State of the (Mobile) News:
Critiquing today’s top news apps & sites

 
By Lauren Seaton

In these still-early days of mobile news for smartphones, most of the emphasis has been on news applications (“apps”), rather than mobile news Web sites. While most prominent news providers by now have a special mobile Web site — i.e., formatted in a simplified manner and capable of being viewed on any model of smartphone with installed browsing software — these typically are less flashy and more utilitarian than mobile news apps. So to assess the current state of mobile news, in this chapter we review several mobile news apps, plus give brief mention to their accompanying mobile Web sites.

Few mobile news apps have pushed the creativity envelope

In time, we expect to see more sophisticated mobile news Web sites with the same capabilities and features that previously have been limited to standalone apps, made possible by the adoption and evolution of the HTML5 and CSS3 standards for mobile Web publishing [1] [2].

(Note: These apps and mobile sites were reviewed in May 2010. Due to frequent upgrades of news apps and mobile news sites, some of them may have been altered and/or redesigned by the time you read this chapter, and some of the issues we raise in this chapter may have been resolved.)

There are many available smartphone apps — in summer 2010, more for Apple’s iPhone than any other mobile platform — that provide news and information to users, but not all of them do it well. Most are relatively simple in design and user interface, while only some have pushed the creativity envelope. Here we analyze a selection of news apps for the iPhone platform — as well as the mobile Web sites — available from CNN, USA Today, New York Times, Associated Press, MSNBC, The Guardian, Politico, and The Huffington Post, as they represent the best examples of mobile news as of summer 2010. We also review the iPhone application for Zinio, a platform for transforming print magazines to smartphone and PC-Web formats with added multimedia features.

Nielsen says…

According to Jakob Nielsen [3], a long-time Web usability expert who also studies mobile-content and -usability, mobile access essentially means intermittent use. There is no guarantee that smartphone users will use an app regularly after they download it — or even use it at all. But the smartphone’s application icon can “act as a reminder to use the app,” Nielsen says. This icon should be taken seriously and sufficient effort spent during the app’s design process to make it attractive and appealing.

Once a smartphone user does launch an app, it is important to make the process (whatever it may be) easy and intuitive. Since mobile screens obviously are much smaller than desktop or laptop screens, or digital tablets and e-book readers, it is necessary to design for a small area. According to Nielsen, there is a tension between “making content and navigation salient so that people do not work too hard to get there, and designing for a small screen and for slow downloading speeds.” (Smartphone users increasingly have wi-fi broadband connections available to them, but not all the time.) Smartphone users are less likely to continue accessing an application if they have to work hard to use it. Since users generally download more apps than they use, according to Nielsen, there is plenty of competition.

“In our testing, we saw countless [smartphone] apps that asked users to register before having proven their worth in the slightest”
–Jakob Nielsen, usability expert

Asking users to register for a mobile app is one way of making it difficult to use, according to Nielsen [4]: “Avoid making users pass through a registration screen as the first step. In our testing, we saw countless apps that asked users to register before having proven their worth in the slightest. This is wrong. Remember: Users start out with a fairly low level of commitment to your app. Unless yours is a truly great app that offers immense value, people won’t use it enough to make registration worth their while.”

This is just one example of what not to do.

As smartphones become increasingly popular and useful, news organizations — among others — are experimenting with mobile news applications for on-the-go consumers. While templates and layouts are similar from app to app, they generally lack originality and creativity.

Following are reviews of commonly used smartphone news applications by some major news institutions, as well as quick looks at their matching mobile Web sites. Zinio, a multi-brand digital publishing platform, is Included because it pushes the boundaries of mobile innovation.

CNN

CNN’s iPhone app ($1.99) utilizes a fairly common user interface, separating its articles into such categories as “Top Stories,” “World,” “U.S.,” and “Politics.” Menu bars appear on both the top and bottom of the home screen, and headlines are paired with left-aligned thumbnail photographs. Under “Top Stories,” the top or breaking news piece is identified with a larger photo and larger headline font.

