A Content Cubbyhole for Avid Web Surfers

Nate Weiner, 28, has always had varied interests: photography, animation, programming, criminal detective work. While browsing the Web, he’d often e-mail himself articles and videos about his favorite topics with plans to catch up later. The links inevitably got lost in his overflowing in-box. Frustrated one night in 2007, he built Read It Later, a smartphone app for storing and viewing all the content that gets shunted aside during the course of a busy day. “When I get a bug for something, I have to get it done,” he says.

Since being relaunched in April under the new name Pocket, the app—which is available on iOS, Android, and Kindle devices—has had 2 million downloads, bringing its total to more than 5 million registered users. To save an article or video, users install a button or a bookmark in their Web browser and click it whenever they come across something they want to ingest later. Pocket has also integrated with more than 300 mobile apps, so fans of news readers such as Flipboard or Pulse can send an article to Pocket directly. Weiner’s app displays saved content in a layout with adjustable fonts and colors and stores them offline, enabling users to read clips even when they have no cell reception. Users save about 1 million items a day.