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The next generation of Instapaper
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- rkudeshi 13y agoI wonder how much this has to do with the rise of Pocket over the last year. It's no secret that Pocket has improved dramatically since rebranding a year ago. And I'm sure most people who are looking for their first "read-later" app are trying Pocket (free) before buying Instapaper ($5). Personally speaking, I bought Instapaper for myself and gifted it to a few other people over the years, but I switched to Pocket a few months ago. The continuous updates and simpler interface (those thumbnail pics are surprisingly useful) won me over, despite my hesitations about their business model.
- abdophoto 13y agoIt absolutely had something to do with it. I don't think anyone would say that Instapaper is 4x better than Pocket ($3.99 vs Free). If anything Pocket has clearly made a name for itself with better design and its new Pocket for Publishers API. I think Instapaper saw its peak about 6 month - 1 year ago and with The Magazine doing well, it was smart of Marco to sell it off in my opinion.
- bonaldi 13y agoInstapaper's parsing is 3x better at least. Very often I see Pocket lose chunks of articles over innocuous divs.
- zw 13y agoAnd I'm often reading those articles in Pocket, which means I never see them at all. Very frustrating.
- 1123581321 13y agoI tried Pocket and couldn't get past not having article length indicator, the quick archive/delete menu, favorites, and the Kindle auto-digest. Has the situation improved in any of those areas?
- vasco 13y ago3.99$ vs 0$ means it is infinitely better not just 4x times better.
- elithrar 13y agoInstapaper is nice because I felt like I was paying a reasonable amount for an app that I use regularly. Pocket, although having its own benefits, is free. Any service with ongoing costs (parsing servers) that charges nothing for their app has me questioning their longevity.
- runjake 13y agoYou should be questioning how they make money instead. Because if it's free for you, you're probably the thing being sold in that scenario.
- ruswick 13y agoIndeed. Many companies are hesitant to fully activate their advertising apparatus, and go years without making revenues (eg. Tumblr). I worry when I see a company that isn't attempting to accrue meaningful revenues. I'm actually quite happy when I see that companies begin serving ads substantially.
- incision 13y ago>Pocket, although having its own benefits, is free. Any service with ongoing costs (parsing servers) that charges nothing for their app has me questioning their longevity. Prior to the name change, Pocket offered a $3 "Pro" version. I'm guessing that Pocket means to be acquired eventually. Pulse runs a free app parsing/serving from App Engine and took in $9.8M in funding before being acquired by LinkedIn for $90M. Pocket runs a free app parsing/serving from EC2 and has taken in $7.5M in funding. I was able to see who would be interested in Pulse and why pretty early on. I'm not sure about the same for Pocket.
- SoftwareMaven 13y agoI'm guessing that Pocket means to be acquired eventually. And those acquisitions work out so well for the product, especially smaller, more niche products. If they've taken that much money, they are going to have to provide a strategy to monetize. If they are doing it for free, it means they are selling analytics about what you are reading to somebody else. For myself, I'll pay for the app.
- incision 13y agoSpeaking of Pocket, I'm baffled by their lack of (recently upgraded to simply lacking) sharing functionality and full-text search. Passing a Pocket link to someone without a Pocket account leads to a sign-up page. If the recipient already has an account or goes to the trouble to sign up, they're redirected to their own queue, not the linked article. If the recipient goes to the trouble to sign up and pocket the same page themselves they will end up successfully accessing the getpocket.com/a/read/XXXXXXXXX URL that they were original sent. Pocket is throwing away potential new users who quit at the sign up page and useful information about how existing users share. Within the last month, they finally added some sharing functionality, but it sends links to the original not the pocket version. Another opportunity to pull new users into a test drive of the product being thrown away. Lack of full-text search makes referencing anything down the road incredibly difficult. I've ended up regularly importing my Pocket queue to historious [1] to achieve this. At this point, the only thing that keeps me using Pocket is the very nice Android app. 1: http://historio.us http://historio.us
- w1ntermute 13y ago> Passing a Pocket link to someone without a Pocket account leads to a sign-up page. I'm not sure what you're talking about. I just tried sharing something from the Pocket Android app and it gave me the original URL in the Gmail message I opened.
