A couple weeks ago, Qwiki CEO Doug Imbruce came by my office to talk about his new iPad app (watch video below), but he wasn’t quite ready to show it. This morning it finally hit iTunes, where you can download it for free.
In many ways, Qwiki was made for the iPad because it is like a visual Wikipedia. Even when the startup won TechCrunch Disrupt last September, it was already working on an iPad version of its multimedia search/information consumption service. It is so much better on the iPad, where the narrated animations come to life and become swipeable. But the best part of the new app are the maps. You can see any entries pinned on a map for any location, or find places near you that have Qwikis.
When you are done watching, you can share the Qwiki via email, Twitter, or Facebook. It also suggests related Qwikis, and links to more information and images on Wikipedia, Google, Fotopedia, and YouTube. As Qwiki expands the data sources it pulls from to create its automated info-animations, it is not too hard to imagine how Qwiki can move well beyond the Wikipedia-based entries which dominat eteh service today.