Not only has NewsGator updated its line of products, but in a significant move, it has also decided to offer FeedDemon, NetNewsWire and NewsGator Go for free. The online service, which lets you get your news updates from anywhere will also be opened up to everyone.
The move comes at the right time, with Google Reader dominating the RSS market and having offered up a lot of updates recently, such as recommendations and sharing. As TechCrunch note, NewsGator had already secured $12 million of funding back in December, in a bid to keep its line of products competitive. The move towards freeware seems to be a way to grow the popularity of NewsGator apps even more, with revenue coming exclusively from sales of the NewsGator Enterprise Server (NGES). Over on his blog, Nick Bradbury of NewsGator gives two reasons for going free: getting the brand known and getting more attention data from users. Greg Reinacker, founder of NewsGator, goes into the details a little further:
What we’re working to do is to saturate the market with our clients. Anyone who wants a rich experience for consuming content, or anyone who uses multiple computers or devices and wants a best-of-breed experience on each can now use our clients. Using a Mac at home, along with an iPhone? NetNewsWire and our iPhone reader will sync up. Have a PC at the office? FeedDemon will sync with your other two applications. And they’ll all sync with NewsGator Online. It all just works.
He promises big changes in the coming months both in the clients and online services offered by NewsGator. I personally think this is great news. NetNewsWire was my first RSS reader, but I ditched it for Google Reader because it wasn’t free. Now I may just consider reinstalling it on my Mac.
