The future of the Instapaper iPhone app

I’ve had a number of iPhone-app ideas floating around in my head since the SDK’s launch. I never thought Instapaper would be my only product, or that I’d be able to do very much with the iPhone app (hereafter referred to as Instapaper.app). After all, it’s a very simple concept: save web pages onto the phone, then load them offline later. How far could I really take that? How many features does that really need?

I’ve been surprised in a number of positive ways:

• Most Instapaper.app users did not previously use the Instapaper.com web interface, so the app is bringing tons of new users to the service.
• As a result, use of Instapaper.app is higher than use of the web interface.
• There’s no good way to make any money from websites of Instapaper’s size and scope without filling them up with ads, which I’d prefer not to do. But Instapaper.app had a clear, proven monetization path: a paid Pro version. And it doesn’t require me to sell my soul, beg for clicks, or compromise my standards.

And most importantly:

• There are a lot of features I’d like to add and improvements I’d like to make to Instapaper.app.

Right now, I face a fork in the road: do I continue iterating and improving Instapaper.app, or do I start making other applications and hope for multiple income streams? Instapaper.app is at a relatively stable point. I can stop here and be proud of where I’ve taken such a simple idea. And, theoretically, I’d keep making some money with Instapaper Pro while I work on something else.

But I’m not going to stop here. There’s still a lot more I want to do. There are more places I can take this.

I compiled a feature list for what I want in Instapaper.app 2.0, and it’s huge. It’s easily 6 months of work. I can’t do this and anything else – it has to just be this. I can only devote a few hours per week to Instapaper as it is. But if I can pull off the product I want for 2.0, I’ll really have something amazing.

That’s the path I’m choosing.

I want Instapaper to be the essential app for every iPhone and iPod Touch user. I want it to be on every Apple geek’s short list when their friends and family ask them what apps to install. I want it to be one of your bottom four icons. And I want Instapaper to be the reason for every devoted Verizon customer to join our platform and at least buy an iPod Touch.

And I don’t want to share this market with bad, hacky copycats. Instapaper.com is easy to clone, and it has been many times. (See how many “read stuff later” services launched shortly after January 2008.) But cloning a mature, polished iPhone app is much more difficult. And Apple users can spot a shoddy product miles away. I want to ensure that Instapaper continues to own this market, and I want to keep innovating to maintain Instapaper’s position at the top.

I have other ideas, but this is definitely my best. And it takes a lot of time and effort to polish an interface, account for the edge cases, and make a seamless user experience. I’d rather be the author of one great app for many years than churn out new mediocre apps every few months.

So Instapaper has a great future. 2.0 will be released when it’s ready. That might be a while, but even if I only implement half of my ideas, it will be great.