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@hitpad-blog
Hitpad at LeWeb 2011
It was on the final slide from Bill Gross's fantastic presentation : "Learning from failure: 20 years of entrepreneurial lessons."
We try to follow many of his tips while building Hitpad. They are invaluable.
The Path to #6 on iTunes Top News Free iPad Apps List
Earlier today I did my morning routine. First checked emails, then looked at our server dashboard, logs & analytics reports and finally visited the iTunes U.S. AppStore to see where Hitpad is currently ranked. And then it hit me.
We are a two guys startup based in Tel Aviv, operating on a tiny budget, yet we made it, for the second time, to the iTunes Top News Free iPad Apps list. And who's with us on that list? Apps created by some of the largest media companies in the world - CNN, NYT, USA Today, and by well-funded Silicon Valley start-ups like Flipboard. And behind us - apps from the BBC, NBC, CBS, WSJ, Fox, ABC and others. Wow!
The last time we were on that list was back in May '11 shortly after the release of our first version. That version had provided us great data & fantastic users feedback. We took those learning and spent a few months working on a major redesign of the app in order to create the best product for our users.
During that period of time, our AppStore ranking had dropped of course since we were not focused on maintaining it. Instead, our entire focus was on the execution of the redesign. We did not waste time on anything else and did whatever was neccesary to deliver. For example, Nir had to write some complex iOS frameworks that replaced buggy 3rd party libraries and I had to refresh my memory, learn new technologies and get back to programming after 11 years of not writing code.
Now, we are not an elite Silicon Valley startup that has the luxury of inviting top bloggers to do a 50 minutes video special at our office. We also did not get TechCrunch, AllThingsD, Wired or CNET to write about the new version. We don't have any $ to spend on traffic acquisition or to promote our app on our TV network or on our heavily trafficked web property. For us, it is all about delivering our users a product that addresses a real need they have and trusting that as long as we stick to that, our users will use the product and spread the word. And it worked. Every day since the re-launch, more and more users are downloading, using Hitpad and leaving great reviews.
You may ask yourself - who are these users?
They are probably not tech pundits (who often don't like trends)
The vast majority of them don't use Twitter. Based on our data, less than 10% of our users have connected their Twitter account to Hitpad. So for them, Twitter is probably not a source they use for getting to know what is going on.
Most of our users are probably not using a RSS reader as well. So for them, apps that do a great job visualizing social feeds are probably not the best tool to stay current.
Our users are the moms and pops of the world (located in over 90 countries), who are looking for a quick & easy way to see what's trending in the news today and Hitpad has delivered that experience and addressed that need for them from day one.
My point (which might not be news to you) can sound very simple and obvious but often times difficult to really understand and more important to implement - if you are thinking of building a product, a service or an app, make sure to find that specific niche that you really understand and focus like a laser on delivering a product that addresses users' needs in that niche. Then constantly listen to your users (and less to investors, friends & family or reporters - most likely that non of these folks will use your app more than once or twice) and keep improving the product in order to be the best in that niche. Even if you are based far from where things typically happen in the tech scene, there is a good chance it will pay off.
For Nir and myself, getting to #6 is a great reward for the hard work we've done in the last few months. But it is not everything. The biggest reward is the way the two of us have made together and the mountains we had to climb to get there. We can't wait to climb a taller mountain as our journey continues.
-jay (@jaym)
Seven
Hitpad 2.0 is starting to make waves on the AppStore
Following some great reviews on AppAdvice (including being selected as iPad App of the Week) and TheNextWeb, now its time for Hitpad 2.0 to get noticed (again) by the folks at Apple.
Top 10, here we come...
Hitpad chosen by AppAdvice as one of the Best iPad Apps of the Week
Thank you AppAdvice for the review, feedback and reward. http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/11/the-best-new-and-updated-ipad-apps-this-we...
Introducing: An All New Hitpad
Today we are very excited to announce Hitpad 2.0 (download).
Hitpad version 1.0 was our MVP and the learnings from it as well as users' feedback have taught us what is required from version 2. We've spent the past 4 months redesigning the UI, completely re-writing the iPad app and enhancing our servers to support many new ideas we had on our roadmap as well as addressing the valuable feedback we have received from our users.
The new version supports the functionality of Hitpad 1.0 and beyond, and its goal is to make it easy for you to stay current and see what's up today in the news and your social networks.
Updated Design
We've refreshed the design, the colors and certain key areas, specifically the topics navigation bar. The goal was to make it easy to view, access and explore the different categories and the topics, in both landscape and portrait modes, and maintaining a consistent user experience across the different channels.
Channels
At the top of the app you will find the channels selector. Today we are announcing the Hot Topics and Facebook channels and more will be added soon.
Hot Topics channel displays hot and trending topics in a range of categories (similar to Hitpad version 1).
Facebook channel is a new and innovative way to view your Facebook wall and the Pages you have 'Liked' on Facebook that have been updated recently.
Hitpad's unique dashboard-like visualization makes it easy to quickly find and focus on the interesting content (such as videos, photos and links) and spend less time reading less important posts (such as status updates).