On article pages, bullet-point summaries appear above the main text (a quick-read executive summary, of sorts), and users can save stories or choose to follow a specific topic. “Followed” stories appear immediately under “My CNN.” Videos also accompany many of the site’s stories, accessed by tapping a video link under a still photo.

Local content includes weather and traffic in addition to articles. The former two are determined for the specific user by the smartphone’s GPS feature, and traffic updates link directly to Google Maps.

CNN also incorporates some interactivity into its iPhone app. The iReport feature allows users to take photos or video or correspond via text (Twitter style) about breaking-news situations where they may be eyewitnesses. iReport also includes a section titled “Assignments” where CNN encourages users to post news and images about specific events or topics.

While there is no option for commenting, this app does offer more user interactivity and ingenuity than most of the other news applications reviewed in this report.

CNN’s iPhone app features a conventional main navigation page, similar to that of many other news brands.

The app’s nod to interactivity via the phone is iReport, which solicits eyewitness reports and photos. (screen grabs from CNN iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CNN’S MOBILE APP? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of CNN iPhone app >>

CNN’s mobile Web site (m.cnn.com), meanwhile, is a more spartan interface to CNN content, as seen in the screenshots below. The mobile site does play videos even on the iPhone, which unlike some other smartphones does not support Flash, a common format for presenting mobile video; CNN streams Quicktime video. But for those willing to forgo a flashier interface and features like saving stories for later reading and automatically following stories’ subsequent coverage, CNN’s mobile Web site saves the $1.99 purchase price of the CNN app.

CNN’s mobile Web site has fewer features than the iPhone app; its navigation interface is plain.

The Web site does offer strong sharing features, and many text articles links to related CNN video to view on a smartphone. (screen grabs from CNN mobile Web site)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CNN’S MOBILE WEB SITE? COMMENT >> 

USA Today

USA Today’s iPhone application (free) adheres to a standard news-navigation layout of headlines paired with a photograph, but it also includes a portion of the lead paragraph under the headline, making it easier for users to decide whether or not to proceed to the full story. Categories (“Top News,” “Money,” “Sports,” etc.) are presented in a horizontal strip that reveals more categories by sliding a finger across it. This app also allows a user to view various categories of news such as pictures, sports, celebrities, and USA Today’s famous “Snapshots” info-graphics. The latter includes a feature for the smartphone user to vote on a question related to the graphic then see local, state, and national results; this matches the functionality also found on USA Today’s Web site and iPad application. Photographs from article pages can be enlarged by tapping a thumbnail image, which overlays the photo along with a caption above the article. These photos are not displayed full screen, so they can be difficult to discern even when enlarged.

The application generally uses utilitarian black text on a white background, and category pages (but not article pages) include a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen (“Headlines,” “Scores,” “Weather,” “Pictures,” and “Snapshots”).

The app enables users to share articles via e-mail, text message, Twitter, or Facebook, but there is no option for user comments.

The main navigation page for the USA Today iPhone app is conventional; the use of article blurbs makes for a friendly user experience.

USA Today’s famous “Snapshots” charts are on its iPhone app; users can even vote from the phone. (screen grabs from USA Today iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF USA TODAY’S MOBILE APP? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of USA Today’s iPhone app >>

USA Today’s mobile Web site (m.usatoday.com) uses its well known color-coded sections, which are showcased on the home page as horizontal bars: “Home,” “News,” “Travel,” “Money,” etc. Click the bars to go to a section, which typically will feature a top story with a photo, then a simple list of headline links.

The USA Today mobile site is even more spartan than CNN’s mobile site. Since both app and mobile site are free, for the mobile user it’s a matter of preference: a sleeker mobile app with more features, or a simple and less complicated mobile Web site for quick hits of news.

USA Today’s mobile Web site features a simple navigation interface that still takes advantage of the brands multiple colors for sections.

