Continuing its aggressive moves to replace the soon-to-be-defunct Google Reader as the RSS service of choice, Feedly on Monday announced it would provide its API to a number of established apps that previously used Google’s Reader API as the foundation of their offerings.
“We have been working behind the curtains with the developers of Reeder, Press, Nextgen Reader, Newsify and gReader as design partners for our Normandy project,” the company said in a blog post, referring to its undertaking to build and provide an API that’s more or less identical to Google’s—and lest you think it’s a totally altruistic move, Feedly previously used Google Reader’s API as the foundation of its own app, as well. “Today we are excited to announce that you will be able to access your feedly from all these apps before Google Reader retires and that the access to feedly API will be free.”
The company said that more than 100 developers had applied to be part of the first round of invitees to use Feedly’s API, and that the company is “working hard on the second batch” of invitees.
Monday’s announcement came as part of Feedly’s update on what improvements customers are asking for as they shift away from Google Reader. Among the top items: speedier service, better Web access, and enhanced Windows compatibility.
But sustaining—or re-creating—Google’s ecosystem of apps for its reader ended up high on the list, as well, leading to Monday’s news.
Google, for its part, announced in March that is retiring the Google Reader service as of July 1, leaving just under a month before users will have to find a replacement—Feedly, it’s clear, is angling to fill those admittedly large shoes.
Author: Joel Mathis
Joel Mathis is a regular contributor to Macworld and TechHive. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young son.