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By David Rothman

NYT iPhone app version 2 The New York Times’ free reading app for the iPhone/Touch drove me crazy. It took forever to be able to read the Tech section of the Times, among the very ones that app users would be most likely to enjoy.

But now the Times has fixed the problem, and in general the app seems to run faster and is more stable.

In less than five minutes or so over a fast cable connection, you may be able to download the whole paper for offline reading.

A new breakfast routine for some New York  straphangers—now that the NYT has gotten Version 2 right or at least has made major progress?

On the desktop front at the NYT

Speaking of the Times, I notice that the Times Reader for PCs is now free in a trial edition that includes the highlights from the paper.

I wish the Times were a little clearer. I don’t see a mention of a time period; did I miss something? Does this mean that "free," at least, for now hasn’t a time limit? This could be very old news, but I can’t resist passing it on.

Also, there’s a Mac beta, released in May last year.

Back to the iPhone/Touch: Other stellar apps from USA Today and AP

USA Today app - iPod The other stellar news apps for the iPhone/Touch are from USA Today and the Associated Press (follow links to relevant pages). Just search for these apps by the company names within the App Store when you’re connected to the Net.

If you don’t want to mess with readers, you can enjoy free mobile Web sites from the Times, USAT and AP—usable on iPhones, Touches and other hand-helds with browsers.

iPhone dissing at the Washington Post

Shame, shame, shame on the Washington Post, meanwhile, for dissing iPhoners and not having a first-rate reading app. Granted, if you reach the Post mobile site, the paper will serve up aniPhone mode. But navigation is a pain, and far more often than I’d like, the Post sends me to the main site. This is a real insult to iPhone/Touch users. Let’s hope a better approach will be on the way.

I just wish the Posties would compare the Times app with the misery the Post inflicts on iPhoners. I’ve been reading the Post for decades but now spend a fraction of the time on it that I do on the Times because the iPhone presentation is so horrid. I have too much else to read online. The Post should piggyback on one of the better solutions from the Times, USA or AP if it’s serious about saving money and spreading around good content. Put the savings into the news budget!

The e-book angle

In case you’re curious, yes, there is an e-book angle. Most people wouldn’t buy a iPhone or Touch for e-books alone—hey, the iPhone offers a phone—but good news-reading apps might them over the edge. I can also envision news apps that let you read books, too; ideally the ePub variety. Careful! I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon eventually tried to extend its iPhone/Touch Kindle reader for reading newspapers, not just books, in a Kindle format. Will the Times, USA Today and AP please start taking e-book seriously and see the connections here, so Amazon doesn’t own the newspaper business someday? Newspapers should be able to link to books and vice versa. The Times’ desktop reader, too, needs this capability.

 
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