even more powerful. Via links to your Facebook/Twitter accounts or email addresses in your device's Contacts app, you can locate friends who use Instapaper and browse articles that they've "liked" via Instapaper's interface. Similarly, there's now an Editors browser that lets you find recommended articles. Instapaper's built-in browser also now allows you to navigate to any website and save articles from within the app itself. The full 3.0 feature list is on Instapaper's blog. Bear in mind that if you're upgrading Instapaper from an earlier version, all of your articles will re-download after the update -- so if you have hundreds of articles on your account, you might want to wait until you get home and use Wi-Fi instead of 3G. Instapaper is a universal app, available from the App Store for $4.99. If you're not already using it, I highly recommend you start.
Instapaper launches API with innovative business model
Popular iOS app and webservice Instapaper by formerly-of-tumblr Marco Arment today announced a new API offering access to content users have added to their Instapaper account. Instapaper (previous TUAW coverage) is a read-it-later type service born, as so many great apps are, of personal need. Arment would often come across long web posts he wanted to read at work, but at the same time was bored on a long train commute armed only with an iPhone and sketchy cell coverage. He wrote a quick service that would accept web pages from his browser and build a queue of them that he could download to the iPhone -- and he integrated a markup remover into the software that stripped away almost everything from the page except the content, for quicker syncing on 2G networks and easier reading on the iPhone's small screen. Instapaper was released shortly after the App Store itself and has grown solidly in features and reliability since then. The service has long offered a simple API to allow third-party apps to add content to a user's queue. This is what the "Instapaper" buttons in the various Twitter clients and suchlike use. However, up until now, there has been no supported way to allow apps other than Arment's own to pull data back out of the queue -- no alternative Instapaper readers. There are some like InstaFetch for Android that rely on hacks like scraping the Instapaper web page, but these are brittle and create support headaches for Arment. However, in offering a full API for third-party reader apps, he acknowledges he is placing his own revenue stream at risk. Presently, he pays for his hosting costs and supports future development through website ads, in-app ads in the free iOS client and a $3.99 premium client. An API undercuts his own business model. He's solved this problem with an unusual approach: the full API will only work for users paying $1/month for a subscription account. In this way, he hopes to create an ecosystem of third-party apps (presumably on platforms he doesn't have the ability to support himself) that use Instapaper without cutting his own business model off at the knees. Arment has also announced Stacks for Instapaper, the first third-party app to use this new API -- a full Instapaper client for Windows Phone 7. It remains to be seen how successful will be. It's quite possible that existing apps that use web scraping will continue to do so, rather than require their users to pay $1/month. Personally, I think it's a small price to pay for a compelling piece of software, so I hope there isn't an entitlement backlash.
The best Mac and iOS apps I used in 2010
Following up on my article about the best Mac apps I used in 2010, here are some of the best hybrid "Mac and iOS apps" I used in 2010. This wasn't an attempt to come up with a specific number, just the results of some careful reflection. You may wonder why some apps appear on this list instead of the Mac list. For example, Dropbox has an iOS app, why not add it here? Because my primary use of Dropbox is on the Mac. Yes I use it with iOS, but it's usually through another app that is syncing back to my Mac. On the other hand, using OmniFocus for iPad (our review) led to me using OmniFocus for Mac more, so I put OmniFocus on this list. All that is to say, these are my distinctions, and you are free to disagree with them. 1) myPhoneDesktop (or MPD) is a little-known gem of the iOS world. The US$5 universal iOS app pairs with desktop software on your Mac, Windows or Linux PC, and it allows you to send text, phone numbers and even images to your iOS device. While there are lots of pasteboard sharing apps (like Pastebot) that allow two-way sharing of pasteboard data, I find myself using MPD much more often because it is simpler and easier to use. If I am on my Mac and want to download a new app on my iPad, I select the URL from Safari and press command (⌘) + C + C (just like regular "copy" except you press "C" twice). Instantly, I get a push notification from MPD on my iPad, which opens the link, hands it off to the App Store app, and I purchase and download the app right from my iPad. Since I first reviewed it, MPD has been continually improved and updated, including support for iCab Mobile on iOS devices as well as GoodReader and even GV Connect, which means that you can place a call through Google Voice on your iPhone from a message sent from your computer! Read on for more...
