The new Digg Reader is almost here, the beta is landing a few days from now

Jun 17, 2013 21:06 GMT  ·  By

Google's announcement that it was retiring Reader at the end of June was quite fortunate for at least some people, namely those working on Reader alternatives. The Digg team saw this as an opportunity to push forward something they had already planned to build, a news reader.

So, in the three months since the announcement, the small team of the new Digg doubled their work and put together the Digg Reader.

The new site, which aims to replace Google Reader and mimics its general layout, is almost ready. The companion mobile app for iOS will also be available, but the Android version will take a while longer.

Some users will get to take the new Digg Reader for a spin next week. Everyone will get it by June 26.

But to make the wait a little more bearable, Digg is at least offering a sneak preview, only a small screenshot, and reiterates on the ideas that went into Reader, as well as short term future plans.

"Given the compressed time frame for this sprint, we decided early on that we needed to focus on one type of user. We asked ourselves who had most to lose from the shutdown of Google Reader, and the answer was fairly obvious: the power user, the people who depend on the availability, stability, and speed of Reader every day," Digg explained.

With little time to work with, Digg chose to focus on only a few things, namely speed, simplicity, and Google Reader integration.

The interface is simple and clean, and the site only supports things like subscribing, sharing, saving, and organizing. Better sorting and ranking tools, search, notifications, and other features are coming later.

"We mentioned in a prior post that Digg Reader will ultimately be a 'freemium' product. But we’re not going to bait-and-switch. All of the features introduced next week, as well as many others yet to come, will be part of the free experience," Digg added.