For the record, after a downtime of over two months, Instapaper finally became accessible to European users again1. Just when everyone was (rightfully) giving up hope for a happy ending, word came out that Pinterest is transferring ownership of the app to the developers who worked on the app during the Betaworks years.
In order to refinance work invested into the app by the new owners, Instapaper Premium makes its return in exchange for the same amount of money that the service charged before the acquisition by Pinterest.
Although I’m still a bit grumpy about the extended downtime I think I will become an Instapaper user again. Regrettably, the app hasn’t got much attention during the Pinterest years. I’d love to be convinced of the prospect of a brighter future by the advent of new features going forward.
- As a “token of apology” each user located in the EU gets six months of premium status for free. ↩︎