The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) has covered NewsGator's soon-to-be-launched iPhone application framework, TapLynx.

They say:

"...NewsGator is rolling out an entire iPhone framework called TapLynx, which will allow its users to create content-rich topic-focused newsreader applications...the goal of TapLynx is to offer users a framework that allows them to simply choose some images, set URLSfor the content feeds, and generate a media application for the iPhone without requiring any programming."

As a reminder, you can sign up for an alpha invitation at TapLynx.com.  We expect to start sending out the SDK by the middle of next month. 

Also, you can read the entire TUAW article here.

Thanks for your patience; we hope TapLynx will be well worth your wait!

Behind the scenes, things are moving forward with our new iPhone application framework, TapLynx.  As I mentioned in the previous post, we now have a splash page up for the framework, and you can sign up for the SDK, which we hope to begin sending out by mid-July.

We'll also be releasing a white paper at the end of this month which will, hopefully, answer a lot of the questions you have about this exciting new offering.  Until then, I thought I'd post what NewsGator's Brent Simmons (creator of NetNewsWire for iPhone) has to say about TapLynx, since his explanation is simple and succinct:

"The idea behind TapLynx is that you can take a collection of feeds and some artwork, make choices about colors and gradients and behavior (all in a configuration file you edit), then create an iPhone app. Without doing any programming.

But you can do programming if you want to — use TapLynx as the base and add more features. (In fact, that’s what I’m doing with NetNewsWire 2.0 for iPhone — it’s a custom app built on TapLynx.)"

Once again, you can sign up to the the SDK here, and we'll let you know as soon as it's available.  Thanks!

I'm delighted to introduce to you TapLynx, NewsGator's iPhone Media App Framework!  We have designed TapLynx to allow agencies, developers and designers to quickly and easily build content-rich iPhone apps with almost no effort. (TapLynx was used to build the recent All Things Digital App as well as the Variety.com App and is the same framework behind our proven and award-winning NetNewsWire for iPhone.)

With TapLynx, you can rapidly develop your own customizable and unique iPhone apps, and there's no need to learn Cocoa or deal with messy code.  We take are of all of it for you.  Sound too good to be true?  It's not.

Who is TapLynx for?

• Agencies: create & develop iPhone apps quickly & easily
• Developers: build apps without the need to learn Cocoa
• Designers: create apps from start to finish without any code

Check out TapLynx today and get our SDK!

More information on this exciting new offering will be forthcoming...

If you haven't already checked out the iPhone app that NewsGator built for All Things Digital -- which I covered previously on this blog -- then I urge you to!  Since its launch, it has received a lot of coverage and interest.

For instance, Dan Frommer of Business Daily says,

"...the app itself is clean and quick. It doesn't lurch around like some other content-heavy apps. (It's built on the NewsGator platform, and is basically a branded RSS reader/Web search engine.) And it includes some neat bonus features, like the ability to send an article from the app out on Twitter or Facebook."

For a neat demo of the app in action, check out this YouTube video.

Need any convincing how cool and simple to use this application is?  Even a 3 year old -- nephew of NewsGator's Brent Simmons (who is responsible for much of NewsGator's iPhone app framework) -- can use it!

You can download the free All Things Digital app here.

The website All Things Digital, which is co-edited by Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg and BoomTown blogger Kara Swisher and is the online extension of the annual "D: All Things Digital" conference started by Walt and Kara in 2003, today announced the launch of a new iPhone™ and iPod® touch application on the Apple App store which was developed using the NewsGator iPhone Media Application Framework. 

The application makes exclusive content from AllThingsD.com and the D conference available for iPhone and iPod touch with a range of features and tools including:

• Kara’s BoomTown, John Paczkowski’s Digital Daily and Peter Kafka’s MediaMemo blogs and video
• Walt’s Personal Technology and Mossberg's Mailbox columns, his videos and his Mossblog
• Katherine Boehret’s Mossberg Solution column and videos
• Ability to post article links and text descriptions directly to Twitter and Facebook, or to email them to a friend
• Galleries of D conference videos and photos including the full 2007 historic joint appearance by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
• Live D7 conference coverage throughout the May 26-28, 2009 event.

Walt Mossberg describes the app: "All Things Digital for the iPhone is a smart, streamlined mobile application that we know iPhone and iPod Touch owners interested in technology and media will enjoy.”  Developed using the NewsGator iPhone Media Application Framework, the All Things Digital app is designed to contain all the news and reviews from the Web site. As on AllThingsD.com, each journalist’s section is identified by specific color schemes and headshots, including stylized icons that emphasize each writer’s personality and beat. Customized navigation enables users to choose their favorite sections and personalize the content.

The All Things Digital app is available immediately for free from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at itunes.com/appstore/. For more information, go to allthingsd.com/mobile/iPhone.

Branded iPhone apps are emerging as an effective way to gain revenue from, and readership of, your content. We have written a mini white paper that offers tips for successfully implementing an iPhone app – from its creation to its approval by the Apple App store.

