Google launches Currents, new social reading platform for iOS and Android
Following an extensive period of beta testing and refining, a promising new Google product is ready for prime time. Today, the search Goliath took the wraps off of a brand new social publishing platform that used to be known under the ‘Propeller’ code-name.
Context & Ripple Effects
After an extended beta run under the 'Propeller' code-name, Google has shipped Currents out of testing and onto both iOS and Android on the same day — a cross-platform launch that puts the search company's distribution weight behind a category so far defined by startups. TechCrunch's first-impressions piece frames it plainly as a Flipboard competitor, which is the lens most of the early coverage is using.
First-order effects
- Flipboard, until now the reference point for magazine-style social reading, gains a direct competitor backed by Google and available on both major mobile platforms from day one.
- Publishers get a new syndication surface for long-form and magazine-format content on phones and tablets, adding another channel to negotiate placement with.
Second-order effects
- Independent social readers are pushed to compete on curation quality and product design rather than platform availability, since Google matches their distribution footprint on iOS and Android at once.
- Content partners face a widening set of reader apps bidding for their feeds, shifting leverage toward publishers who can play multiple platforms against each other.
Third-order effects
- If platform owners keep building their own consumption surfaces, standalone reading apps risk being squeezed between OS-level distribution and the traffic engines of companies like Google — a structural drift toward platform-owned content destinations.
The trend: Mobile social reading is turning into a contest between platform owners shipping their own readers and the independent startups that defined the category.