- incision 13y ago>I'm not sure what you're talking about. That probably has something to do with failing to read what I wrote. I'm talking about a link to the "read later" view. I even described the original URL functionality you're confusing it with. "Within the last month, they finally added some sharing functionality, but it sends links to the original not the pocket version."
- tomkarlo 13y agoSeems like it makes a lot of sense to do this. They don't want to become a de-facto mirror for the content, they want to provide it only to people who are actually their users. I'd rather have that, along with a bias towards sharing the original link, than a lot of sharing of the reflowed content.
- micampe 13y agoThere is one simple thing that prevents me from using Pocket: pagination. It does’t work, it’s fiddly, it’s unclear how to turn it on, when you manage to activate it it switches off with the tiniest gesture. Pagination is the big Instapaper feature for me.
- dannowatts 13y agoi could be wrong, but isn't pagination just swiping to the right to activate it? and then to deactivate it, you would just scroll the content normally. that work for you?
- micampe 13y agoNot well enough.
- Newky 13y agoThe thing which irritates me most about this pagination model where you swipe, is that if there is a code reference or something off page, it means u wrestle with this page flipping on/off until you finally are able to drag the page so u can see remainder of code listing.
- eliajf 13y agoThe analysis on his part had to be simple. He has two products right now, one of which generates $2.40 one time and then people use it for years. His second product pays him $1.40 per customer every month. The second product is far more stable long term.
- benparsons 13y agoI have no particular loyalty to Instapaper, but their major feature over Pocket, for me, is sending a compilation to kindle as an ebook (Kindle sees it as a magazine, complete with TOC.) People have been asking for this feature from Pocket for a while now (http://help.getpocket.com/customer/portal/questions/286894-kindle- http://help.getpocket.com/customer/portal/questions/286894-k...), but without much encouragement that it will appear.
- reefab 13y agoHere you go: http://www.crofflr.com/auth/login http://www.crofflr.com/auth/login
- bookwormAT 13y agoHere you go: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tchami.kindle&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tchami.kin...
- Y0YO 13y agoI think Instapaper for iPhone is more polished and minimal compared to the new Pocket and that's why I like it. However, the web version is extremely trouble and useless and needs some work. But when someone of my family or friends asked me to what should he use. I always says Pocket, because it is easy and not classy like Instapaper and don't forget the updates too.
- emehrkay 13y agoI enjoyed the podcast that Marco had on the 5by5 network because he seemed like such a regular guy who happens to work hard and put out a popular product. A lot of times it also motivated me to get to work on my own things. Congrats to him and Im looking forward to what he does next
- Shank 13y agoUnrelated to the article, but Marco & a couple others now run a different podcast: http://atp.fm/ http://atp.fm/
- lostlogin 13y agoHas there been some sort of falling out between Arment, Siracusa and Gruber - they all left 5by5 within a short time of the Gruber move, and in my opinion their shows are now worse.
- timkeller 13y agoNope.
- smackfu 13y agoI think for the two recent guys that left, they were just burned out on having to carry all the content of a weekly show alone. Now their new podcast is more of a conversation and they can just BS without much prep. For Gruber, I assume it was just money. Someone else offered him more or an ownership stake that he wasn't going to get from 5x5.
- dpcx 13y agoGruber left in February 2012 [1]. Hypercritical continued until December [2]. Build and Analyze the same [3]. Siracusa and Arment both said they thought the shows had run the course. Siracusa is also a regular on The Incomparable [4]. [1]: http://5by5.tv/talkshow http://5by5.tv/talkshow [2]: http://5by5.tv/hypercritical http://5by5.tv/hypercritical [3]: http://5by5.tv/buildanalyze http://5by5.tv/buildanalyze [4]: http://5by5.tv/incomparable http://5by5.tv/incomparable
- designatedInit 13y agoCongratulations to Marco. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
- hartror 13y agoDitto. He really is an inspiration.
