I download and play with a fair amount of iPhone applications, but I only stick with a few in the long run. The few that I use all the time are NetNewsWire, RunKeeper Pro, and Pocket Weather AU. I’ve found a new application for that list - Instapaper.

The idea behind Instapaper is to mark web pages when you’re at your computer so that you can read them offline on your iPhone when you might have a few minutes to kill. You add a “Read Later” link - which Instapaper supplies - to bookmarks toolbar in your browser. Whenever you’re at a page that you’d like to save to read later you hit the “Read Later” bookmark. Instapaper then saves that page to your reading list.

When you’re away from your computer, run the Instapaper app on your iPhone and Instapaper grabs your reading list and formats it nicely to read on the iPhone. Pick an article and start reading. If you’re interrupted Instapaper will remember your place. Nice little touches like that make it a pleasure to use.

It’s a simple concept that is done very well. The whole process just gets out of the way and lets you do what you wanted to - read.