There have been many suggestions over the past few months that Facebook would be coming through with its own newsy magazine-type application similar to the ever-popular Flipboard, and now, the details of the iOS app have been unveiled. It’s called Paper, and will aggregate various stories and tidbits from around the Web based on the settings applied by the user. It will launch next week on February 3rd, although it will only be available to users within the United States initially. Further details can be seen after the break.
As you might expect, your Paper app will be intrinsically linked to your Facebook profile, which will not only help you source the content you want to see, but will naturally give the Menlo Park-based social company a better idea of what kinds of things you like to read.
In terms of the user interface, there’s a useful full-screen mode for viewing high-res photos and such, and when you come across video content, it will automatically begin playing from corner-to-corner. It’s also worth pointing out that all articles – photo, video, text – can be viewed within Paper, so you won’t be jumping out and into your Web browser at any point.
With such a huge user base and an apparently decent app having been cooked up, one might think that Paper will simply blow the competition out of the water. But as Facebook learned when trying to stifle Foursquare (or Vine with its Instagram Video update), copying the ideas of another and trying to push them to a wider audience isn’t a guaranteed recipe for success.
As aforementioned, this will be a US-only release to begin with, but although there’s currently no ETA with regards to a worldwide launch, we would expect this to occur in the coming weeks, but that’s just a guess.
Still, we’ll have a much better idea of what Paper can do once it’s released on the third. We’ll have all of the details, as well as the direct download link, as soon as it does manifest itself, so stay tuned to our coverage here at Redmond Pie!
For further details point your browser to: facebook.com/paper
Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the Web.
