An app could do way more.
I helped test the original iNS. There were really sick and grandiose plans, but because the back end of the site is always changing (even when little appears to change on the outside), it was difficult for the sole developer (@thegreyarea) to keep up.
I've long said that, with a good amount of people invested in the development of the app, it could be really good. There are so many features that simply cannot be done from a mobile version of the website.
Things like video/photo uploading. Things like smart location features. Hell, the overall experience of using an app is far superior to that of a mobile-optimized site. Especially for things like video/photo viewing, commenting, and sharing.
There's vast untapped potential here. The skiing community doesn't have a go-to iOS or Android app. And it's sometimes difficult to remember, with where the site has been headed and the way it's laid out, that NS is run by a pretty small dedicated team.
For now, I continue to use the full site on my iDevices (especially on my iPad)--the watered-down experience is just not for me. I long for the day where I can do everything I do on Newschoolers on my laptop and more, on my iPhone in an integrated app with an extensive feature list. I would be willing to pay up to $5.99 for a well-built, ad-less, feature-heavy app.