- ambirex 13y agoWhen I compare this to the Parse/Facebook deal, this seems like a more natural transition. I actually doubt it has much to do with Pocket, instead I think is exactly how Marco put it, grown bigger than a single person could manage. Congrats to both Marco and Betaworks.
- skeletonjelly 13y agoIf it had grown bigger than one person could manage, why not hire somebody?
- jkestner 13y agoHe's stated before he likes the employee-free lifestyle. And there is a huge gap to bridge between "I can do this myself" and "There's enough work to hire a full-time employee".
- lostlogin 13y agoThe amount of work is, I suspect, not a factor. Im not sure that having an employee wouldn't be a move I'd ever want. Yes, that means I'll never pass a certain level of success by the measure the majority use (money). However if that's the price, so be it.
- manmal 13y agoBut getting one or more partners on board who get like 10% of the revenue and take over all the development work and day to day business might have worked quite well. Or subcontracting to some kick-ass freelancers (who would have jumped at that opportunity, surely?).
- mmariani 13y agoBecause he obviously loves to code, and once you have employees you become a manager. I'm looking forward to see the things he's planning to build. Good luck Marco!
- smackfu 13y ago
- Kylekramer 13y agoArment two days ago: https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/326757551947530240 https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/326757551947530240 He may be just refuting the "peak downloads/full time on Magazine" claim, but kind of an odd response given this.
- evan_ 13y agoIn retrospect that seems like a tease of today's announcement- He's saying that Instapaper's best days are still to come.
- uxp 13y agoActually, it doesn't sound odd in the slightest if you read the whole thread, including the two people at the end complaining about the lack of support. Reading the article, it sounds like Instapaper was just too big for Marco to support on his own, and has partnered with BetaWorks to help him make the product better, probably by giving it support. It seems incredibly cut and dry from that perspective.
- Kylekramer 13y agoWell, one of bottom guys is the editor of Arment's magazine, so only one of them is asking for support. I just find it odd that people saying things mostly proven by this sale (Instapaper isn't Arment's top priority, it is hard to run Instapaper alone) gets a somewhat chastising response saying "it isn't true at all".
- smackfu 13y agoThe odd thing is that he already hired an editor for The Magazine so it's not like be needs to work full time on it. Maybe he has another idea for a new project. He has definitely "seen the light" about a product producing monthly revenues instead of a one time purchase price.
- danleech 13y agoI switched from Instapaper to Readability about a year ago, despite Instapaper being faster and having a better (actual) business model. I was lured by the beautiful reading experience that comes with Readability’s iOS apps. Hopefully, with a focussed team behind it, Instapaper will begin to catch up on the design front. I’m looking forward to seeing where Betaworks take it.
- kgosser 13y agoBetaworks.com getting hammered right now. I hope they are better at managing Instapaper ops! I tease, I tease. In all seriousness, congrats to Marco. A real hero of The Internet.
- nsxwolf 13y agoAnyone want to guess at the valuation? Betaworks didn't spend much on Digg, wonder how deep their pockets are.
- niggler 13y agoDigg was a brand acquisition (just for the name); Betaworks wasn't interested in the tech
- twog 13y agoFrom what I can tell, thats basically what Betaworks are buying from Instapaper as well. Its not "technically challenging".
- kmfrk 13y agoOne way to look at it is that the money people paid for Instagram has already gone to Marco. What he's "selling" are potential future customers, subscriber fees, and ads. I don't know what the curve on user adoption looks like, but it seems like a smart choice from a financial point of view. It'll be interesting how this fits into the upcoming Digg RSS reader.
- smackfu 13y agoI wouldn't be surprised if Instapaper has a free version again very soon.
