Apple’s RSS Reader

With the original iPhone’s release, Apple released a second, less-shiny product:

An RSS web client.

Found at reader.mac.com, it was fairly simple. If you visited a RSS link in Mobile Safari, .Mac’s page would load up the feed on a nice looking page:

image via AllThingsD

Turns out, the page is still there. If you visit that URL on an iPhone, here’s what it looks like:

(As an aside, what it looks like on the desktop.)

While the page is still there, it seems that Apple has disabled the functions that were previously present.. If you hit an RSS feed in Mobile Safari today, you get this pop-over:

Of course, Apple’s removal of RSS support in Mail and Safari in OS X means that normal Apple users are less likely than ever to interact with the web standard. While RSS never enjoyed popularity with mainstream users it did with those of us in nerdier circles, Apple and Google backing away from it surely won’t help it keep the ground it has now.