14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most popular applications of its kind, Pulse News Reader, is now available for free from the iTunes App Store, where customers can immediately download the 5 megabyte app for their Apple tablets and begin experiencing news reading in a whole new way.
Alphonso Labs announced today that the hugely popular app is now available for free across all supported platforms, not just Apple’s iOS-based iPad. The app also runs on Android-powered phones, as well as on the iPhone, and iPod touch.
What makes it special is that it incorporates colorful panning story bars filled with content from the user’s favorite sources.
Users can scroll vertically to browse their sources and instantly glimpse headlines or story previews, as well as horizontally on each news source to browse a day’s worth of news updates.
As you click on a piece of news, Pulse offers a comprehensive preview of the story with the option to “read more” by heading over to the web site the story originates from.
The app offers a full view of the web page where the story is hosted at, offering a complete news reading experience.
Finally, there’s the option to share a story on Facebook, Twitter or by email, while readers can search for additional news sources via keywords. These can also be imported from their Google Reader account.
Notably, the Pulse team features new sources every Friday, allowing readers to discover new content all the time.
“We would like to thank our early users, who have given us both time and money to help build the product to this stage,” said Akshay Kothari, Alphonso Labs’ CEO. “They have given us resources to build a company dedicated to improving their news reading experience.
“As reflected in its reviews and ratings, Pulse News has come a long way from its initial launch, and is hugely popular with users,” Kothari added. “Making the app free will enable more of user’s friends to join Pulse thereby improving discovery of interesting content via traditional and social channels.”
Not surprisingly, Alphonso Labs’ Pulse News reading app can also be found at the App Store Hall of Fame, a page created by Apple to host the most prominent 50 iOS titles.