Article pages are basic; small photos like this one cannot be enlarged by the mobile user. (screen grabs from USA Today mobile Web site)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF USA TODAY’S MOBILE WEB SITE? COMMENT >> 

New York Times

The New York Times iPhone app (free*) adheres to a standard home-page layout of headlines paired with right-aligned thumbnail photographs, while including two-line summary blurbs. The headlines are displayed in blue text on a white background. Once a user clicks on a headline to read the full story, the menu bars are removed from the article page so that the user has more screen space to read (an important interface element for a handheld device meant for reading and viewing). The user also has an option to make the text larger or smaller and to save the article for later.

(* NYTimes.com is planning to implement a metered paywall in January 2011; as of summer 2010, when this report was published, it was not known if this would affect the pricing of the iPhone app.)

This app allows a user to download articles to read offline, but according to some users posting feedback on the Apple iTunes store, the download process can be slower than expected or desired. One app user posted this opinion: “The primary advantage to using this application, instead of the NYT [mobile] Web site, is that the application downloads all the stories, enabling you to read the paper offline. … The two major problems are that the stories don’t appear to be updated regularly [and] … the current update process is very, very sllooowwww. I have been updating in the morning, and it has been taking at least three to five minutes (over wi-fi) to retrieve the stories.”

The app allows users to e-mail, text, Twitter or Facebook articles, but there is no option for user comments. It also includes a list of “Most e-mailed” stories. Access to 25 category sections is from a “More” tab at the bottom of the screen. A Search function works for current news content, but cannot access NYTimes.com archives.

The New York Times’ app main page is similar to USA Today’s; but rather than blurbs, it shows first words of article.

Article page design is conventional, too; bottom menu offers sharing, changing font size, and saving for later reading. (screen grabs from New York Times iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NY TIMES’ MOBILE APP? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of NY Times’ iPhone app >>

The New York Times mobile Web site (mobile.nytimes.com) is, like those previously mentioned, less feature-laden than the NYT mobile app. Its home page features top stories with headlines and blurbs, followed by headline links only for various sections (“Opinion,” “World,” “U.S.,” “Politics,” etc.). But it also has extra features such as “Most e-mailed” stories; the ability to sign up for customized news alerts; localized movie times and weather; sports stats; real estate listings with photos; and more. There is no option for user comments.

The design of NYT’s mobile Web site is not particularly innovative.

Times articles do feature comments on the mobile Web site, but phone users can’t leave their own comments. (screen grabs from New York Times mobile Web site)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NY TIMES MOBILE WEB SITE? COMMENT >> 

AP Mobile

The Associated Press’ iPhone application (free) adheres to the traditional home-page layout with story headlines (no blurbs or excerpts) and thumbnail photographs. In addition to the home screen’s headlines and photos, users also can view the day’s photos or videos.

The app allows users to select what news they’ll regularly view by turning “on” and “off” news categories (see screen capture below). Some reader comments that appeared on the Apple iTunes Store identified the desire for further customization. Wrote one AP app user: “I would like to see a little more customizability in a couple areas. Most notably in the Sports section, scrolling through the various subsections (Baseball, Football, etc.) is tedious. I would really like to be able to rearrange the order of the subsections, because there’s a half-dozen clicks between the main Sports and the College Sports subsection, and three or four of them are sports I really don’t care about. That’s kind of painful.”

From an article page, where photos are displayed prominently at the top of the screen, there is an option to view an accompanying slideshow (when additional photos are available) by pressing the “Photos” button or by tapping a finger on the photograph itself.

Users can save an article or rank it using a five star rating system, in addition to sharing it via text, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and Evernote. There is not an option for comments, but users can send their own news and images to AP.

The AP’s mobile app allows users to select which sections of news to include.

