Quartz turns news into chat with new iOS app and pins down Mini as launch sponsor
Quartz has refocused its iPhone app by repositioning news as a conversation, pushing its content straight to mobile via in-app notifications.
Instead of delivering all of its content to users in a list format in a native site optimised for mobile, the experience has been tailored in the style of iMessenger chat, as an “automated assistant”.
With GIFs, graphs, emoji and intriguing prompts, users can opt in for the full story at Quartz’s website. The push notifications are curated by writers with the publication hitting home the benefit of having an “actual human” lead the experience.
Users can select their notification preferences, meaning the app is customisable to a degree.
A statement from the company reads: “This is a new kind of business news app, just as qz.com has strived to be a new kind of business news website. We’re excited to add Quartz for iPhone to the roster of ways in which you can get our reporting, perspective, and voice.”
On why it went down such a route, Quartz said: “We drew influence from all sorts of places, but were particularly inspired by Jonathan Libov’s “Futures of Text” and apps with conversational UIs like Lark and Lifeline. Other trends, like the rise of bots and messaging, gave us confidence in the direction.”
Mini is the launch sponsor of the app, with future ads to be “integrated with the rest of the app beautifully, unobtrusively, and in parallel with the editorial experience”. (See below)
On Android or another mobile platform? Too bad, Quartz claims the app is exclusive to iPhone for now.
Check the app in action below.
What is @qz? We're carrying out intense experiments to find out. Come back shortly when we know https://t.co/SUr1hxxw6J
— The Drum (@TheDrum) February 11, 2016