Netvibes Joining iPad Readers Race With A Web App

Netvibes has just released into alpha an iPad-based website of its own, that includes HTML5/CSS3 support, which the company claims will offer its readers a fast reading experience.  Located at http://ipad.netvibes.com, the site is a far cry from containing many of the features that have made the overall Netvibes site popular, but we are told that those features will be coming.

Complete integration with Twitter and Facebook, for example, are missing in this version but they should be released in future releases.  For now, the mobile site's biggest attraction is that it actually syncs with the desktop Netvibes website.  Registered users that read RSS articles on their iPad, for example, will see those same articles marked as read on the desktop version of the website, and vice versa. However, numerous bugs remain including:

article counters may differ between your iPad and your desktop mainly because some UWAs and Premium Widgets aren’t compatible yet.

when visiting a blog post at it’s source, a click on the browser’s “back” button to go back to Netvibes can on some occasions display a blank page

The iPad-based website is expected to compete directly with some of the reader applications already out of testing and available for a cost in the iTunes store, including the apps Pulse News, Fluent News and NewsRack. By positioning itself as a web-based application, Netvibes is freeing itself from the often-times cumbersome requirements of the App Store, but it also appears to be limiting its revenue stream as well. Since the site isn't producing an actual (and downloadable) app (at least for now), the Paris-based Netvibes is forgoing possible app revenues and important real estate in the App Store, for greater flexibility and control.  Still, since most reader apps allow for offline reading, Netvibes is certainly taking a risk here and time will tell if their decision to remain web-based will prove to have been positive or a disaster. The Netvibes alpha is available now by pointing your iPad to their dedicated website.

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