The AP app encourages eyewitnesses to send the wire service breaking news and images, from the phone. (screen grabs from Associated Press iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE AP’S MOBILE APP? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of The AP’s iPhone app >>

AP also maintains a mobile Web site (www.apnews.com) which when viewed on an iPhone included a similar look and many of the same options as the AP Mobile app, such as the ability to select which categories of news for the mobile site to display on future visits. Thus, of the mobile news sites reviewed for this report, the AP’s is the most sophisticated, and closer to matching the features in its matching mobile app than the other news organizations profiled here.

AP’s mobile Web site has a similar feel and many of the same features as the iPhone app.

Customization of sections shown is available, just as with the app. (screen grabs from the Associated Press mobile Web site)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE AP’S MOBILE WEB SITE? COMMENT >> 

MSNBC

MSNBC’s iPhone application (free) separates its stories into the traditional news categories (“Top Stories,” “U.S. News,” “World News,” etc.) but it does so differently than other news apps. Design and interface are flashier and more creative. For example, its news categories appear on the user’s screen within the company’s identifiable peacock symbol (see screen capture below).

On category pages, headline/photo teasers can be set to automatically scroll and the news notification option can push breaking news. Users can share articles via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook, or follow Twitter feeds of MSNBC stars.

Photographs and slideshows aren’t as prominent as with other mobile news apps, but MSNBC does include an option for On-Demand videos of news stories presented on the iPhone.

MSNBC’s app takes some chances with an unusual main navigation interface; it’s modeled after the NBC peacock logo.

In addition to a colorful design, the app adds scrolling or flowing lists of headlines on category pages. (screen grabs from MSNBC iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MSNBC’S MOBILE APP? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of MSNBC’s iPhone app >>

MSNBC’s mobile Web site (www.msnbc.msn.com) has more innovative design than most mobile news sites, and gives access to lots of content. A “More” link in the MSNBC masthead when tapped reveals links to other categories of news, as well as to extras like Web sites for NBC TV programs “Nightly News” and “Meet the Press.”

A useful feature found on the home page and category pages is subcategories. A category page like “Politics” has subcategories; in the case of Politics: “The White House,” “Capitol Hill,” “Decision 2010,” “More Politics,” and “Video.” Links to the three top stories are displayed (some with small photos), followed by a “Show more stories” tab which when tapped expands to show more headline links.

MSNBC’s mobile site isn’t as flashy as the app, but it has some nice features, like these “Show more stories” tabs.

Better designed than most mobile news sites, MSNBC’s features comprehensive site navigation. (screen grabs from the MSNBC mobile Web site)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MSNBC’S MOBILE WEB SITE? COMMENT >> 

The Guardian (UK)

The Guardian’s iPhone application (£2.39 / $3.99) is the most expensive to purchase of the news apps profiled here, but it’s one of the best, with features including: offline mode for reading without Internet access; audio and podcasts (including downloads for later listening); personalization; a topic-based search engine; ability to follow Guardian writers and contributors; and photo galleries. In summer 2010, video was not part of the Guardian app, but a note on the Guardian’s main Web site FAQ page indicated that it will be added soon.

The app follows the standard news app layout, including a navigation screen on the home page with two menu bars (“Latest” and “Trending”), left-aligned thumbnail photographs and headlines. The headlines are accompanied with section tags such as “football” or “life and style.”

Each article page includes links to related subjects and allows the user to click on the articles byline to access other articles by the author.

On the bottom menu bar, there is an audio section that includes podcasts and individual stories and reports. Photo galleries can be accessed from the bottom menu bar but not from the article pages. While users can share stories via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter, there is no option for user comments.

The Guardian’s iPhone app features conventional navigation, but emphasizes photos.

The app pays special attention to photo galleries; photography is a strength of The Guardian brand. (screen grabs from The Guardian iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE GUARDIAN’S MOBILE APP? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of the Guardian’s iPhone app >>

The Guardian’s mobile Web site (m.guardian.co.uk) includes more color and better organization than some of the other mobile news sites. On the home page, short lists of top headlines are separated into sections (“News,” “Business,” etc.) defined by colored bars, and there is a link to bring up more articles within each section defined further by subcategories. Users can send an article to a another mobile phone, but there are no other options for user interactivity, and reporter bylines don’t link to their other stories.