Note that not all the pages you have 'Liked' on Facebook will be displayed. We are only displaying the pages that have recently been updated in order to help you consume the great content on them but make sure you are not overloaded with too much information.
Actions such as Liking a post, Reading comments and Commenting and updating your status are supported as well from within Hitpad.
Editions
We added 3 new editions to the Hot Topics channel: U.K., Canada & Australia which are added to the U.S edition. Each edition has localized Hot-Trending Topics in a range of categories. We will continue to add more countries in the future.
New Personalization & Customization options
Under the Settings menu you will find several new options that will help you configure Hitpad just the way you like it. The new options are:
Style - choose a font: Classic, Modern or Traditional (make sure to restart the app to apply your change)
Manage columns layout - change order and delete selected columns
Video Sort By to control the order in which YouTube videos are displayed
Related Topics
Each one of the Hot-Trending Topics in the Hitpad channel has several related topics, powered by Zemanta, to allow you to discover additional great content.
(Almost) Infinite Scrolling Search Results
As soon as you get near the bottom of a search result column, Hitpad will automatically fetch more and more results. In the Facebook channel the number of results is limited to 1 week of history.
Search History
Every query you type into the search box gets automatically added to the "History" category. You can clear that category using the "Clear History" settings option.
And all the features that were part previous versions
Favorites & voting (requires a Hitpad account - use your Facebook or Twitter credentials for that)
Easy Sharing of items using Facebook, Twitter, Email
Read Later using Instapaper and ReadItLater
Give the new version a try by downloading from the AppStore.
We hope you will enjoy the new version and would love to get your feedback (also via twitter: hitpadapp) and learn how we can continue and improve the product.
Enjoy,
Jay (@jaym) & Nir (@nirn)
Co-Founders, Hitpad
Follow Hitpad on twitter
Like Hitpad on facebook.com/Hitpad
Major upgrade coming soon & New categories added today
We have been working hard on the next version of Hitpad which will be released in just a few weeks. It will include many new features, revamped UI and address many of the feedback points we have received from users. We think it is going to be fantastic and we look forward to releasing it and letting you use it.
In the meantime, we have made some improvements to the existing service and earlier today we added two new categories of topics for you to explore: Science and Health as well as split the Sports category into two: American Sports & British Sports. You can access all of the categories them using the Categories control located at the lower left corner.
Stay tuned for more news from us by following us on twitter and liking our Facebook page.
Launch Banner
Posted from: Ramat Gan, Israel
This is our first ever printed banner. It was given to us when we launched Hitpad at Techonomy back in April '11.
It is designed as a movie poster since the event was held at a movie theatre complex and the participating companies' banners were spread around the venue.
Digging Hitpad at the Old Town Pasadena Apple Store
Our good friends at Snap.com sent us some pictures of Hitpad running on the demo iPad devices at the Apple store in Old Town Pasadena. I must admit that it looks really nice with red bricks wall. No wonder it is boosting iPad sales.
And if you don't own and iPad yet and wonder what Hitpad is, you can try it yourself by checking it on demo devices in Apple stores across the US, Europe or Asia.
Hitpad in New York
We are in the big apple this week. It is hot as hell outside but the beer is keeping us cold.
Recommendations so far:
1. If you are like us, traveling and looking for an internet solution, get the Virgin MiFi 2200 - a prepaid (unlimited data for $50) mobile hotspot that lets you connect up to 5 devices. It saved us from replying on Starbucks or friends' and it allows us to work day and night on the next version.
2. Tappo- a fantastic thin crust pizza in Chelsea.
Last week - TheJunction. This week - The Underground. Next Week - New York
Posted from: Tel Aviv, Israel
As some of you probably know, Hitpad had the privilege of being part of the first wave of entrepreneurs who used TheJunction, a charming co-working space in southern Tel Aviv, as their temporary home.
We launched Hitpad from there and got plenty of feedback and support from the great people that surrounded us. Two days ago we ended our three months there and we are now looking for a new office. During our time at TheJunction, we got to meet passionate entrepreneurs (pic below) and have built great friendships that will last for years to come. We wanted to thank again the team behind the place for doing such a fantastic and caring job: Mika, Ben, Jonny, Eden, Micha and Hadar. You are doing something extremely important for the entrepreneurial community in Israel and we are proud to be TheJunction Alumni.
Yesterday, our first day outside of TheJunction, was an "Underground Cafe" day. We hanged out at this great cafe/restuarant for a few hours, pushed Hitpad v1.4 out and messaged the world about it (pic below), jumped on and fixed a few nasty bugs and ran into a few people that have seen the Hitpad logo, read about the app and complimented us for the work. That felt really good.
Next week, we will be in New York for meetings (in town 6/7-6/13). If you would like to meet, please contact me and let's get together.
-jay
Hitpad Account System 101
Since the release of Hitpad v 1.4, several users have contacted us with questions about the account system and why it is required. In this post I will try to answer most of the questions:
Do I need to setup a Hitpad account to use Hitpad?
