Of all the apps I have installed on my phone, the one I most frequently use is Zite. Following todays news that will be changing and the app will soon be uninstalled. It’s a shame, but doesn’t really come as a big surprise as Zite offered a useful, free service – something that is becoming rarer and rarer.
It was my wife who first introduced me to Zite on her iPad. It was an app that filled a void in the market for me and soon became one of the few apps I would look at every day. It’s ability to find stories of interest to me and display them in an easy to browse format was incredibly refreshing. When their android app went through a period of not working well I tried Flipboard.
As with most people my initial reaction to flipboard was “wow” but that faded within minutes. The odd page flipping that was initially “wow” soon became “ugh” and the limited content was annoying. Despite trying to tailor it to my interests the signal:noise ratio was too low – certainly far, far lower than Zite. I found the interface increasingly became an obstacle to the stories with Flipboard, so it was with some relief that updates to the Zite app made it usable again.
I have no idea what the business model was for Zite, but I suspect that being acquired by Fliboard will be viewed as a success by their investors. With the demise of their app I find my phone increasingly resembling and being used as just that – a phone. While the investors may celebrate, I think there will be a lot of users who will view it as a step backwards.
In fact I find myself wondering why I need a “smart phone” at all. I don’t play games. I don’t download music or movies to it. I do use the camera from time to time. The colour screen is nice, but is a camera and a nice screen ample compensation for battery life that is measured in hours compared with the days I enjoyed with a simpler phone 10 years ago?
Recent activity in the IT world has also shown that apps and services have very little user loyalty. The sudden rush of whatsapp users for alternative services following their acquisition by Facebook may be a recent example, but it’s hardly an isolated instance. Using an app and coming to rely on it for anything seems bound to lead to disappointment. Companies now view you as a commodity to be traded at the first opportunity to sell for massive rewards. How did we get here?