The site’s interface is pleasant enough and fairly easy to navigate, but there’s much more in the iPhone app, which the Guardian mobile site promoted heavily for mobile users to purchase.

The Guardian’s free mobile Web site is spartan compared to the $3.99 phone app

A content feature appropriate to the mobile platform is this bulleted summary at the top of an article (screen grabs from The Guardian mobile Web site)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE GUARDIAN’S MOBILE WEB SITE? COMMENT >> 

Politico and The Huffington Post

The Politico and the Huffington Post iPhone applications (both free) are worth reviewing because both were created by organizations that are online pure-plays (although Politico does also publish a Washington, D.C.-distributed print edition, in a nod to convention, it is primarily a Web publisher). You might expect such newer news entities to do things differently than the older news brands profiled above.

The HuffPost app actually is similar in layout and basic structure to the other news apps. Its home page includes a top story with large photo, then a list of article links each with a thumbnail photo. A horizontal bar near the top of the page links to other sections (“Politics,” “Entertainment,” “Comedy,” etc.), and additional section links are revealed by swiping a finger sideways. It allows users to share articles via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.

The feature that stands out on the HuffPost app is user comments: The site allows you to view comments posted to the HuffPost Web site, and post comments with your phone via the app. We’re not sure why older news brands have omitted commenting ability of their iPhone apps, since they all allow commenting on their regular Web sites.

For Politico, its iPhone app again sticks to a typical design for news, with headlines, blurbs, and thumbnail photos on the home and main category pages. It has the same article-sharing scheme as HuffPost, with the addition of sharing a story on Digg.com.

Unlike HuffPost’s iPhone app, Politico’s does not support user comments (reading or posting them). The Politico app does feature “The Arena,” Politico.com’s lively insider-politics discussion area; however, an iPhone user can only read the conversation posted by PC-Web users, not post and take part in the discussion from the smartphone.

Politico’s Web site features a strong discussion area, The Arena; on its iPhone app, you can view the discussion, but not participate. (screen grab from Politico iPhone app)

HuffingtonPost’s iPhone app actually allows posting comments from a smartphone. (screen grab from HuffPost iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF POLITICO AND HUFFPOST’S MOBILE APPS? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of the Huffington Post’s iPhone app >>
See comments on iTunes Store from users of Politico’s iPhone app >>

News apps: Summary

Most of today’s smartphone apps devoted to a single news brand adhere to a similar and standard navigation layout, one that pairs headlines with thumbnail photographs. It is common to tap on a headline to read a full article, but tapping on a photograph to enlarge it or view a slideshow is not a universal feature. We found ourselves tapping on small photos accompanying articles on some apps only to discover that nothing happened, which was a disappointment when the image was too small to discern adequately.

There is an overall lack of interactivity compared to the news brands’ regular Web sites

Most mobile news apps allow users to share articles via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter, but most do not allow user comments. In addition, there is an overall lack of interactivity compared to the news brands’ regular Web sites (as viewed on a PC, Apple iPad, or other capable tablet device). CNN’s iReport is the most ambitious example of creative interactivity using a smartphone. Perhaps more mobile news apps will allow commenting from the phone in time, as Huffington Post’s already does today. The Guardian’s use of linking a byline to other stories by the same author is one way to diversify a user’s navigation techniques, while CNN’s “Follow” option allows the user to customize the application.

Overall, compared to the innovation that’s rampant in the non-news mobile app world, the news apps we reviewed seem behind the curve.

Zinio and magazines

Thus far this chapter has focused on mobile apps and Web sites of specific news organizations, but there are also many news apps that aggregate content from multiple sources. (E.g., Google News, iCurrent, Topix, etc.) Most offer links to content on multiple news sites and personalization features; but most don’t offer much guidance in the way of handling in-depth news, so we’ve omitted discussion of them.