Not at all. You can continue and enjoy Hitpad to discover and follow trending topics if that all you want. However, you won't be able to add a topic to the My Favorites category or express your level of interest using the Like/Dislike buttons in order to get a more personalized experience overtime.
Why is an Hitpad account required?
To offer personalization features such as Saved Searches (the My Favorites category), Like/Dislike a Topic and more features in the future, we need an account system that allows us to store data securely on our servers with an easy way to access it in the future. This is a very common practice offered by many web services and apps. There are a number of benefits to the end user: (a) a user can access their favorite searches from multiple devices (we intend to release Hitpad for other platforms in the future). (b) data never gets lost or erased from the iPad (during an iOS upgrade or restore) since its securely stored on our servers and not on the iPad.
Why is Twitter or Facebook account is used as the account identifier?
Instead of creating a new account system and asking users to enter and remember information like username, passwords, email, etc., we chose to use Twitter / Facebook login as the identifier for the Hitpad account. This method has become a widely adopted solution by many websites and apps and we have chosen to do so as well.
What information will be stored by Hitpad for a user?
Whenever a topic is added to the "My Favorite" category or a topic is being Liked/Disliked, the Hitpad app will send the data to our severs to be securely stored there. Overtime, we will add more personalization features (for instance, preferred language) and we might have to store this data on our servers as well.
Will Hitpad post tweets or Facebook posts without my permission?
No. Hitpad will never do that. Posting a message to a user's twitter stream or to a user's Facebook wall has to be an action initiated by the user, either from the "Share" menu or the "Show Us Love" menu.
Saved Searches:
Related to that, here's information on how to save a topic (or a free search query) to the "My Favorites" category. Use this feature to quickly and easly monitor topics you like to check frequently. It works in a similar way to many other apps / services (such as the Twitter app).
To add a topic:
After you view the results for a topic / query, simply tap on the star icon located at the upper right corner. The star will change its color to white, a confirmation message will appear in the middle of the screen and the topic/query will be added to the "My Favorites" category.
To remove a topic:
First, make the topic you wish to remove active by accessing the "My Favorites" category and tapping on the topic to remove. Then tap on the highlighted star and uncheck it. The star will change its color to grey and the topic/search term will disappear from the "My Favorites" category. In case you remove all the saved topics from the "My Favorites" category, the category will be removed as well from the list of categories.
As always, feel free to contact us with any question you might have.
-jay
Hitpad - One of Gizmodo's iPad Apps Everyone Should Have May 2011
After being featured and selected by Gizmodo as their app of the day and app of the week, Hitpad has been chosen by their editor as a must have app of the month.
And the timing is perfect - right when we released ver 1.4 that is loaded with features many of you have asked for.
Download / Upgrade and Enjoy!
New features added (just liked you asked) - Hitpad ver 1.4 is out
Hitpad ver 1.4 has been released. Go ahead and upgrade to it (detailed instructions at the bottom of this post).
We built into this version some of the most requested features many of you have asked for. Those include:
- Saved Searches - save any topic or any free-text search to a newly created "My Favorites" category. This is really handy for people who like to monitor several topics often and want a quick and easy access to them.
- Like / Dislike Topic - indicate your level of interest in any topic to get a more personalized experience overtime
- ReadItLater support - save any item to your ReadItLater account. This is in addition to our previous support in Instapaper.
- Hitpad account - An account is required for features such as Save Searches or Like/Dislike topics. To create an Hitpad account all you have to do is specify whether your Twitter or Facebook account should be your Hitpad identifier. A detailed post about the Account system with some Q&A can be found here.
- Performance improvements
- Bug fixes
Please continue to send us feedback using the built-in feedback tool inside the app or using this form. We'd love to hear from you, get ideas, requests and learn how we could continue and improve the product.
BTW, to upgrade, all you should do is launch the AppStore app on your iPad, check for Updates and select Hitpad. You could also do it from your PC's iTunes application. Alternatively, you could download the app from here.
Enjoy!
How Hitpad is different?
Today, MacStarter posted a great post that highlights the differences between Hitpad and other apps in the News category.
"Whereas other newsreaders ask you for your preferences about what you want to read, Hitpad does no such thing. Instead, it shows you what is currently “hot” in the news. Divided into sections, you can simply read what is happening (or trending) in the world of news at the moment."
The entire post can be found here: http://macstarter.com/2011/05/20/hitpad-for-the-ipad/
Hitpad is one of Gizmodo's best iPad app of the week
Two weeks ago we were Gizmodo's app of the day. Today, they selected us as one of their best apps of the week together with other great iPad applications.
We are honored. WOW!
Hitpad receives the FWA Mobile Of The Day Award
We are honored that Hitpad has been selected to receive the FWA Mobile Of The Day (MOTD) Award (link).
FWA (Favourive Websites Award) is an industry recognised award program, established in 2000, showcasing projects which use cutting edge technology, together with inspirational ideas, that lead the way for future generations.
Thank You!