2009: The Tipping Point for Google Reader’s Dominance

Dr. Drang wrote an article yesterday titled, “The iPhone and Google Reader hegemony“:

What’s missing from the articles I’ve seen, though, is an explanation of how Google Reader got to be the 800 pound gorilla of RSS. It’s almost as if it were a fait accompli, that Google is a force of nature that inevitably takes over any field it gets into. The way I see it, though, is that it was the iPhone that put Google Reader in the driver’s seat.

It’s good theory, and I mostly agree.

But I think there is another critical factor as well: NewsGator shutting down its online feed reader, which also served as the syncing engine used by both NetNewsWire and FeedDemon — arguably the two most popular RSS applications for Mac OS X and Windows, respectively.

NewsGator Online shut down in 2009. Later that year NetNewsWire and FeedDemon both incorporated Google Reader as their new syncing engine.

Also in 2009: Reeder 1.0 for iPhone shipped, and quickly became one of the most popular RSS applications for iOS. And you could only use it with a Google Reader account.

As Dr. Drang points out, the iPhone was emphasizing more than ever our need and desire to sync our data. Meanwhile, Google Reader was in the right place at the right time just as all the new and best applications were in need of a syncing solution. Too bad Google didn’t care.

2009: The Tipping Point for Google Reader’s Dominance

Mailbox Aquired by Dropbox  →

Wowie zowie that was fast. Mailbox launched 37 days ago. (And isn’t there still a queue for people to get access to the service?)

I never did get into a groove with using Mailbox instead of the built in iOS Mail app (in part because my primary email account is not on Google). But I’m very glad to see that Dropbox is the company to acquire Mailbox. I have a lot of trust and goodwill towards Dropbox, and, no doubt like many of you, I’m very interested to see how Dropbox plans to use the code, ideas, and talent of the Mailbox team.

Mailbox Aquired by Dropbox

The Tools & Toys Guide to Fine-Tip Gel Ink Pens  →

When I discovered the Pilot G2 0.38mm pen, it just about changed my life. Little did I know that that fine-tip gel ink pen was just the tip of the iceberg (pun intended), and I’ve since tried and used a dozen or more different brands and sorts of fine-tip gel ink pens.

While the Uni-ball Signo DX is hands down my favorite, there are many great options and it seems everyone has their own favorite. Which is why I asked Brad Dowdy, author of The Pen Addict, to write this guide for us at Tools & Toys.

The Tools & Toys Guide to Fine-Tip Gel Ink Pens

Baby Steps Toward Replacing Google Reader  →

Marco Arment is calling on Reeder and Black Pixel (NNW) to make a change to their RSS readers, and lead the way in encouraging Google Reader alternatives to use an API that mirrors the the Google Reader API. Thus making it easy for the many 3rd-party feed reading apps (of which Reeder and NNW are arguably two of the most popular) that so many of us use to tie in to whichever new service we pick:

Like it or not, the Google Reader API is the feed-sync “standard” today. Until this business shakes out, which could take years (and might never happen), this is the best way forward.

This would be so great for the users.

Baby Steps Toward Replacing Google Reader

Sponsor: New Relic for Mobile Apps  →

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My thanks to New Relic for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

Sponsor: New Relic for Mobile Apps

Feed Wrangler  →

Upcoming alternative to Google Reader from David Smith:

I’ve been working on an alternative to Google Reader for a few months now. It started as desire to manage my RSS feeds in a way that didn’t feel like I was still stuck in the web of 5 years ago. I wanted a more modern approach that focused on providing the best possible experience for navigating my news feeds. So Feed Wrangler was born.

I’ve heard a little bit about what David has planned for Feed Wrangler and it sounds fantastic. Even if Google Reader were not being shut down in a few months, Feed Wrangler looks to be an excellent move forward. I’m looking forward to it.

Feed Wrangler

Goodbye Google Reader

You’ll notice the 5th bullet-point on this list casually mentions the fact that Google is shutting down its RSS service on July 1:

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

This is huge news. Google Reader dominated the RSS feed market when it launched years ago, and has become the unofficial backbone for OTA syncing of pretty much every single popular feed reading app.1

As a user of RSS (I check my feeds every day), the best thing to do is export your OPML file from Google Reader.

The sites we read and subscribe to are not going away — it’s just the service we’ve been using to keep our read statuses in sync that is. Over the coming months there will no doubt be several alternatives which begin popping up, and so long as you’ve got your OPML file then you can move your “subscriptions” anywhere you like.

The app I use most — NetNewsWire on my Mac — still runs just fine as a standalone RSS reader and feed catcher. So even if a syncing service isn’t yet available come July 1, I’ll still be able to check my RSS feeds from my Mac with no problems.

But that probably won’t have to be the case:

  • David Smith announced that he’s been working on an RSS aggregation service to replace Google Reader.

  • Reeder app announced that they’ll be just fine without the Google Reader syncing backend.

  • Feedly just announced that if you’re using their app, they plan to seamlessly integrate the syncing to their own sync server.

  • And Fever is a self-hosted feed catcher that already syncs with Reeder, as well as quite a few other iOS apps.

And no doubt there are more alternatives I don’t even know about already, with more to come.

I agree with Marco Arment:

It may suck in the interim before great alternatives mature and become widely supported, but in the long run, trust me: this is excellent news.

My other concern is as a content provider. I have an RSS feed for this site, Tools & Toys, and my daily podcast. The vast majority of subscribers are subscribed via Google Reader. And so, in part, I can’t help but wonder if and how much the readership of my two sites will drop off. Only time will tell, and, in truth, those subscribers who don’t port their feed to another service likely weren’t all that engaged of readers anyway.

  1. I’d be very interested to know what Google means when they say “usage has declined” over the years. How many people have Google Reader accounts versus how many people are actively checking and reading their RSS feeds? No doubt it’s a smaller user base than a few years ago, but how “small” is it now? ↵
Goodbye Google Reader

The Personal Analytics of Stephen Wolfram’s Life  →

Last spring, Stephen Wolfram used the “automated data analysis capabilities” from Wolfram|Alpha Pro to run some analytics on the emails he’d sent, keystrokes he’d typed, and meetings he’d had over the past couple of decades.

The first thing I noticed between Wolfram’s data chart of daily emails sent and the page on this year’s Feltron Annual Report for when Felton filled out his iPhone app survey, is that both of these guys are night owls. Stephen Wolfram goes to sleep around 3:00am, and Nicholas Felton around 1:00am.

The Personal Analytics of Stephen Wolfram’s Life

The 2012 Feltron Annual Report  →

I’m a huge fan of Nicholas Felton’s design chops. I’ve been buying his annual reports since 2007, and they’re always interesting and inspiring. They also have a tendency to sell out. So if you want one, don’t wait around.

For extra credit, check out this short piece Mark Wilson wrote for Fast Co. Design about the custom-built iPhone app Felton used to record all his data points for this year’s report.

And for even more extra credit, check out Nicholas Felton’s sweet Mac setup from Fall 2010.

The 2012 Feltron Annual Report