Instapaper is a note-taking app with a long history and a loyal following. And after a couple of high profile changes of ownership, Instapaper is once again going independent. What that means for the future of Instapaper is anyone’s guess.
A Brief History of Instapaper
Instapaper has a rather interesting history. Instapaper was developed by Marco Arment, who launched it in 2008. It rapidly gained millions of users, and in 2013, Arment sold Instapaper to Betaworks. Then, in 2016, Betaworks sold Instapaper to Pinterest.
Now, less than two years since Pinterest acquired Instapaper, the note-taking app is striking out on its own once again. Pinterest is stepping aside, with the people who have actually been working on the app since 2013 making Instapaper independent once more.
Instapaper Regains Its Independence
On the Instapaper Blog, the Instapaper Team announced that “Pinterest has entered into an agreement to transfer ownership of Instapaper to Instant Paper, Inc.” This is “a new company owned and operated by the same people who’ve been working on Instapaper since […] 2013”.
The team states that Instapaper will “continue to be built and maintained by the same people who’ve been working on Instapaper for the past five years” who will “continue offering a robust service that focuses on readers and the reading experience for the foreseeable future”.
Instapaper is leaving Pinterest, going indie again with the team that was running it before: https://t.co/iGkfUoW6RR
I bet this is very good news for the future of Instapaper.
— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) July 16, 2018
The change of ownership will happen in a few weeks, with Instapaper giving users 21 days notice. This is necessary given the personal information involved. Which is also why Instapaper hasn’t been available in Europe since the GDPR was put in place in May 2018.
Making sure Instapaper complies with the GDPR rules will surely be a priority for the new (old) team. Because Europe surely represents a sizable chunk of the Instapaper userbase. After that has been fixed, who knows what the team has planned for Instapaper.
Instapaper Faces Stiff Competition
Instapaper is just one of a handful of read-it-later apps. The competition includes Evernote, OneNote, and Google Keep. However, those who use Instapaper want to see it succeed. And hopefully becoming independent once again assures it a bright future.
Image Credit: Johan Larsson/Flickr
Read the full article: Instapaper Breaks Away From Pinterest
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