Smartphones
and tablets have been pushing the personal computer aside, thanks in
part to popular apps made by mobile-first entrepreneurs like Flipboard
CEO Mike McCue.
Just don’t tell McCue the desktop is dead.
In
fact, the PC remains the mode of choice for many readers, especially
during business hours. McCue is catering to that preference with
Tuesday’s launch of a Web browser version of Flipboard’s digital
magazine service. Until now, Flipboard’s 15 million magazines could only
be read through a mobile app.
“There
is a whole group of people who don’t do that much browsing on their
phones. That’s what they use their computer for,” McCue said during an
interview at Flipboard’s Palo Alto, California, headquarters.
Besides
winning new converts with the expanded access, McCue is also hoping
many of Flipboard’s 50 million existing users will visit the service
more frequently now that it’s on PCs.
PC
sales have been slumping for the past two years, though there have been
recent signs the worst of the decline is over. Meanwhile, sales of
mobile devices are still surging despite a recent slowdown in the tablet
market. Worldwide PC shipments declined 2 percent last year to about
309 million machines while smartphone sales climbed 28 percent to 1.3
billion devices and tablet sales increased 4 percent to 230 million,
according to the research firm International Data Corp.
All
but a few of the magazines in Flipboard are free. They are created
through links culled from users’ social media accounts or put together
by other Flipboard users interested in sharing their interests and
expertise with other readers, as well as professional publishers trying
to expand their digital audiences. Flipboard lists the magazines under
34,000 different topics.
Flipboard
was originally designed for tablets, but smartphones now account for
about 70 percent of user activity, McCue said. That figure seems likely
to change now that it’s been tailored for the desktop. PCs remain the
most popular way to access Internet services during the weekdays when
most people are at work, with smartphones running second, according to
data from comScore. It isn’t until the evening when tablets become the
leading Internet-connected device, with peak usage occurring around 8
p.m. to 9 p.m.
Flipboard
isn’t the only popular mobile app making the leap to the PC in search
of new users and deeper engagement. Last month, Facebook’s mobile
messaging service WhatsApp offered a version for Web browsers, although a
user’s smartphone must be on and online for the syncing to work. The
trend reflects a growing realization among mobile-focused apps that they
can’t ignore PCs if they want to connect with users as much as
possible, said Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett. “It doesn’t
make sense to users if they up show up to a service on a PC and get
ignored, but get all this magic if you show up on a mobile device.”
Flipboard’s
Web browser version, built over the past 18 months, is designed to
detect and automatically adjust to the different screen sizes of PCs.
The largest canvas of PC screens allows Flipboard to rearrange the way
the content appears on desktops so compelling pictures are showcased in
bigger sizes and different layouts than on a smartphone, or even a
tablet. For now, the magazine pages on Flipboard’s PC version are
scrolled through with a mouse instead of flipped through with a touch as
on the mobile apps.
Coming
to the PC fulfills McCue’s original vision for Flipboard when he came
up with the idea in 2009 shortly after leaving Tellme, a
voice-recognition service that he started and eventually sold to
Microsoft for $800 million. After concluding that Web browsers and chips
at that time were too clunky to produce digital magazines that looked
as snazzy as print editions, McCue and Flipboard co-founder Evan Doll
turned their attention to the iPad before moving on to smartphones.
“Our users sitting in front of their PCs can finally stop wondering why they can’t use Flipboard,” McCue said.
Posted by : Gizmeon
No comments:
Post a Comment