Zinio, however, is worth a look — though it’s not the ideal phone news viewing experience. This online newsstand has more than 75,000 digital magazines and books in 24 languages, available through computers, iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices.

Zinio’s iPhone app brings magazines and their glossy designs to the smartphone screen, albeit in a smaller format. The application allows users to resize digital versions of magazine pages (use finger and thumb to enlarge, or double-tap the screen, then a single finger to move around the page), or opt for a spartan (but more easily readable) text-only mode. Users can bookmark articles, which are synced with Zinio for viewing on other devices such as PCs and tablet computers running a Zinio application, and share and download articles to read offline. Users of Zinio on a PC can clip or tag particular sections of articles, and the app syncs with Zinio libraries so that a user can switch between a home or office computer and an iPhone or other device.

The app limits navigation bars, relying instead on screen swipes to move the user from page to page, mimicking the print-magazine reading experience.

The most creative aspect of this phone app, though, is the interactivity feature. Magazines displayed on Zinio’s iPhone app can include video; for example, a fitness magazine might include an instruction video along with an article describing how to perform an exercise. When a Zinio user views a recipe from a cooking magazine, the application can allow the user to add comments and then save the recipe. The page will be stored in the user’s account so that it can be accessed from any device. If the user is viewing a clothing page in a fashion magazine, he or she can “dress” the magazine’s model in different articles of clothing or accessories to see what combinations look like on a person. A travel magazine can provide an interactive map of a particular city. Two video interviews with Zinio CEO Rich Maggiotto showing off these advanced features are available at: http://vimeo.com/8980602 and http://vimeo.com/8580587.

Zinio is one example of a mobile app that is pushing the boundaries of creativity, customization, and interactivity. Another place to look for innovation in mobile presentation of feature packages is individual magazines creating iPhone apps on their own. Esquire and Vanity Fair magazines’ iPhone apps are but two that are bringing sophisticated design to the mobile platform. A recent issue of Vanity Fair on the iPhone app edition included a photo shoot of “Harry Potter” star Emma Watson, with more images than were published in the print edition, plus a behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot.

With magazine publishers pushing the envelope in regard to what’s possible to present on a smartphone, the news industry should follow magazines’ lead and start playing catch-up.

Notice Zinio’s pricing: The best deal is a digital subscription vs. single-issue purchase. (screen grab from Zinio iPhone app)

Esquire’s iPhone app brings sophisticated typography and design to the smartphone. (screen grab from Esquire iPhone app)

 WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ZINEO’S MOBILE APP? COMMENT >> 
See comments on iTunes Store from users of Zinio’s iPhone app >>

Conclusion: News could do better

Overall, the news industry is not paving the way for mobile applications. It is following itself, creating apps that do the basics and play it safe. At the end of the day, it’s important for the news to be heard, read, and viewed, but smartphones do this differently than a newspaper or a news Web site. While mobile phones are smaller than other computing devices, they’re also less static. Users are engaged with their phones; they interact with them. But most of the news applications that have been created by single news brands do not do enough to encourage interactivity, customization, or creativity. This is an opportunity for news providers to capitalize on the high level of engagement among smartphone users and encourage these users to interact in new ways with their news.

This recommendation holds not just for mobile news apps overall, but also for in-depth enterprise or investigative-reporting packages that may be crafted into mobile apps or mobile Web sites.

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Citations

[1] W3C.org. HTML5 specification. (Viewed: June 4, 2010) http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html

[2] About.com: Web Design/HTML. “What is CSS3? An Introduction to the Modularization of Cascading Style Sheets (level 3).” (Viewed: June 4, 2010) http://webdesign.about.com/od/css3/a/aa061206.htm

[3] Nielsen, Jakob. Usability consultant. Wikipedia profile. (Viewed: June 4, 2010) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Nielsen_(usability_consultant)

[4] Nielsen, Jakob. Useit.com. “iPhone Apps Need Low Starting Hurdles.” (Feb. 10, 2010) http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-apps-initial-use.html

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