Inside the app lab: The Berlingske for iPad

In the latest edition of Journalisten (and on his own blog) Ole Munk did an interesting review of Berlingske’s new iPad app. Having participated in almost every single decision behind the app it’s certainly an interesting read. Here’s a reply to the criticism and an insight into the thinking and the work behind the release of Berlingske til iPad.

Ole Munk's first criticism is that he can’t get a complete overview of all published articles in the app. I definitely understand that feeling - but we deliberately decided that the constant overview of all content wasn’t going to be one of the goals of the app. Quite the contrary.

Because the basic idea is, that the app must be the place to find all the news that Berlingske produces. Neither the printed newspaper nor b.dk does this. This approach is hopefully welcomed by those users who several times a day return to the app to find latest news. And they will be guided by the automatic personalization which makes it easy to find the most relevant stories.

But we do also recognize the important need to get the full overview of the most important stories, and not least to get the perspective on the news that Berlingske also guarantees. Therefore, a special area of the app is dedicated to the latest edition of the content from the newspaper and here you can easily swipe through all articles from the beginning to the end like you might want to do with a traditional printed paper. The area will in the future develop into a special iPad edition. Refined for the tablet platform and edited exclusively for iPad users.

Ole Munk also comments on the lack of opportunities to share and comment on articles. And of course it is a legitimate criticism. Fortunately, the answer lies just ahead because both functions are under way in future versions. The same applies to many other extensions of the app as we are constantly working on improvements and new ideas on how to develop the app into the true successor of the great newspaper which we have used for decades.

Finally Munk fires in the direction of the general design and usability of the app. And of course that’s a complex debate to engage in. Because while most of the criticism might be founded in Munk’s print background, the design and navigation is more a matter of taste and - and hopefully habits! 

Because I very much hope that our approach will be welcomed by different groups of users. Both those who want constant, personalized news, those who prefer a limited and edited version, and those who want a mix of both worlds.