LG’s G Watch R pestoverde/Flickr
In the early 90s people balked at the idea of reading the news on a computer, yet if you looked at online services of the day (Compuserve and AOL), user demand would say otherwise. News was consistently among the top activity. Eventually that same demand drove Web 1.0 and by the time Web 2.0 hit, news consumption shifted online.
At the same time, mobile news apps started appearing on early portables like the Palm Pilot and iPaq through services like AvantGo. It was clumsy and awkward, but you could actually read the news away from your desk. By the time the smartphone matured (Treo, Blackberry, then iPhone) news consumption started shifting to mobile.
Now more time is spent consuming news on mobile than on desktop (Comscore Mobile App Report 2014).
During this evolution the news business massively transformed. Newspapers consolidated, newsrooms disappeared, foreign correspondents and investigative journalism suffered. Yet at the same time the demand for mobile news has skyrocketed. On Google Play, news is the second fastest growing category behind games (AppAnnie app report, Q2 2014).
We are experiencing a rebirth in news and it’s being driven by mobile.
2014 is the year of the wearables and just when news publishers are finally figuring out mobile, wearables are popping up everywhere. Mostly on reader’s wrists.
But is there a place for news on the wrist? Are readers going to shift behavior yet again?
As a news app publisher, this is the best possible time & place: The unknown. Fundamental questions drive our development, “do readers even want news on their wrists?” and “What should news look like on a watch.” As a news platform we’re forced to experiment, try new formats, fail, learn and adapt.
When News Republic appeared on the first Samsung smart watch, we had no idea what to expect. Surprisingly users not only browsed headlines, the majority actively read entire articles on their wrists. 30,000 downloads later we’re blown-away at the usage.
Android Wear presents a whole new type of challenge: It’s a limited platform that doesn’t want you to stare at the screen, only glance at it. Our approach here is different, quickly sorting through news alerts and taking action on your smartphone.
Now as smart watches like the Samsung Gear S become unchained from their smartphone masters, we’re faced with an incredible opportunity: To evolve the mobile news experience beyond the smartphone & tablet.
In a recent discussion with a large app store manager, we discussed the idea that news alerts are turning into a primary way mobile readers discover news. And our data backs this up. This trend lends itself perfectly to the smartwatch, A quick glance is all it takes to get the news, not a 3-step process pulling out your phone and unlocking it and launching an app.
On the wrist, news alerts become more immediate, closer to the reader, and more intimate. This increased intimacy puts additional pressure on making sure the user gets the alerts they find most important, to them. News alerts need to get smarter and understand context, location, setting and interests. I want my news app to understand me, to learn from my behavior and give me the news I want, along with a dose of the news I should know.
As a news app, this is the challenge that we are trying to solve. News habits change and adapt quickly: It happened with the web, it happened with mobile, and it’s happening again with wearables. I’m thrilled to be part of this great unknown, because in the end we’re creating something that will make the world more informed, aware and engaged.
Gilles Raymond is founder and CEO of News Republic.
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