Pocket (service)
{{short description|Social bookmarking service}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Pocket
| logo = Pocket Logo.svg
| screenshot = Pocket web reader example.png
| caption = An example of an article being read in the website
| author = Read it Later, Inc.
| developer = Mozilla Corporation
| released = {{start date and age|2007}}
| platform = Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Kindle Fire, Kobo, macOS, web browsers and Windows{{Cite web |title=Pocket Applications |url=http://getpocket.com/apps/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506073946/https://getpocket.com/apps/ |archive-date=6 May 2016 |access-date=15 November 2014 |website=getpocket.com}}
| genre = Social bookmarking
| license = Freemium
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
Pocket, formerly known as Read It Later, is a social bookmarking service for storing, sharing and discovering web bookmarks, first released in 2007.{{Cite news |last=Nagappan |first=Ramu |date=June 11, 2010 |title=Read It Later app now available for iPad |url=http://www.macworld.com/article/151982/2010/06/readitlater.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306232334/http://www.macworld.com/article/151982/2010/06/readitlater.html |archive-date=March 6, 2012 |access-date=December 4, 2011 |work=Macworld}}
History
Pocket was introduced in August 2007 as a Mozilla Firefox browser extension named Read It Later by Nathan (Nate) Weiner.{{Citation |last=Weiner |first=Nate |title=Read it Later—Firefox Extension |url=http://blog.ideashower.com/post/15139634835/read-it-later |access-date=2015-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216060741/http://blog.ideashower.com/post/15139634835/read-it-later |archive-date=2012-02-16}} Once his product was used by millions of people, he moved his office to Silicon Valley and four other people joined the Read It Later team. Weiner's intention was for the application to be like a TiVo directory for web content and to give users access to that content on any device.
Read It Later obtained venture capital investments of US$2.5 million in 2011 and $5.0 million in 2012. The 2011 funding came from Foundation Capital, Baseline Ventures, Google Ventures, Founder Collective and unnamed angel investors.{{Cite web |last=Kincaid |first=Jason |date=July 26, 2011 |title=Read It Later Raises $2.5 Million, Wants To Become The Dropbox Of Content |url=https://techcrunch.com/2011/07/26/read-it-later-raises-2-5-million-wants-to-become-the-dropbox-of-content/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126102700/http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/26/read-it-later-raises-2-5-million-wants-to-become-the-dropbox-of-content/ |archive-date=November 26, 2011 |access-date=December 5, 2011 |website=Techcrunch}} The company rejected an acquisition offer by Evernote after showing concerns that Evernote intended to shut down the Read It Later service and amalgamate its functionality into Evernote's main service.
Initially, the Read It Later app was available in a free version and a paid version that included additional features. After the rebranding to Pocket, all paid features were made available in a free and advertisement-free app. In May 2014, a paid subscription service called Pocket Premium was introduced, adding server-side storage of articles and more powerful search tools.{{Citation |title=Introducing Pocket Premium |date=May 28, 2014 |url=http://getpocket.com/blog/2014/05/introducing-pocket-premium |access-date=January 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214161227/http://getpocket.com/blog/2014/05/introducing-pocket-premium/ |archive-date=February 14, 2015 |url-status=live |publisher=Read It Later Inc.}}
In June 2015, Pocket was included in Firefox, via a toolbar button and link to a user's Pocket list in the bookmark's menu. The integration was controversial, as users displayed concerns for the direct integration of a proprietary service into an open source application, and that it could not be completely disabled without editing advanced settings, unlike other third-party extensions.{{Cite web |title=Hacker News |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9667809 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806041920/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9667809 |archive-date=August 6, 2015 |access-date=November 3, 2015 |website=ycombinator.com}} A Mozilla spokesperson stated that the feature was meant to leverage the service's popularity among Firefox users and clarified that all code related to the integration was open source.{{Cite web |last=Protalinski, Emil |date=June 9, 2015 |title=Mozilla responds to Firefox user backlash over Pocket integration |url=https://venturebeat.com/2015/06/09/mozilla-responds-to-firefox-user-backlash-over-pocket-integration/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117053855/http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/09/mozilla-responds-to-firefox-user-backlash-over-pocket-integration/ |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |access-date=November 3, 2015 |website=venturebeat}}{{Cite web |date=13 November 2015 |title=Mozilla has 'no plans' to offer Firefox without Pocket |url=https://venturebeat.com/2015/11/12/mozilla-has-no-plans-to-offer-firefox-without-pocket/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117054147/http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/12/mozilla-has-no-plans-to-offer-firefox-without-pocket/ |archive-date=17 November 2015 |access-date=13 November 2015 |website=VentureBeat}} The spokesperson added that "[Mozilla had] gotten lots of positive feedback about the integration from users".
