Flipboard CEO seeks more video, individual mags

Few entrepreneurs struck it rich in the iPad Gold Rush like Mike McCue.

Long a fan of magazines, the CEO of Flipboard and his co-founder, Evan Doll, started designing the app for the iPad even before the popular device was released in 2010. It was a prescient bet that the rumored tablet's larger screen would draw otherwise reluctant magazine lovers into the digital realm.

Its page-flipping feature won legions of fans, and Apple named it the App of the Year for 2010. While generally reluctant to give up content to yet another aggregator, traditional media outlets soon signed deals with Flipboard to paginate their articles for the app.

Last year, Flipboard began allowing individual readers to curate stories to create their own "magazines" around personal interests. And McCue addressed one of the app's shortcomings — not having personalized recommendations based on readers' selection habits — by acquiring competitor Zite last month.

The CEO recently spoke to USA TODAY about the deal's significance and what fans can expect in the coming months. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: How big is Flipboard now?

A: We have direct relationships with 8,000 publishers and have over 100 million active readers.

There will be a lot of magazines that will come here. We have 200 huge publishers in strategic relationships — sharing revenue and formatting content. This is just the beginning.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: We are looking at the Web seriously. It's now exclusively a mobile experience. We did come out with the Windows 8 version. (Flipboard.com now has only the "magazines" curated by individual readers, and is missing some of the app's customizing functions). You'll also see more video over time.

Q: Last year, you began allowing users to create their own magazines. How did that change the reader experience?

A: It was totally transformative. There are over 7 million magazines that people have made in nine or 10 months since we launched it. It's awesome. We have family and work, and we have content around that. And there's some third passion. For me, it's sailing old wooden boats. I want Flipboard to be the ultimate source of content around that interest.

Q: Does the Zite deal hint at what's to come?

The acquisition enables to us have an awesome team of folks at Zite. They worked nine years to build its content recommendation (capability). And we want to put more recommendations.

Q: Flipboard is against banner ads. Does the approach help draw users?

People hate banner ads. It's like IRS and DMV to them. Advertising can be great (in print) and additive to the experience. We haven't figured that out online. Economics are terrible.

The quality of content and journalism is degrading online (as a result). We have slide shows instead of long-form journalism.

We are trying to create a holistic approach, to make (ads) viable content to discover. Banana Republic and Levi's advertise on Flipboard, and they have catalogs they curate. For Banana Republic, you can buy (items) right there. We don't get a cut.

Q: Are the ads on Flipboard more expensive to place?

The ads (on Flipboard) sell for quite a bit more than banner ads. It's comparable to print pricing.

Q: What Flipboard magazines do you like?

I read a magazine called Maritime. It is curated by a Coast Guard officer, and it's about things happening in high seas. I love it. He's got a special point of view that resonates. I love curating The Designer Standard. It is all about design and technology, and I curate with others (in Silicon Valley). Now I'm benefiting from other people adding content to it.

Q: Who are your biggest competitors?

A: The biggest is Google Newsstand. They do some of the things that we do. Yahoo is going to do more things, I'm sure, over time.

Q: Is the flipping motion a factor in attracting readers?

A: We have patents on that. The page-turning thing is unique to Flipboard. Not a lot of people have paginated content. It's extremely hard to do. There's something deeply instinctual about it. I personally don't like the sliding motion much. I get motion sickness. Your eyes lock on to the text. We wanted to come up with a model of not moving a lot of content as you're flipping the page. No more than 50% of the content moves.

Q: What are some user behavior patterns that you see?

A: The peak hours of usage tend to be mornings and evenings. Weekends are even bigger, when people are chilling. If you see Instagram, you see all these photos of (people reading) Flipboard and coffee. A lot of people see it as a morning routine.

Q: What's another app do you like?

A: Paper from FiftyThree. It's the most awesome drawing and sketching app on iPad. These guys came out with a pencil, and it's a stylus that works well.