Feedly takes RSS into the tablet wars, great news reader, first look!

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Feedly (an RSS reader built on top of Google Reader) has waned on my screens in the past year as Twitter has become more and more dominant. That’s why Steve Gillmor and others have stated that we think RSS is dead. Dead meaning “not interesting” NOT “dead like Osama.”

But for the past 18 months the Feedly team rewrote their system from scratch especially for tablets.

Why tablets? Well, duh. The world on tablets is exploding and this is where many people are doing their entertainment and news reading. Every night I sit on the couch flipping through apps like Flipboard and Zite, along with Twitter and apps from publishers like Time, New York Times, NPR, BBC, and Wall Street Journal.

So, do we need yet another news reader on our iPads? Well, the new Feedly shows me that yes we do. Watch Edwin Khodabakchian, CEO, show us why on this video first look. Yes, it’s long, but it’s worth it.

How about on Android tablets? Well, Feedly is one of a new kind of apps built mostly around HTML 5 with a little bit of native code to add features that only iOS or only Android can offer.

Within minutes, you’ll see lots of reviews, watch Techmeme for a list, but don’t miss out and get Feedly on your iPad. Get it on iTunes.

More coverage of Feedly’s new app:
1. on The Next Web.
2. on RWW.

Published by Robert Scoble

I help entrepreneurs build their technology business' story, help with getting ready for investors, with other launch plans, and many other strategic things that can help your new startup. Call to talk: +1-425-205-1921 (text first).

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18 thoughts on “Feedly takes RSS into the tablet wars, great news reader, first look!”

  2. I don’t think RSS will die for power users just yet – I still find myself powering through my RSS feeds on Google reader on the desktop and then read my starred articles on the iPad later.

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  4. Twitter vs. RSS is like comparing apples and oranges. Each has it’s tradeoffs and uses. One is for long-form communication, the other is decidedly not. One is more useful than the other depending on who you are and what you do. Proclaiming that one is better than the other is just comment-baiting, so I’m glad that you specified that it was DEAD to only you two guys. (Dead is such a harsh word, don’t you think?) For me and my work, it’s the reverse as it is for you guys.

    And in the RSS world, you have casual magazine-style readers where it’s okay to miss a percentage of what streams through and has a low capacity, and powerful apps like NetNewsWire where nothing gets missed and the sky is the limit for us serious content miners and observers.

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    1. Wrong. Tweets regularly include URLs to long-form information. Flipboard proves just how wrong you are and Feedly now has to compete with Flipboard. It’s not just an RSS world anymore and people who say that only RSS has long-form information are, well, uninformed.

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  6. I’ve been a fan of Feedly for some time. I must admit that I couldn’t help but get a little frustrated throughout the video as you keep trying to pull Edwin into your perspective on social media, and the like, and seemingly making him explain why Feedly doesn’t do what you want. There’s nothing wrong with probing questions, but it felt as if you were trying to point out flaws in Feedly, when it’s clear that it’s not set up to be a real-time news feed. It’s an RSS reader optimization application. It’s not meant to deliver real-time news. You kept referencing your 32+k people you follow on Twitter (I think we hear this in EVERY video or interview), and how these people share information. I think Edwin’s point was that someone might follow the link you shared, and then add that site or blog to their Feedly list. Your sharing on Twitter and reading RSS feeds in Feedly are not mutually exclusive. A lot of people find value in going to content beyond the Tweet.

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    1. Well, if you are frustrated it’s because you don’t see what’s happened to the market lately. We didn’t talk about Osama’s death on Sunday night on RSS. We talked about it on Twitter.

      Twitter has become the way we distribute news and information and I see it and systems that want to compete with Flipboard better take that head on. Feedly is very cool, but it’s reliance on RSS leaves it out of the game, me thinks. Flipboard does BOTH RSS and Twitter (and Facebook too) and that makes it a superior product in many ways.

      I won’t apologize for being hard on Edwin about this issue. The market is wondering why Feedly matters in the world with Flipboard in it (which just got $50 million, so is a hyper-well-funded competitor) and those questions were aimed at specifically that.

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  10. Robert, Great Interview. I am playing with the app right now.

    I think there is something to be said about using twitter and RSS. There are just certain sources/writers that I dont want to miss. Stuff that maybe isnt as real time. Stuff like your blog, daring fireball, roger ebert, etc. For me, RSS works the best for that, stuff I want to make sure doesn’t get lost in the noise of twitter. For me at least, Twitter can sometimes feel like the popular kid. Not necessarily the best quality, just the stuff that is getting the most attention.

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    1. “For me, RSS works the best for that, stuff I want to make sure doesn’t get lost in the noise of twitter.”

      Wrong!! Twitter! Twitter, Twitter!! And that iPad app that uses, yes, Twitter! So there! Bam! Twitter bullet right through RSS’ head! How you like them apples? Now _that’s_ what “we” are talking about on Twitter!

      😉

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  12. What was the twitter app running in the background? It looked rather interesting too.

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