Can you talk about the latest developments FlipBoard?
Last week, the latest edition of Flipboard came out with more social media and lots of new features. Now, in addition to Facebook and Twitter, Flipboard’s readers can flip through photos and articles shared via Flickr and Google Reader as well as easily browse more of what these social networks have to offer including favorites, folders, groups, and friend lists. Users can now also post updates, tweets and photos from anywhere within the magazine. If you want to know more detailed information about the latest edition, please check out our blog post about it: http://inside.flipboard.com/
How did you get the idea?
Flipboard was started by Mike McCue and Evan Doll because they realized people were sharing a lot on social media networks, but things seemed scattered. The initial idea was born when founder Mike McCue was traveling a lot. Like many, he always bought a few magazines before boarding to read on the plane. While on the plane, he started asking himself why it is that the magazines look so beautiful and the Web doesn’t look nearly as as nice. He also wondered if there would be a way to bring the beauty of print together with the power of the Web. He started working on this idea with co-founder Evan Doll, who came from Apple. They started prototyping and after various iterations, came up what we now call a social magazine.
How do you see the future of content on different screens?
Currently, Flipboard is an iPad-only application, but we’re looking into expansion to other platforms in the future.
Have you any figures on the uses?
We don’t reveal these numbers, but what I can share is that a significant percentage of the iPad population has already downloaded the app.
What is your business model?
We’re still developing our business model and for the moment we’re focused on further developing the product, creating the best user experience and growing the number of readers. We take our inspiration from the print world and we think that the business model for magazines is a good one for Flipboard, especially as it relates to advertising. Our intent is to create a model that will be friendly to readers, publishers and advertisers.