The place where apps go to be forgotten

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I agree with Gruber on this.



  • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

    What I really can’t stand is not being able to put Newstand in a folder.

    • Orien

      IMO, all Apple built-in apps should be able to be disabled via Settings – General – Restrictions. Right now, only a few like iTunes can be.

      • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

        I put every Apple app in one folder [on iPad, a couple on iPhone] and ignore them. They are bloatware to me as I only want Settings, Mail, App Store, and Safari.

      • D Pauw

        Agreed, they really should let you hide every built in app (well outside of the stores and settings). Throwing them all in a folder (ignoring how you can’t for newstand) is a horrible kludge.

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    If this feeling’s widespread, what does that say for the future of periodicals that partner with Apple to use Newsstand?

  • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

    I disagree. This is a matter of personal taste and habit.

    Case in point: I too don’t use Newsstand and I’ve banished it to the last page of the springboard. Flipboard I tried extensively, but found it uncomfortable to use, especially for long form content.

    If Newsstand were to harbour two or more interesting magazines I like/read, it’d be on my first homescreen and I’d have no problem tapping it to launch my preferred magazine. Except that there’s a snag:

    I see a problem more in the presentation of content. Publishers of newspaper and magazines (with a few notable exceptions) have been struggling to get content onto tablets and smartphones in an at least somewhat appealing package. They don’t focus on improving the experience of consuming the content and Newsstand didn’t help with that, it just made peoples’ homescreens more tidy.

    The NYT is on the right track, because Flipboard has a proven UX and a liked UI, making reading and discovery a pleasure for many people — even if I don’t count myself among them. Newsstand could’ve done this, had Apple set boundaries for the UI inside the respective Newsstand apps with a focus on good UX and readability.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XENVNKXRXRIHZBGMN35N44M3VA dreyfus_ffm

    While Gruber is often right, I absolutely disagree here.

    Newsstand’s killer feature is not that it puts all papers in one folder, it is the automatic downloading of new issues and the indication badge. The two daily papers I have subscribed to (and a few magazines) are automatically available every morning, and a badge saying “2″ tells me about it reliably, without any need to do anything. This ensures that I will open Newsstand. ANy non-Nesstand app would have to send me annoying notifications and downloading would then still be a manual step.

    The only apps in Newsstand that get forgotten are those I downloaded, but don’t actually use. But they would be forgotten in any other place, too.

  • whalt

    I’d be more interested in hearing about something you don’t agree with Gruber on for a change.