Instapaper 2.3 adds many new features
As if Instapaper wasn't useful enough, version 2.3 for iPhone and iPad was released late last night and brings with it a long list of stellar features. Instapaper is the web service and iOS app that lets you save articles for later reading quickly and easily. My favorite new feature is OmniFocus support. Here's how it works. Open an article and tap the Share button. A slip with several options will appear, including Send To OmniFocus. Give it a tap and OmniFocus launches, creating a new inbox item with your article's title and URL. Fantastic. That's hardly the only change. Version 2.3 also includes a "length and progress indicator" in the form of a row of dots next to each article's title. The greater the number of dots, the longer the article. Also, the dots grow dark as you read further into the article. Now you can judge each story's length and approximate time to completion at a glance. We love it. Other changes include a preview of the first few lines of an article on the iPhone (previously titles only), and an additional line on the iPad. The dark feature has also significantly changed on the iPhone. Now you can make adjustments without leaving the current article or, better yet, opt to have the dark theme applied automatically. If selected, the app will note the time and switch to the dark theme at night. How does it work? Instapaper 2.3 is now location-aware. Just enter your location and it will note the time of sunset. There's so much more to this update, like Safari synchronization, meant to eliminate issues occurring when the iOS app and the web app are using different account names, plus an option to bypass the in-app browser and jump right to Mobile Safari. Instapaper gets a lot of attention from its rabid fan base, and deservedly so; it keeps improving but never to the detriment of its usefulness.
The Reader feature in Safari 5 can change your whole web experience
I'm surprised Apple didn't hype the Reader feature in Safari 5 a bit more. It's almost a stealth function, and you might not even notice it is there. My colleague Dave Caolo touched on it in his Safari 5 overview, and I want to make sure everyone tries it. (If you're a fan of the Readability bookmarklet, you're probably going to like it -- in fact, it's built on the same code base.) Here's how it works. Click on an article or post on your favorite website. Take a look at the Smart Address Field. If the word 'Reader' appears, you're good to go. Click on the word 'Reader' and you'll get a clean view of the page. If it is a multi-page article, they will all be there as you scroll down. Even better, you can print the page cleanly, or send it via e-mail. When you are done, navigate to the bottom of the displayed page and click the 'x' and you'll be back to the regular web. Check the screen shots for before and after renderings to see how it works. I found reading this way to be a terrific experience. Reader simplifies the web, getting rid of a lot of the annoying sidebars and extraneous content. It won't work on a front page with lots of links to articles, but once you are in the article, it should re-render your page if you ask it to. Apple support boards are seeing a bit of traffic about Safari 5 compatibility, but the reader functions seems to be very solid. Give it a try and see if it doesn't change your web experience. Reader works on both the Windows and Mac version of Safari. I'd love to get it on the iPad and the iPhone -- but you can get a taste of it now on those devices by using the Instapaper Mobilizer to create Reader-esque pages from your favorite sites. Note that not everyone is pleased with Reader, as it can impact advertising revenues for some sites (although it does load the complete page before it lets you go to Reader view, so it should not hinder pageview counts). It's a lot like the tension between television networks and the time-shifting/ad-skipping technologies that began with the VCR and continue today with DVRs. Ad-blocking and Reader views will probably be a flashpoint between content creators/advertising networks and the audiences they serve. %Gallery-94724%
When Seesmic met Evernote
Evernote has announced Seesmic integration over on its blog -- often while reading Twitter on my iPhone, I'll see people tweeting links to videos or long pages that I just don't have the time to check out over my EDGE connection. In the past, I've favorited the tweets, but that's not an ideal solution, especially since anyone on Twitter can see my favorites (and thus see what I've been reading). Enter Seesmic and Evernote: now, when you see a tweet on Seesmic, you'll be able to send it directly into Evernote, and save it there along with the rest of your clippings and notes on the service. Then, when I go back to my MacBook, I can pull up those saved tweets, and read whatever I missed. There are lots of other uses for a connection like this, I'm sure (and a few other ways to solve my problem -- Tweetie and Instapaper is another solution). But if you're a regular Seesmic and/or Evernote user and are looking for a way to more easily integrate Twitter into the "outsourced memory" that is your Evernote database, it's your lucky day.
First Look: Twitter for iPhone
It took a little longer than expected, but Twitter for iPhone (née Tweetie) is now available. Mostly it looks exactly the same as Tweetie 2, with the exception of a new icon (shown here). I was surprised to see that Twitter for iPhone doesn't use OAuth, meaning that we'll be seeing another version before the end of June. (Note: they may be using xAuth instead, which would not necessitate an update.) The "Services" menu still shows support for Favrd, which has been gone for months, but it also includes several other useful services like Tweet Blocker, Follow Cost, Favstar.fm, Overlapr, and Tweeteorites. A few noticeable changes in your timeline include inline retweets and location information (where available). If you are not logged in you can see trending topics (although why you would want to see trending topics is another question entirely) and search. There is also support for "Top Tweets" and "Suggested Users," two more features of little practical value. Read on for more features and tips.
