Looking forward to Pinterest shutting Instapaper down in 2 years.
Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
81–90 of 134 posts
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hello, Brian! I hope you will take my skepticism in good humor. While I would delight in Instapaper's prolonged availability, I trust you are aware of the widespread perception that acquisition is where startups go to die [0], to say nothing of the fact that some of Instapaper's competitors have also fallen to the wayside [1]. The final red-light comes from the tendency to make services free right before they shut do…
I understand and appreciate the skepticism, however, the reason we're making this change is because we want to provide the best experience for our users. Pinterest receives value from the ongoing operation of Instapaper in the form of continued parsing improvements and aggregate information about links on the web, and that value is enough to justify our relatively small operating costs.
For me one part of "growing up" in sw engineering has been that I have started to want to pay reasonable amounts for things I use actively.
I see it as an insurance for us users: as long as a significant amount of users are paying keeping the service as-is is a valid alternative for the owners.
When it becomes free I fear that someone suddenly starts looking at it as a cost center, I mean: all the benefits you mention seems to be possible without operating an end-user service.
Disclaimer: not a paying Instapaper customer, but I am a paying lastpass customer and a paying google docs customer etc etc.
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brian from Instapaper here. We have no plans to shut the app down, and a big part of the value the app provides (parser improvements, aggregate information on links) requires the ongoing operation of the service.
> We have no plans to shut the app down This is a pretty empty claim without a minimum time frame. It would also be more convincing if it came from Ben Silbermann... Hope you forgive the skepticism but I've seen too many start ups being acquired and happily singing the "Our buyer has full confidence in us and will let us operate with 100% independence" cliché quickly followed a few months later by "We are sorry to an…
"Hi I just got something for free and I'd like the opportunity to complain about it now." I mean he said there are no plans to shut it down. What timeframe? You want a promise that for X years you'll continue to receive this service for free, unchanged? They're extending the value. There's literally nothing to be grumpy about.
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#84This smells like an app that will be shutting down in about six months.
Brian from Instapaper here. We have no plans to shut the app down, and a big part of the value the app provides (parser improvements, aggregate information on links) requires the ongoing operation of the service.
Hi Brian, I currently use pocket, why should I use Instapaper instead, is there any differentiation? I also receive the Instapaper weekly emails, which I love for the curation of top stories. Thanks.
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brian from Instapaper here. We have no plans to shut the app down, and a big part of the value the app provides (parser improvements, aggregate information on links) requires the ongoing operation of the service.
I like how seriously Brian answered a post by someone named AdmiralAsshat
Well, the guy is an admiral.
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#86On the one hand I like new free features, especially the search. On the other hand Instapaper got acquired by Pinterest ( http://blog.instapaper.com/post/149374303661 ) and if they no longer make money from premium subscriptions and the service is ads-free, then how will they generate revenue? Selling publishers premium spots in my reading queue?
Hi there, Brian from Instapaper here. We will not be serving advertisements in your Instapaper queue. The value Instapaper provides to Pinterest in terms of parser capabilities and aggregate information about links is enough to justify the small operation cost of running the service. I'm happy to answer any other questions you have. Brian
Hi Brian,
I paid for Instapaper so that it could run in the interest of its users. If it's fully supported by Pinterest, then its value to users is secondary to the value of its data and technology to Pinterest.
Why can't I keep giving you money? I don't want any special features, just your undying loyalty.
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just subscribed. Very nice and simple service, love it. The only bad thing I can say is that the "popular" tab seems to be HN delayed by half a week or so.
Just add a comment system - that would be a HN competitor I would love to use.
Hah, that's an entertaining idea!
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#88Does anyone have experience to share re: Instapaper vs. Pocket (or something better)?
A little late here, but the comment may be useful. I actively use both services (and Pinboard), but for different things. Pocket for me is "something is possibly interesting but I don't have time to work that out right now", Instapaper is a store of long form articles that I want to read (on tablet, Mac, phone or Kindle), and Pinboard is bookmarks.
The separation of concerns is useful for my mental model of what I intend to happen when I open each of these apps.
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I run a rival site to these. Can you email me a description of what this kind of plugin would do? (support@pinboard.in)
Oh, I didn't realize Pinboard had a Read Later feature. I thought it was just a bookmarking service. I finally found some info about Read Later on your website, though I didn't see it where I first looked (in your FAQ). So this is different than your Archival feature, yea?
It's just a status flag you can set on a bookmark. It's useful for saving stuff you want to pretend you're going to read, then will never look at again.
Re: Instapaper Premium is now free for everyone
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I run a rival site to these. Can you email me a description of what this kind of plugin would do? (support@pinboard.in)
As someone who is concerned with where Instapaper is heading, how well does your site compete with the likes of Instapaper or Pocket?
Poorly on making things readable, but really well on not going out of business or being bought by anyone.