In this mini white paper we’ll address:

• Why you should consider an iPhone App
• Marketing & monetizing your iPhone App
• Whether an iPhone App is right for your company
• How to get registered as an iPhone developer
• What to expect when submitting an app for approval
• How NewsGator can help

Who should read this mini white paper?

• Interactive & Digital Media Content Providers
• Advertising management
• Web Managers
• Business Development Managers
• Mobile application managers
• Marketing managers

You can access this free mini white paper here.

Curious about NewsGator goings-on outside of the Media and Consumer space?  I'm excited to pass along some cool news about the popularity of NewsGator's own native iPhone RSS reader application, NetNewsWire.

Here are some statistics that I think are pretty interesting:

• There are nearly 300,000 individual users
• Over 120 million items have been marked read in the past two weeks!
• There are over 1 million separate feeds
• The average number of subscribed feeds per user is 20
• 100,000 users have signed on in the past 30 days

And, if you're curious, here are the five most popular RSS feeds (by number of subscribers):

• Macworld
• Daring Fireball
• Engadget
• Ars Technica
• The Unofficial Apple Blog (TUAW)

If you have an iPhone and haven't yet gotten your NetNewsWire action on, you can get it for free at the iPhone app store or learn more about it here.

NewsGator's Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewsWire (for Mac & for the iPhone) has created a nifty little iPhone app for one of NewsGator's investors, Brad Feld.  For those of  you who don't know Brad, he's a Colorado-based early stage investor and entrepreneur, and is on NewsGator's Board of Directors.  His blog features incisive insight that is sure to be of interest for anyone interested in startups, entrepreneurship, investments, technology, and more.

Why do I mention the Feld iPhone App?  Because it is a fine example of the types of robust, customizable branded iPhone apps that NewsGator can build for your company -- like the recently released Variety.com iPhone app -- based off the very successful NetNewsWire iPhone app.  As Brad explains on his blog:

"When the iPhone first came out, Brent Simmons created an iPhone version of NetNewsWire which was dynamite.  He iterated quickly on this and realized that it could be the core of an iPhone app business built on top of the NewsGator / NetNewsWire framework.  This has resulted in a new product for NewsGator – the NewsGator iPhone App Framework.  They needed a “test app” to harden the framework and I quickly volunteered (ah – the special privileges of a nerdy early investor.) The result is the Brad Feld iPhone app, but more importantly a deep iPhone app dev framework."

So, if your organization is looking for ways to get your messages, brand, and articles in front of new audiences or searching for new revenue streams, check out our branded iPhone apps today.  Oh, and you can get the Feld iPhone App here.

Today I stumbled upon a great commentary piece, written by Donna Barrett and Randy Siegel, that appears in Editor & Publisher.  Since newspapers represent a substantial base of clients for NewsGator's Media & Consumer products, and since nearly every day recently we hear of another newspaper either on its death bed, or being shuttered all together -- along with some seemingly sounding the death knell of the entire industry -- I think what the authors have to say here is hugely relevant in the current climate.  The premise of their article is this,

"Sure, newspaper companies face serious challenges. But we also have serious opportunities to re-engineer ourselves as quality content creators for local print and online audiences that advertisers still desire."

The authors go on to say that,

"well-run newspaper companies will succeed by fighting hard, experimenting and evolving while tuning out those armchair critics who revel in the thought of a society without newspapers or news."

But what most caught my eye is one of their most important suggestions for how they believe newspapers can survive, and even thrive, in the future:

"Newspapers can increase their revenues and reach by investing in more content creation for different audiences, not less. The more compelling articles and information a newspaper and its website can offer, the longer readers and online users will be engaged. The longer consumers are engaged, the more exposure they will have to ads in print and online. The more attention the ads receive, the better the advertisers’ responses typically will be and the more those ads will be worth."

This description, almost uncannily, describes precisely what we're doing for media companies here at NewsGator!

First, by widgetizing content you are, indeed "investing in more content creation" and making this content highly portable across the entire social web.  Also, since widgets have been shown to enhance engagement rates, time on site, brand equity, etc. this fits right into the authors' point that the longer the consumers are engaged, then the more exposure they will have to ads -- which in turn helps newspapers' bottom lines.  And every single NewsGator widget is "advertisable."  In fact, we just announced our highly sophisticated Ad Burner optimization program that can seamlessly do just that.

Finally, two other product offerings from NewsGator also enhance content creation as well as reader engagement: our related content widgets, as well as our branded iPhone applications based off NewsGator's highly successful NetNewsWire application.

I encourage you to read their entire article here, but my take-away message here is that majority of the pertinent recommendations the authors make here in terms of newspapers enhancing & increasing content, enhancing readers' engagement with that content (which leads to higher ad revenue) are exactly what all of our offerings -- whether it be regular widgets, related content widgets, branded iPhone applications, our AdBurner program, or our data service offerings -- are designed to do.  There may be a down economy, and newspapers and media companies are no doubt struggling, but that just makes NewsGator products all the more important.