How to use the updated Instapaper Pro with Tweetie 2
Instapaper Pro has been updated to version 2.2. Its creator, Marco Arment, wrote about some of the process behind adding a new feature called "Return to Position." If you enjoy hearing developers sweat the details, it's a great read. There's also a full changelog for those who want more details on the new version. I've been using Instapaper Pro a lot more recently after making a few changes to my workflow on my iPhone and Mac. I set up the "Read Later" bookmarklet installed properly from the Instapaper website. (An even easier method is to use Quix which I mentioned the other day.) I also started following the "companion site" Marco started especially for Instapaper called "Give Me Something To Read" which is a selection of interesting articles hand-picked by Richard Dunlop-Walters. The last step was setting up Tweetie 2 on the iPhone to send web pages I wanted to read later to Instapaper. This is pretty simple given Tweetie 2's built-in Instapaper integration. Just tap the "forward arrow" button at the bottom-right corner when reading a web page from Tweetie 2's integrated browser and then choose "Read Later." The first time you do that, it will ask for your Instapaper login/password. After that pages will be sent directly to Instapaper for your later reading. As I have been getting more interested in putting Instapaper to fuller use, I stumbled on Marco's instructions on how to use Instapaper's formatting tool (or "mobilizer") for all web pages which are opened in Tweetie 2. Despite the fact that these are published on Instapaper's website, few people seem to know about it. Read on to see how to to configure Tweetie 2 to take full advantage of Instapaper's formatting tool.
InstaPaper for Kindle now more Kindle-like
InstaPaper's "read later" bookmarking service was already a pretty handy way to get any article or web page onto your Kindle, but it looks like the company's now taken a considerable leap forward in usability with its latest update. Nothing's changed in the way you actually get articles onto the Kindle (via wireless delivery or .mobi files), but once they're loaded up you'll now have a decidedly more Kindle-like experience. That includes being able to tap left or right between articles downloaded from a site and, perhaps most notably, you'll also now get a convenient table of contents that can be accessed from any article by pressing the back button. Those using wireless delivery will also now see old InstaPaper files moved to the "Periodicals: Back Issues" folder as new ones come in, rather than see them fill up their home screen. Sound like just the thing you've been waiting for? Hit up the link below to get started.
Gameloft backs iPhone and backs away from Android
To iPhone or not to iPhone? That is the question on which a number of high-profile app developers are weighing-in. A couple of weeks ago it was Facebook app developer Joe Hewitt and software maker Rogue Amoeba saying they'd had enough of jumping through hoops to be on the iPhone and that they'd be working on other things. Last week, Instapaper web-service and iPhone app [iTunes link] developer Marco Arment said, "Go if you want to, but there are more than enough people in the App Store to keep me fat and happy and not nearly enough in any other mobile app ecosystem to draw me away." I'm paraphrasing of course. Now, French mobile phone game developer Gameloft has given its two cents. According to a company exec, Gameloft and other software developers are drawing down the resources spent on developing applications for Google's Android platform. Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said at an investor conference late last week, "We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like ... many others." Did he say what others? No. Did he say why? Yes. Rochefort, like Instapaper's Arment, says the people just aren't there for the Android. "It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone," says the exec. "Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue." Meanwhile on the App Store, money flows like water for Gameloft and the water's fine. Games for Apple's handhelds generated 13% of Gameloft's revenue last quarter. According to Rochefort, Gameloft is selling 400 times as many games for the iPhone and iPod touch as it is for the various Android powered phones. [via Reuters]
Save URLs for later with Quiet Read
Bambooapps has released a simple and useful utility called Quiet Read that has earned a spot on my Mac's menubar. With a simple drag-and-drop, it lets you save a web page for later review. Of course, there are many apps that do this, including Instapaper and Evernote. Instapaper gets the job done via a bookmarklet; just give it a click while at the desired URL and it's saved. Evernote does pretty much the same thing, thought their bookmarklet behaves differently between Safari and Firefox. In addition, they have the Mac application for tagging and organizing. I spent the day using Quiet Read instead of the other two. Here's what I liked and disliked. First, adding a URL is as easy as possible. Simply drag it out of your browser's address bar and drop it onto the menu bar icon. The display keeps track of how many you've collected. A tidy drop-down lets your browse the saved articles for easy selection. What I disliked is that once an app is gone, it's gone. Instapaper saves read articles. But Quiet Read isn't Instapaper. If you're looking for a free, simple way to save articles for later reading (and you're running 10.6 or later), Quiet Read could be the solution.