On February{{nbsp}}27, 2017, Pocket announced that it had been acquired by Mozilla Corporation, the commercial arm of Firefox's non-profit development group. Mozilla staff stated that Pocket would continue to operate as an independent subsidiary but that it would be leveraged as part of an ongoing "Context Graph" project.{{Cite web |last=Newton |first=Casey |date=27 February 2017 |title=Mozilla acquires Pocket to gain a foothold on mobile devices |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/27/14752590/mozilla-acquires-pocket-read-it-later |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112030822/https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/27/14752590/mozilla-acquires-pocket-read-it-later |archive-date=12 November 2020 |access-date=27 February 2017 |website=The Verge |publisher=Vox Media}} There are plans to open-source the server-side code of Pocket,{{Cite news |date=2017-02-27 |title=Mozilla acquires read-it-later app Pocket, will open-source the code |url=https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/27/mozilla-acquires-read-it-later-app-pocket-will-open-source-the-code/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923235646/https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/27/mozilla-acquires-read-it-later-app-pocket-will-open-source-the-code/ |archive-date=2018-09-23 |access-date=2018-09-23 |work=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Downer |first=Tyler |date=2017-10-21 |title=Mozilla, Pocket and open-source |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/77tt3r/mozilla_pocket_and_opensource/dopd763/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226040942/https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/77tt3r/mozilla_pocket_and_opensource/dopd763/ |archive-date=2017-12-26 |access-date=2018-09-23 |website=Reddit |quote=we have plans to make it entirely open source}}{{Cite web |title=Mozilla Acquires Pocket – The Mozilla Blog |url=https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2017/02/27/mozilla-acquires-pocket/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923125622/https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2017/02/27/mozilla-acquires-pocket/ |archive-date=2018-09-23 |access-date=2018-09-23 |website=The Mozilla Blog |language=en-US}} though only parts of the project{{Cite web |date=2017-02-27 |title=open-pocket/open-pocket: Building a 'clean room' open-source implementation of Pocket |url=https://github.com/open-pocket/open-pocket |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=GitHub}} have been open-sourced as of 2024.{{Cite web |date=2020-06-08 |title=Pocket Source Code |url=https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/pocket-source-code/43686/12 |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=Mozilla Discourse |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Pocket |url=https://github.com/Pocket |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=GitHub |language=en}}
Functions
The application allows the user to save an article or web page to remote servers for later reading. The article is sent to the user's Pocket list (synced to all of their devices) for offline reading. Pocket makes the article more readable by removing clutter and enabling the user to add tags and adjust text settings.
User base
The application had 17 million users{{Cite web |date=September 8, 2015 |title=Pocket built a save button for the internet — what's next? |url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/9/8/9277425/pocket-save-button-ceo-nate-weiner-small-empires |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908220457/http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/8/9277425/pocket-save-button-ceo-nate-weiner-small-empires |archive-date=September 8, 2015 |access-date=September 9, 2015 |website=The Verge}} and 1 billion saves, as of September 2015.{{Cite web |date=May 15, 2014 |title=1 Billion Saves to Pocket! |url=http://getpocket.com/blog/2014/05/1-billion-saves-to-pocket/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225154603/http://getpocket.com/blog/2014/05/1-billion-saves-to-pocket/ |archive-date=February 25, 2015 |access-date=January 19, 2015 |publisher=Read It Later Inc.}} Pocket was listed among Time magazine's 50 Best Android Applications for 2013.{{Cite magazine |last=Newman, Jared |date=July 1, 2013 |title=50 Best Android Apps for 2013 |url=https://techland.time.com/2013/07/01/50-best-android-apps-for-2013/slide/pocket/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704153038/http://techland.time.com/2013/07/01/50-best-android-apps-for-2013/slide/pocket/ |archive-date=July 4, 2013 |access-date=June 30, 2013 |magazine=TIME}}
Reception
Kent German of CNET said that "Read It Later is oh so incredibly useful for saving all the articles and news stories I find while commuting or waiting in line."{{Cite news |last=German, Kent |date=July 11, 2011 |title=Kent's 10 favorite Android apps (CNET 100) |url=http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-19736_7-10008527.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106173050/http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-19736_7-10008527.html |archive-date=November 6, 2012 |access-date=June 30, 2013 |publisher=CNET}} Erez Zukerman of PC World said that supporting the developer is enough reason to buy what he deemed a "handy app".{{Cite news |last=Zukerman, Erez |title=Read It Later Pro |url=http://www.pcworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=849625&expand=true |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910114348/http://www.pcworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=849625&expand=true |archive-date=September 10, 2012 |access-date=December 4, 2011 |work=PC World}} Bill Barol of Forbes said that although Read It Later works less well than Instapaper, "it makes my beloved Instapaper look and feel a little stodgy."{{Cite news |last=Barol, Bill |date=December 16, 2010 |title=Instapaper vs. Read It Later: The power of pretty |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/billbarol/2010/12/16/instapaper-vs-read-it-later-the-power-of-pretty/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214035815/http://www.forbes.com/sites/billbarol/2010/12/16/instapaper-vs-read-it-later-the-power-of-pretty/ |archive-date=December 14, 2011 |access-date=December 5, 2011 |work=Forbes}}
In 2015, Pocket was awarded a Material Design Award for Adaptive Layout by Google for their Android application.{{Cite web |last=Fulcher, Rich |date=2015 |title=Material Design Awards |url=https://design.google.com/articles/material-design-awards/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911001544/https://design.google.com/articles/material-design-awards/ |archive-date=September 11, 2015 |access-date=October 6, 2015 |website=Google Design}}{{Cite news |last=Raphael, J. R. |date=May 29, 2015 |title=Material Design, 1 year later: How Pocket and Pocket Casts conquered Google's vision |url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2926007/android/material-design-1-year-later-pocket-pocketcasts.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007102525/http://www.computerworld.com/article/2926007/android/material-design-1-year-later-pocket-pocketcasts.html |archive-date=October 7, 2015 |access-date=October 6, 2015 |work=Computerworld}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}