- gingerlime 13y agoHope they don't remove the epub download option. Everybody's building iPhone apps, but last time I checked only Instapaper supported epubs. It's been great with my kobo reader* * albeit, I run a script to fix some errors (based on http://opennomad.com/content/instapaper-epub-issues http://opennomad.com/content/instapaper-epub-issues)
- sayhitofrank 13y agowondering if betaworks will just use the parser technology to use it for other products like the "RSS reader" DIGG announced or s.th. else. Maybe they are trying to build something like www.dotdotdot.me
- pinder 13y agoI've been hoping for innovation in the app for a while now. It'd be nice to have any sorts of options or filters to help you clear your backlog, such as "filter by shortest to longest" or "show all half read articles". Hopefully this deal helps innovating an app that has become a bit stale.
- barredo 13y agoTwitter can be dramatic https://twitter.com/SteveStreza/status/327550484745445376 https://twitter.com/SteveStreza/status/327550484745445376
- blairbeckwith 13y agoThis is classic Marco, nothing to see here. He's just a child who starts this stuff over nothing, from what I've seen.
- wklauss 13y agoI would have done the same as Marco. It was unasked for and unnecessary. Pocket is a great app but so its Instapaper and Marco has done a tremendous job over the years by keeping it in shape by himself (with exception of the Android app). This is a way on pissing all over the the efforts of a independent developer. Just because.
- smackfu 13y agoC'mon, that tweet from Steve is exactly the kind of thing Marco would post if Pocket or any of his other competitors were getting bad press.
- dangrossman 13y agoIt wasn't directed at Marco. There actually were [1] tweets prior to this one where Instapaper users talked about switching to Pocket because of the news. Marketing to people using competing products is everyday business. Ex 1: https://twitter.com/SocialJerm/status/327547885308739584 https://twitter.com/SocialJerm/status/327547885308739584
- ishbits 13y agoFunny.. Just a few weeks I was wondering if Marco was bored of Instapaper and tried out Pocket in case he was going to dump it. Doesn't matter, I ended up liking Pocket better after having been a long time Instapaper user.
- brianwillis 13y agoI'm hoping that when Marco says "I've sold a majority stake" he doesn't mean "I've sold everything". I'm a big Instapaper fan, and I'd hate to see someone else take over deciding the direction the service should move in. A big part of Instapaper's success comes from the fact that Marco's done a great job at steering the ship. He really is a world-class product guy who knows what to say no to. Congratulations to Marco and Betaworks. I hope it works out well for all of us.
- huhtenberg 13y ago> Announcement: betaworks has acquired Instapaper. I don't think it can be any clearer than this. http://betaworks.com http://betaworks.com
- phil 13y agohttp://www.appannie.com/app/ios/instapaper/ranking/history/#start_date=2009-07-08&end_date=2013-04-26&view=rank&store_id=143441&device=iphone&vtype=day http://www.appannie.com/app/ios/instapaper/ranking/history/#...
- webwright 13y agohttp://monosnap.com/image/uHrTKSc7dUyOmuT1Oc5BmtxOV http://monosnap.com/image/uHrTKSc7dUyOmuT1Oc5BmtxOV
- rdl 13y agoI hope nothing happens to Instapaper. I love this app; after Chrome and Mail, it's my #3 app on iOS.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoI’m saddened by this announcement. I’m an early Instapaper paying subscriber, a The Magazine paying subscriber of the first hour, I’ve read every article on his blog, I’ve listened to all the episodes of Build & Analyze, Accidental Tech and the Neutral podcasts — I’ve spread the word every way I could and engaged with the sponsors of the shows. I became a Tumblr member because of him. Marco has always talked about how important he felt it was to be independent and to offer a paid service in order not to be acquired. Given how he handled the Android release, I believed he would never sell Instapaper. Last week, Loren Brichter announced he would be moving to Facebook. I’m still shell-shocked about that announcement as a very active Letterpress player, now this. I’m worried. I will continue to pay for Marco’s products and services, but I am worried what will happen to Instapaper, which is an important tool for how I acquire information and do business.
