Posterous Embraces Android (But Only Upon Select Phones?)

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Fans of Google’s green robot can now rejoice as the long awaited official Posterous Android app is now live upon Android Market.

Posterous for Android makes posting and sharing your life as simple as a few taps. Now you can send in photos, a video or a couple of paragraphs directly from your Android device. […]

Android 1.0 is a big step for Posterous, but it’s only our first. We’ll continue to add to our supported device list over time.  Stay tuned for new releases that leverage the full power of the Android platform including Taskbar notifications and Android Live Folders.  We’ll also be adding additional file type support, an improved reading experience and full commenting. (Official Posterous Blog)

Believe it or not this is Posterous’s third mobile app, as the company has previously created two official iPhone apps (PicPosterous and Posterous, the latter which is similar to its Android brother).

The company is also planning on releasing a Blackberry app as well in order to compete against WordPress and Tumblr (who both have apps across all three major mobile OS’s).

While it’s great to see Posterous embracing Android, unfortunately the app only officially supports nine Android smartphones which means that a few of my friends and family will (in theory) be unable to use the device (although I’m sure they’ll figure away around the issue).

There is no word on whether the startup will consider embracing Nokia or Windows Phone 7 in the future, although Androids embrace does place the startup ahead of rivals like Typepad and Squarespace (the latter who is still working on their Android app).

Google Reader To Android: There’s An App For That!

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It looks like Christmas has come early for Android fans, as the search engine giant has announced that there is now an official Android app for Google Reader fans.

It’s been a long time coming, but the official Google Reader app for Android is finally here. Let’s jump into the features, shall we?

The app supports all the basics you’d expect like unread counts, friends, sharing, liking, and starring, but it also has a whole lot more, including:

Multiple accounts
Synced preferences
Full subscription features (subscribe and search from your phone)
Search (Official Google Reader Blog)

The official Google Reader app for Android apparently supports most (if not all) of the features that made the desktop version of Google Reader famous, including the ability to share to social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter).

Despite boasting a powerful web app, Google’s entrance upon Android is potentially making a few iPhone developers (like Byline and Reeder) nervous, as it probably is only a matter of time before iOS fans receive something similar for their devices.

Do you have an Android device? What are your thoughts regarding Google’s latest app?

Posterous To Challenge WordPress, Tumblr On Android

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After debuting their second iPhone app in October, the Posterous team is now preparing to invade the Android arena with a brand new mobile app.

In a post highlighting the inclusion of drafts as well as auto save in a brand new iOS update, the Posterous team not only mentioned their pending courtship of Android, but the need for a few brave volunteers.

And with this release, your posts are now automatically saved as you write them. When an unexpected crash happens, you can just pick up right where you left off.

Last but not least, we’re happy to share that Android love is coming soon. We’re looking for Android beta testers. (Official Posterous Blog)

Note: Emphasis mine.

Unlike iOS which boasts over half a dozen official apps, thus far Android has only been courted by WordPress, Tumblr and (in the semi-distant future) Squarespace.

Posterous’s entrance upon Android could help the company not only expose more users to its innovative platform, but also convince new users to make Posterous their default blogging client (as the service can auto post to a variety of social networks and blog platforms).

There is still no word on when the Android app will appear, although hopefully we will see one live upon Android Market before Christmas.

Squarespace Confirms Android App

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After posting corporate details involving their upcoming iPad app, Squarespace has confirmed that they are working on an official Android app which should please a few fans who were threatening to defect elsewhere.

I’m excited to see the autosave and media management features, but without an Android app or the ability post via mobile site, I won’t be renewing when my subscription is up. (Miriam) […]

@Miriam – Android is on the way. Just don’t have solid dates to share just yet. :) (Mark Burstiner on Official Squarespace Blog)

This news should please the millions of Android lovers who have been jealous of their iPhone friends who have been able to blog from their iOS device thanks to the official Squarespace app.

Squarespace has not indicated what extra features they will be adding to the upcoming Android app, although hopefully the company will consider supporting video uploading (which would help them compete against rivals like Posterous, Tumblr, and WordPress).

There is still no word on whether Squarespace will consider supporting other platforms (i.e. Palm, Windows Phone 7 or even Blackberry), although for now its great to see the company expand beyond iOS (a strategy which is helping WordPress dominate the mobile arena).

Disqus Embraces 3 Smartphones. Guess Who Got Left Out?

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After declaring their intentions to release official apps upon the iPhone and Android devices, Disqus has announced that the apps are ready for prime time (provided they survive the tribunal processes save one OS).

About month ago, we announced “Disqus Mobile”. Since then, we’ve had a tremendous amount of traffic on with mobile theme, and received several of requests for a way to moderate and keep up with your communities whilst on the go. Being very keen to listen to our community, we’ve been secretly working on something deep within the Disqus laboratories.

Today we’re announcing a set of mobile apps on Android, iPhone (iOS), and webOS to help you achieve this. These apps are simple to use, lightweight, and battery efficient. We wanted to be sure you had enough battery life to call Grandma. (Official Disqus Blog) [Read more…]

Disqus Goes Mobile, Launching iPhone And Android Apps

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Disqus, a company who is known by some for perfecting the art of blog comments has updated their commenting interface in order to make it friendlier for mobile devices.

