Native NetNewsWire RSS Reader for iPhone Previewed

[MacRumors]

Image from Arstechnica
Arstechnica has a preview of a native version of the popular NetNewsWire RSS reader for the iPhone.

The iPhone version of NewNewsWire shares a lot of ideas and functionality with its big brother on the desktop, but Brent's tweaked the scope of the mobile version in such a way that it fits very nicely with the scope and purpose of what an iPhone application should be.

The mobile version of NetNewswire does not try to replicate all the functionality of its desktop counterpart, but focuses on the mobile "satellite" focus. Of course, read/unread states will be pushed to NewsGator which will sync with your desktop application. Brent Simmons describes targeting the application to people on-the-go who might have just a few minutes in between tasks to catch up on their feeds.

More screenshots available in the original article. Current NetNewsWire users should remember that there exists a mobile iPhone optimized version of the site that provides similar functionality at m.newsgator.com.

Article Link

[longofest]

I love netnewswire/newsgator.

Lovin' MacRumors on the feed list

[avigalante]

Originally Posted by longofest

I love netnewswire/newsgator.

Lovin' MacRumors on the feed list

Yep. MacRumors made the list - congrats!

This program looks incredibly useful on the iPhone (especially for those on the slower 2.5G EDGE connection).

[azdude]

Oh. Hell. Yes.

I use the mobile web version *all day long*. This will be an even nicer experience.

[Me1000]

This is about the only 3rd party app that I was really looking forward to!
and it looks like they are going to nail it on the head!

[TheT]

This is great news, I use the mobile version very frequently as well. Which reminds me of one thing:

Macrumors is the only feed I read where not the whole story is in the RSS. This is not so bad when reading news on the desktop with NNW, since you can always just command-click the headline and view the item in a new tab. But on the mobile version, it is an issue, since you always need to go back and forth to read news.

arn, is there any way this can be changed in the future?

[yetanotherdave]

mobile google rss reader is such an elegant solution I can't see myself wanting to use this. Oh well, sitll looks like a nice app.

[cloudnine]

Slightly off subject, and forgive my ignorance, but why download a separate RSS reader when there's a great one integrated in Mail?

[yetanotherdave]

Originally Posted by cloudnine

Slightly off subject, and forgive my ignorance, but why download a separate RSS reader when there's a great one integrated in Mail?

because it's not that great, or you don't use mail.

[Vegeta-san]

I am going to ask a question that will show my complete ignorance here....

But what are RSS feeds? Why would I want to use this program on my iPhone? What benefit would it give me? It seems like everyone who knows about them loves them, so I'm very interested to find out what all the fuss is about.

[Vegeta-san]

Sorry...Double post.

[yetanotherdave]

Originally Posted by Vegeta-san

I am going to ask a question that will show my complete ignorance here....

But what are RSS feeds? Why would I want to use this program on my iPhone? What benefit would it give me? It seems like everyone who knows about them loves them, so I'm very interested to find out what all the fuss is about.

RSS is like subscribing to a website. You add a site's feed to your RSS reader, and when the site updates, it tells you about it (like getting a new email). Sometimes the whole article appears in your reader, sometimes just a link to the article, depending on how the site is set up.
Using this means I can keep up to date with hundreds of websites without having to visit them, I only go to them when something new is there. And I get a preview so I can decide whether or not to bother.

[Vegeta-san]

Originally Posted by DrAtheist

RSS is like subscribing to a website. You add a site's feed to your RSS reader, and when the site updates, it tells you about it (like getting a new email). Sometimes the whole article appears in your reader, sometimes just a link to the article, depending on how the site is set up.
Using this means I can keep up to date with hundreds of websites without having to visit them, I only go to them when something new is there. And I get a preview so I can decide whether or not to bother.

That is awesome. I'm gonna have to get this program when it comes out in the App Store. You guys think it'll be free?

[arn]

Originally Posted by TheT

arn, is there any way this can be changed in the future?

Ya. we may change it. not before July though... I have more time then.

Originally Posted by Vegeta-san

That is awesome. I'm gonna have to get this program when it comes out in the App Store. You guys think it'll be free?

This will be free. NewsGator, the company that owns this, recently released all their newsreaders for free.

arn

[TheT]

Originally Posted by arn

Ya. we may change it. not before July though... I have more time then.

That's awesome, thanks for the info. Your time and effort is appreciated, this is the reason MR is still the #1 mac-related website.

Back on topic: I prefer NNW over Google reader simply because of the stand-alone Mac app... a web app simply isn't as comfortable on a desktop, at least if you don"t have Fluid/Safari 4 funtionality.
Now the only thing missing is push-RSS. Imagine an iPhone-supported push-news-service, this would absolutely change the way we "consume" news.