“I’m a news junkie who wants to read anything I can get my hands on. I thought that after six years of using an iPhone, I would’ve found my holy grail: something customizable that lets me save and share articles as I go about my day, recommend things I might have missed, and update me on what’s breaking or trending, all in a clean, easy-to-read format,” Michael Simon writes for Macworld. “A few of the apps I tried came close, but none got it perfect.”
“So when Craig Federighi promised Apple News would deliver ‘beautiful content from the world’s greatest sources, personalized for you,’ my interest was piqued,” Simon writes. “Watching the WWDC keynote, it seemed like it would fill every one of my needs and quickly become my go-to news client, but at launch, News was a victim of its own ambition, trying at at once to do too much and too little, not unlike its relative, Apple Music.”
“Still, just as with the streaming service, there’s a lot of potential in News. With a few tweaks, it could become the best in its field — and maybe even save the industry,” Simon writes. “Any journalist will tell you that it’s not the news industry that’s dying, it’s the distribution method. It’s kind of like the problem the music industry had before the iTunes Store paved the way for change, and with the right changes, Apple News could do the same for publishing.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So far, it’s been slow going. Publishers who still don’t have access to Apple News Format can’t monetize their content with iAd, so until and unless Apple ever rolls out Apple News Format beyond its current “limited basis,” Apple News is nothing more than a glorified RSS reader offering in many cases, as Simon describes: “truncated stories that need to be viewed on the associated website.”
Do you use Apple News regularly?
iOS 9 users can view MacDailyNews on Apple News here.
SEE ALSO:
Apple plans to offer subscription content through Apple News app – January 26, 2016
Apple mistakenly underestimating number of readers using Apple News app since launch – January 11, 2016
Publishers underwhelmed with Apple News app – November 13, 2015
AMP: Accelerated Mobile Pages are Google’s response to ad blockers and news apps like Apple News – October 15, 2015
Google’s new Accelerated Mobile Pages meant to keep users in Web browsers and out of dedicated apps
Following Apple News, Google preps Accelerated Mobile Pages – October 7, 2015
Apple News is fast, responsive, enjoyable, and it might become your only news app – July 15, 2015
Apple News shows that Apple wants to bolster and profit from ads, not eliminate them – July 10, 2015
Apple News to have human curation – and that raises issues – June 15, 2015
How Apple’s mobile ad-blocker could backfire on the company and iPhone, iPad users – June 12, 2015
Hats off to Web advertising – no, really – July 6, 2015
Apple’s support of mobile ad blocking may upend how the web works – June 12, 2015
I have been using it more and more!
its got a lot more content now, so its working better!
The biggest problem with Apple News is that it doesn’t let you eliminate/block sources. I’m not interested in the New York Times take on stories, but that’s all it feeds me. Boring.
They actually do now. It might just be in my 9.3 beta, but it is a feature. Lots of improvements coming soon.
Really?? How? I haven’t seen the mechanism to do it. I’m on the beta — where do I find this?
Ah, I’ve found it. Too bad it doesn’t seem to affect the Siri suggestions in the search page, but better than nothing.
Here’s an idea. They could quit abandoning apps after they turn them loose in the wild. They could find what people actually want in an app. They could give the app robust support. They could promote the app for more that a nanosecond on release day. They could demonstrate the features of an app in a way that wasn’t so pedantic.
I was excited about the News app when it was first announced, however, I am disappointed. The app is very slow when loading news. I hope Apple fixes this in a future update. Until then I’ll continue to use other apps that are far better.
I’m still using FlipBoard as my go-to. Every once and awhile I turn to News. The need to scroll so much is a pain. I don’t remember it taking too long to set up, but I find the entries lacking and I’m in and out quickly.
II work in TV news. I like the news app and go to it several times a day. It helps me keep up with the national news that matters to me. Any improvement would be icing on the news cake.
Spot on MDN, it still needs much work, it is almost easier to go directly to the website. And the refresh rate is unbearably slow.
Well, it’s news as entertainment. If you delete all the noise you can focus on useful articles. But, even so, I prefer to read real news publications. I look at Apple news once or twice a month.