Flipboard – has the novelty worn off already?

A couple of weeks ago Flipboard for the iPad launched to the type of fanfare that probably made its owners blush. From Scoble’s rave review through to a thousand blog posts it seemed as if everyone loved the app. Here was what the iPad was built for. The demand was so huge that the company had to grab new servers to cater for all that traffic.

So two weeks on and, iPad owners, are you still using Flipboard?

I get the feeling that many iPad owners, myself included, are desperate for that killer app. The one that you can show tech agnostics and say ‘look here’s why you need to part with your £400.’ Sure books look great on the iPad and some of the games are huge fun, but we haven’t really hand an app yet that really makes the iPad an essential purchase. For me Flipboard, while pulling off some very cool visual tricks, simply isn’t that app.

Over the past few weeks I have been using the RSS reader Pulse on a twice daily basis, but as for Flipboard, well I inwardly groan as I fire it up. I am not saying that it isn’t impressive and I do think it could have an interesting future as a platform for bloggers and indie publishers, but quite franky it just isn’t useful enough.

Given the choice I would always use a proper Twitter client like Tweet or Tweetdeck to find out what my friends are saying, because as well as reading links (and maybe commenting on them too) I can interact with them and reply, retweet and DM. For me Flipboard is just too much of a sit back experience. Twitter and Facebook are all about getting involved, not just reading.

I also cringe a little when I see people’s tweets sitting in isolation in the magazine format. Flipping past images and stories then seeing someone tweeting about transport-related issues or what they are cooking for tea, seems very odd.

I am sure the Flipboard team have got some interesting plans for the format, but for now it has become an iPad app that I really can live without. One the other hand Pulse is amazing and well worth the investment.

So iPad owners what do you think? Do you still Flipboard on a daily basis?