Facebook’s rumoured competitor to Flipboard, known as “Paper”, could launch by the end of the month, according to reports.
The word comes via web-based news source recode.net, citing an unnamed source “familiar with the matter.”
Paper has allegedly gone through an extended period of “experimentations, cancellations and redesigns,” spanning several years, but the end design is said to be either a dedicated mobile app or a web-based setup tailored to mobile use.
While it is thought that Paper could launch by the end of January, it was also said by the source that this is not in tablets of stone and things could shift to later in the year.
The team working on the application is the same group which developed Facebook’s existing News Feed features, led by Facebook’s vice president of products, Chris Cox, and including interface designer Mike Matas.
It’s worth noting that Matas joined Facebook when his startup company, Push Pop Press, was acquired in 2011 – the startup created digital book publishing software which Facebook has allegedly planned to make use of for some time. Recode cites five unnamed sources which say the Paper project is internally known as “Project Reader”.
It’s claimed that initially Project Reader began as a News Feed overhaul, but this original project direction splintered into co-developments of new News Feed features and what became Paper as an independent initiative.
The comparisons to Flipboard aren’t only skin deep, apparently, with Paper acting similarly as a news aggregator while also pulling in Facebook statuses from your social networking.
As with Flipboard, a key element is “stunning” visual design and there seem to be skeumorphic elements at play, as the report indicates a “paper-like” design “hearkening back to a time before digital devices.”
Officially, Facebook is keeping quiet about Paper, stating to Recode that it does “not comment on rumors [sic] and speculation.”
More as we hear it.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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