- tomkarlo 13y agoCreating a service shouldn't be a lifetime commitment to running it. There needs to be a way for Marco to continue inventing new products without dedicating an increasing percentage of his time to supporting existing ones, and this seems like a reasonable way to allow that.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoSure, I completely understand why he would do it, and he sold the service to the best party he could think of, but still, I am sad.
- sgdesign 13y agoHow does Loren Brichter moving to Facebook affect Letterpress in any way? Are you worried you'll now be getting pop-ups asking you to "like the word XYLOPHONE on Facebook"?
- staticfish 13y agoNot really the same thing. Marco sold the product to Betaworks Inc. Loren went to facebook as a private individual.
- ZaAaV 13y agoAnd I will Instapaper that article...
- lispython 13y agoIn the article "Talent acquisitions" http://www.marco.org/2012/07/20/talent-acquisitions http://www.marco.org/2012/07/20/talent-acquisitions Marco criticized Pulp, Wallet, Sparrow and he wrote: Instapaper has had multiple similar inquiries from large companies over the last few years. We’ve never gotten very far in talks because I don’t want Instapaper to shut down, I don’t want to move my family across the country, and they didn’t want to pay enough — for them, they’ll pay a premium to hire me, but they won’t pay much for a service they’ll shut down immediately and an app they’ll throw away. I was only able to reject those offers because Instapaper is a healthy business, and the life that Instapaper provides for me and my family is better than what the big companies offered." If you want to keep the software and services around that you enjoy, do what you can to make their businesses successful enough that it’s more attractive to keep running them than to be hired by a big tech company. So it's not a "Talent acquisition", but how could we still keep the software and services around that us enjoy in the future?
- fakeer 13y agoI think the thought process is simple - you run a paid service and it's good, liked by people and you see another service, free, being acquired(acquihired most likely) and you feel bad about it(not jealousy necessarily) and you give your opinion and how that's bad for app ecysystem and of course for the users who depend on them. But when an opportunity comes to selling the app you just sell it if the price is good and that's a known thing. OF course in the blog post after sell you mention how you'll still be influential and all. Though not al sell/buys are bad. Evernote bought Skitch and now I like it more.
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- kuebelreiter 13y agookay, will be gone in one year from now. or one and a half. always the same story with that kind of acquisitions.
- Uchikoma 13y agoEither way, I've payed the one-person-dev for some years, I won't pay Digg.
- nicholassmith 13y agoGood for Marco, good for Instapaper, good for Betaworks. I believe Marco when he says he's not done it out of worry for the competition. He's never seemed particularly bothered about having rivals, as Instapaper was making money. It does seem that his passion for the project was waning though, there's not been a new version for a while, compared to a few years ago where new features were arriving on a reasonably regular basis. I think it'll be a good fit, whilst Marco might be bored with the project he wasn't going to give his crowning achievement up to anyone, so I imagine Betaworks will be taking it onwards and upwards. Good for us as well, it means Marco can find a new project to interest him.
- aeonflux 13y agoFor at least year Instapaper wasn't really moving forward. Design feels outdated, the website looks like thrash. Pocket on the other hand looks and feels pretty awsome. As you can the fact you paid for the app or not has nothing to do with this outcome so far. Instapaper situation is the best example, that Marco's jabber that you should pay for apps if you wan't them to last is just plain wrong. The free vs paid doesn't really matter in long run. Fortunatlley you can switch from one to another within a week, so its not much of an investment anyway.
- xamdam 13y agoEver since Instapaper got the bright idea to charge monthly for a search feature, fuck them. Go pocket.
- splamco 13y agoMarco likes to rant about other app devs selling out their users for a buck. I believe Marco believes that he's somehow different.