How to sell an iPhone app for $9.99
Marco over on the Instapaper blog (which, of course, is the blog of the app Instapaper), posted a really interesting commentary recently on a subject we've been following since the beginning: App Store pricing. As we've said before, it's a strange thing -- developers want higher prices so that they can put more effort into making iPhone apps better. But customers have a perception already that anything above $5 in the App Store just isn't worth it.So Marco offers his take: he's been selling an app in the store for $9.99, and it's going just fine. He has tips for how developers can sell their own apps for a higher price, and he settles on some good compromises for everybody: deliver a real value with your app (as economists know, an app is worth what people are wiling to pay for it, so if you produce an app that is worth $10, people will happily spend that much). Respect yourself as a developer, and don't cower to cheapskates (some people won't be happy with anything, even when it's free). And perhaps most importantly: offer a free version.That last one may be the key -- our own Michael Rose was sold on Instapaper only when he tried it out. More and more, I'm thinking that it was a major mistake on Apple's part not to allow developers to easily offer demos and upgrades in the same app -- people are willing to spend money on an app that's worth it, but not if they aren't sure, and trying it goes a long way to making sure. I'm not in favor of app store developers banding together to raise prices, but Marco is right: if you make an app that's worth $10 and put it on the App Store for $9.99 (with an easy way to demo it out), people will come and buy it.
Friday Favorite: Instapaper for iPhone/iPod touch
Another Friday Favorite, our weekly opportunity to get all sloppy over our most-loved applications.I'll admit that when I first started trying out Instapaper, as a quick and dirty "bookmark this for later" web service, I didn't see that many advantages to it. There's delicious.com for bookmarking and Evernote for saving clips and PDFs; NetNewsWire for following my preferred sites... I felt like I had the bases covered. Sure, Instapaper was fast and dead easy (you would expect as much from Marco Ament, lead developer at microblogging service Tumblr), and having a personal 'newspaper' page of items to review at leisure was nice, but nothing earthshaking. Then, wouldn't you know it, everything changed.The catalyst, of course, was the App Store version of Instapaper Free (since happily upgraded to the $10 Instapaper Pro). Suddenly, with the ability to wirelessly sync my reading list to my iPod touch, I had a two-click process that freed me from my browser for almost anything I wanted to read online. At first, the relationship with Instapaper was tentative; I threw a few NYT articles or TUAW posts-in-progress onto the list, just to see how they looked in the iPod's plain text view (answer: just fine) and how Instapaper cached the full, pictures-included web layout if I needed it. Over the next few weeks, as my election-commentary addiction reached intervention-worthy levels, Instapaper became my savior. No longer was I locked to a browser tab or to my computer when something intriguing crossed the transom. If it was mostly text: boom! Instapaper's bookmarklet to the rescue. I began diligently syncing Instapaper on my iPod wherever the WiFi permitted (a very quick process) so that I could follow up on my reading list on the subway, in the elevator... wherever and whenever I wanted. It's the low-rent, DIY Kindle and it simply, totally rocks.Instapaper's current mobile build isn't quite perfect; it switches from portrait to landscape too easily, losing your place in your list (could use a lockout switch) and it has a slight tendency to crash on longer articles. None of that makes me love it any less; with the Pro version's flexible display options and tilt scrolling (I never realized how tired my fingers got with swipe-scrolling on long articles until I enabled the tilt feature and didn't have to swipe any more) I'm satisfied and still eager to see the next version's inevitable improvements. If you're an avid reader of web content and blogs, you owe it to yourself to try Instapaper.
Developers discuss future plans
Two popular Mac developers have taken the time to blog the future of their applications. First, Marco Arment has written about his plans for Instapaper for iPhone and iPod touch. If you haven't tried Instapaper yet, you're missing out. Basically, the desktop version is simply a web bookmarklet that lets you collect weblinks on a single page.Have you found an article you'd like to read when you have some free time? Click the bookmarklet and it's added to your Instapaper page.The iPod touch/iPhone version syncs with your links collection so you've got them on-the-go. It works wonderfully, and there's both a free version [link] and paid pro version [link] in the App Store.In his blog post, Marco writes "...I compiled a feature list for what I want in Instapaper.app 2.0, and it's huge. It's easily 6 months of work ... But if I can pull off the product I want for 2.0, I'll really have something amazing."Meahwhile, Brent Simmons has written about NetNewsWire, the popuar RSS reader. All four of them. "I'm working on four apps. But they're all NetNewsWire," he says. Specifically, version 1.0.9 is almost ready for the App Store [here's the current version] while 3.1.7 is under development for the Mac. At the same time, Brent is working on versions 3.2 and 4.0 for future release.Good luck, guys! We appreciate the dedication and love your applications. Keep up the good work.
