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.
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 down, #1 as a last-ditch growth mechanism, and #2 as a means to eliminate any legal recourse should the service suddenly shut down.
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.
I don't have a statistical survey, but I have anecdotal evidence of paid services going away, increasing in price dramatically, or remaining the same. Same with free services.
I can't honestly say that the paid-for services I use are more likely to remain available than my non-paid services.
The key factor appears to be a viable business model, but that's impossible to evaluate from the outside (and sometimes from the inside).
Would you mind elaborating on how Pinterest derives value from your "aggregate information about links on the web"? What types of data do you/they glean through Instapaper?
That's quite interesting, are you using Instapaper to allow you to get more expansive testing on the parsing technology before rolling in the main product or are they reasonably lockstep?
How I wish Pinterest saw some value in keeping Fleksy - the keyboard app they acquired, updated. It is/was one of the best 3rd party keyboards out there, but has gotten buggy with newer iOS.
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.
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 announce that we're shutting down".
"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.
Except you literally just stated what there is to be grumpy about.
> "..I just got something for free and .."
What you're saying is now that they got it for free they have no right to complain about the fear of it being unstable. Which is EXACTLY why people are having an issue here. They are fearing that the fact that it is free means it also won't be able to be relied upon and you just proved why they are saying that. If you pay for something you have some recourse. If it's 100% free for everyone and shuts down, well shit. Guess all of your stuff is gone and you have to go elsewhere.
There are a lot of those questions in the blog post. Perhaps an explanation of how Instapaper development helps Pinterest as a whole would assuage some fears?
Hi Brian. OT question if I may:
I have a rooted B&N Nook that I would love to install Instapaper on, but the device does not have access to Google Play. The lack of an available .apk file is what led me away from Instapaper, even though I was already a paying Premium member. How can I get my hands on the official .apk?
Thanks so much for dropping into this thread. Would Pinterest be willing to open source non-competitive pieces of Instapaper's tooling, considering the user base is what is of value (monitoring parser and link quality)?
