Onswipe, the publishing platform that allows any content site to create an app like experience on the iPad and other tablets, is coming out of beta this week and will be available to the public tomorrow at 3:00pm EST. With the launch Onswipe will also be adding former CNN president John Klein as an advisor.
Launching with partners like Hearst’s Marie Claire, Slate, Ziff Davis’ Geek.com and Extreme Tech, Thomson Reuter’s PE Hub, Forbes, Hollywood.com, StockTwits and advertisers American Express and Sprint, Onswipe promises clients touch device optimization in three minutes. All publishers and advertisers need to do to achieve a native app feel is pick and customize a layout, import content and then embed a piece of javascript into their site.
With tomorrow’s launch, Onswipe will be unveiling its three pronged approach to tablet content viewing 1) Its publishing platform that lets publishers provide a fluid tablet-like experience to users. 2) An interactive ad platform that lets clients make money off of tablet-specific advertising and the Onswipe ad network. 3) A social platform that allows users to share and save content for later.
Says co-founder Jason Baptiste on the motivation behind the startup’s tablet-centric approach this early on, “The tablet is the TV of this generation, and we’re letting publishers make their content look great on there, but also make money off of it. And lastly we’re saying, ‘Hey, if we have this new network of sites, how can we leverage that?’
Onswipe’s platform will allow publishers and advertisers to not only to add and customize content from article, but also from social media sources like Twitter, YouTube, Quora, Instagram, and Tumblr. In addition the launch will feature the addition of myOnswipe, an Instapaper-like offline reading service for sites in the Onswipe network.
Baptiste tells me that Onswipe doesn’t charge companies for its publishing platform, and instead monetizes by taking a share of revenue from its ad platform, “We’ve already let publishers make more on the tablet than they have before. It’s a significant amount,” says Baptiste.
Onswipe currently has $6 million in funding from Spark Capital, Lightbank, Yuri Milner, Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, Betaworks, Morado Ventures. ENIAC Ventures, Thrive Capital and assorted angels.