Barron’s iPad App Review

I’ve been a long time reader of Barron’s weekly magazine. I enjoy their insightful articles, and opinions on various investment topics. As mentioned previously, I love my Apple iPad.  I use it daily, and in my quest to remove paper from my life it has worked out well.  I currently subscribe to the WSJ via the iPad app, and do not miss the paper edition.  When I originally did my review on the iPad vs the Kindle, Barron’s did not have an app available. So I subscribed to the online edition, and read it via the Safari web browser on my iPad. While usable, it wasn’t as good as a dedicated app. My wish has finally come true. Barron’s quietly released the app for the iPad in December 2010, but officially announced it last week.

Like the WSJ app, the Barrons app is executed perfectly on the iPad.  It flows exactly how I invision an online magazine should be executed.  Without question, if you currently subscribe via the paper edition, you can completely replace it with the iPad edition.  One tidbit that caught my eye – iPad subscription is available free for a limited time.  From their description, it sounds like you’ll pay extra for the iPad app in addition to the print or online edition.  I don’t understand why this can’t be available for free for either subscription method?  People are paying for the content, and not the medium.  If this is the case, I will unfortunately revert back to the online edition only. For now I will enjoy the iPad edition.

One oversight that’s missing from the paper edition.  The long list of stock quotes.  Does anyone go to a newspaper to get their financial quotes anymore??  For many years I always considered this filler, and only good for lining the bottom of birdcage. If you like the fact the Barron’s iPad edition only contains the articles, you won’t be missing anything. The one thing I do miss with either the WSJ or Barron’s app are the comments that are available online. Sometimes the comments are more insightful, or offer an intelligent rebuttal to the author’s article. Yes you do have to filter through some of the crap, but there are definately diamond’s in the rough. Instead of completely mimicking the print editions, I hope in the future they add more interactivity from other readers.

Screenshots

Readers: what other financial iPad apps do you like?