New national news aggregator iPad app Niiiws launches UK edition

A group of Portuguese web developers have launched a UK edition of a new iPad app Niiiws, a personalised news reader which aggregates national news stories based on social sharing.

The app, which originated within startup muchBeta, organises content by traditional newspaper sections with users also able to indicate their interests for future content by selecting tags within articles. Content displayed are also those articles most engaged with on social networks.

The company is producing country-focused editions of the app, having launched in Portugal on 23 May and now the UK. There is also a Spanish edition available and the company is hoping to launch Niiiws for the Republic of Ireland and France later this month.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk chief executive of muchBeta and the lead of the Niiiws project Joao Martins said while some editors and publishers saw an immediate benefit to the app, others are still "waiting".

"Individual journalists we spoke to loved it, they know the industry is changing and that change won’t come from inside.

"The reaction from editors and publishers we really didn’t understand yet. Some, we know, liked and understood we could be great partner for the next future and that we were immediately bringing a lot of traffic to their websites, but the majority didn’t yet say anything, as usual they’re waiting.

"We hope they’ll understand our purpose. Editorial groups usually think on themselves and on their publications, having a player from the user's side, who looks to them all as one, maybe is a strange thing. We hope we’ll have the opportunity to talk and 'play' with them all."

He added that they decided to focus the app on national news content to "solve a simple problem, reaching the most relevant national press news".

"As far as we can we want to target just this with it. Other apps, with a different name and objective, may in a future search for news from niches for example, but for having all the possible content in the web you already have great solutions like Flipboard or Zite."

The company is currently working on an "easy to read version" of the app for the iPhone due to demand. They are also looking into ways to monetise the app, which is free within the edition's country.

"We are still studying the best business models to monetise it.

"We’ll have ads with great potential for brand recognition and with full functionality iPad capabilities, very soon. And we’re thinking about other ways of making money with it, together with the industry or just selling foreign Niiiws apps on different App Stores. We’re learning a lot."

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