When I wrote about the Opera News application one of the readers highlighted that they had worked on a news application that was similar to this. Once I knew this was on the market I felt I had to give this application a look. It turns out there are some advantages this application holds over Opera News
Wider scope than Opera News
If there is one thing this application does better than Opera its gathering content from a variety of sources. If you are not concerned about international news and you just want an app to consume local news then this is probably your best bet as it covers a variety of sections including; News, Sports, Business, Tech, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Opinion as well as videos. You will not be bombarded by international news unless it is something huge which local publications are covering as well.
Language
Vese’s wider scope also enables it to offer content in a variety of local languages. During my time testing Opera, I never came across a Shona or Ndebele article. Just after I began testing Vese, it didn’t take me five minutes to get bombarded by articles in Ndebele.
This diversity means this app is better suited to its target market –i.e Zimbabweans- when compared to something like Opera News which is targeting a variety of countries. This means on Opera Mini you’re only reading from English-writing publications and if that’s not your cup of tea you can go to hell.
If you want to read news in Shona or Ndebele this is probably your best choice.
No ads
There are no ads in this one and during my time testing Opera News I didn’t see any ads pop up either. Both applications seem to understand that users are not particularly fond of ads and they decided to scrape them. There is no outright winner in this one
Data saving?
When it comes to data saving, this is the only time Opera News is a clear winner. Vese has no data saving feature so if you’re using mobile data and you’re very conscious about your usage then here is your stumbling block.
Is this better than Opera News?
These are two different applications that target different individuals. My review of this app came after I wrote about Opera News but after using the application I think each of the two applications can have a place on your device depending on your preferences. If you’re a news junky and all you want both local and international news then Opera News and Vese can both serve their purpose for you. On the other hand if you’re more into international affairs Opera News is a better bet.
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6 comments
Data saving/Reader mode will be available in next update. And we will keep on reviewing what the app offers. Thanks for the review
How does Vese make money?
No money being made just yet, but we hope to introduce features that can be saleworthy as we get more feedback. Should mention that the iOS version does show some (non-intrusive) ads but we will probably review this.
I can think of a number of ways that you could make money.
1. Sponsored articles seeded after every 5 stories or so
2. Affiliate links inside articles that are on the app
3. Profiling the reading habits of readers and selling this data to newspaper publications
All good points that we will keep in mind and have on our radar so thanks for those. We were also thinking of perhaps even showcasing sponsored events from publishers (*nudge nudge TechZim*) such that its not just a seeded article that a reader may miss/skip/overlook but be more targeted. So as always a good handful of ideas, all will ride on the app numbers though 🙂
So does a zimbabwean developer able to sell his app on the appstore??? for ios platform