While the new interface makes commenting through a smartphone almost as easy as through a notebook, Disqus has announced grander plans for users with iPhone or Android OS devices.

The new improved Disqus neocortex has the ability to identify whether you’re browsing on a desktop or mobile device. For our publishers with mobile sites, this activates a new attractive, clutter free, optimized theme for mobility.

This new theme is made possible with a new theming architecture behind the scenes. It’s a hint to some of the very cool things we’re going to be doing with new themes on Disqus. […]

For you website-runners, we’re getting ready to roll out mobile tools to help maintain your community on the go. Think iPhone and Android apps. More on that soon! (Official Disqus Blog)

While the company has not hinted on whether they will create an iPad app (or even an app for Blackberry and Palm Pre fans), this news probably means the end of DisqusPro, who offered users a way to moderate their threads via iPhone.

Previously Disqus has been heavily courting Blogspot users, as well as challenging WordPress’s Intense Debate by launching a Gravatar like button (which mimics WP.com’s version).

Tumblr Sneaks Out Android App

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After conquering the iPhone as well as Blackberry smartphones, Tumblr has invaded the Android Market minus the official announcement.

This weekend, popular blogging site Tumblr has quietly released an official Tumblr application for the Android platform. […]

The Tumblr Android application provides users much of the same experience as posting on the standard web. Android users can now post pictures, links, quotes, audio, video and basically any other mobile content you can think of right to your Tumblr blog. Also, the official Tumblr app includes the dashboard, which contains all of your content (both posts and drafts of posts) as well as the content of any people you follow on the Tumblr service. (Android And Me)

The Tumblr for Android app is very similar to its iPhone brother with the only major exception being that the former lacks twitter integration (a feature recently rolled out to iPhone Tumblrs).

Once again it looks as if Tumblr tapped Mobelux to create an official smartphone app (the latter was responsible for developing Tumblr’s official iPhone and Blackberry apps).

While Tumblr’s Android entrance will displease a few third party developers, having an official app will help the micro blogging service compete against Twitter as well as WordPress (both who are intent on conquering the mobile frontier).

(Image Credit: Sizzled Core)

WordPress Seeks Mobile Domination, Upgrading iPhone, Android And Blackberry Apps

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It looks like the mobile blogging wars are about to heat up with Automattic (the company behind WordPress) announcing plans on upgrading all of their smartphone apps upon Android, Blackberry and (finally!) the iPhone.

Great news: We’re putting the finishing touches on the 2.6 release of WordPress for iOS! As if that wasn’t exciting enough, we’ve got even more good news.

First, we’re creating our own Beta Team for the WordPress for iOS project. Members of the Beta Team will be able to test releases before we submit them to the App Store and report back on their experiences. This will help us catch and fix bugs proactively, rather than having to publish bugfix releases after the fact. (Official iOS for WordPress Blog)

Automattic has also posted similar announcements upon their official Android and Blackberry blogs (the latter which should please WordPress fans planning on buying a Blackberry Torch smartphone in the near future).

Despite the fact that WordPress already dominates the blogging scene on the Blackberry as well as Android devices, the company has been surpassed by rivals like LiveJournal, who recently resurrected their iPhone app in a bid to challenge WordPress on the iDevice.

With more companies planning on launching official apps for Blackberry, iOS and Android (or updating the ones currently listed in the respective app stores), it will be interesting to see if WordPress can maintain its lead against challengers in the future.

(Image Credit: Norebbo)

WordPress Ignores iPhone, Updates Android App

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Apparently the boys and girls at Automattic (the company behind WordPress) have secretly fallen in love with Google’s grandchild Android, and have blessed the WordPress Android app with several new features (all of them desired by their iBrother).

You can now view your blog’s stats right from your phone! Go to the fourth tab in the App, and check it out: You can see your page views, post views, referrers, search terms, and clicks — all in real time! There’s also an easy-to-read line chart for your page views[.]

Save time by moderating several comments at once with the new “bulk edit” feature. Simply click the checkbox next to the comments you want to moderate followed by the status button that you want to apply.

You can now create your posts with stylized text using the new visual editor! We’ve added new formatting buttons, including strikethrough and underline. (WordPress for Android Blog)

Adding stats to the WordPress app fulfills Automattic’s promise made to Android fans in February. [Read more…]

Squarespace Courts iPad, Ponders Android App

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After flirting with the idea of an iPad app, it looks as if the boys and girls at Squarespace have finally decided to develop an official app upon Steve Jobs “greatest creation.”

As far as Android goes however, the company is still giving the standard “we’re thinking about it” reply.

iPad App: This is a big one, and we get a lot of requests for it. The app is in development right now, but we don’t have a solid date for you. Once we have something more concrete, we’ll share.

Android App: Another big one. This one isn’t quite on the roadmap just yet, but we see a lot of support for it, so we’re kicking the idea around and determining how best to get our look and feel onto this platform as we have on the iPhone. (Official Squarespace Blog) [Read more…]