iPorn startup makes a splash at WWDC
These three women jiggled without a shiver through a chilly San Francisco morning outside Apple’s WWDC conference on Monday. “You could be watching porn right now,” one teased the line of guys waiting to be let into the Moscone West building to watch Phil Schiller’s keynote. As a former software developer and Mac weenie, by which I mean I’m a sucker for a pretty lady in a bikini, here’s my report on iPorn’s stunt marketing ploy: It worked!
I took the time this afternoon to learn that iPorn has figured out a way to bring YouTube-like adult videos to the iPhone. Their app uses the wide screen of the iPhone’s landscape mode. You can surf clips passively, or sign up as a member to upload and share videos. Members can also send private messages to each other. iPorn focused on the iPhone and iPod Touch first, but a company spokesperson told Mashable that they have Android, Pre and BlackBerry apps coming.
It works because most of the videos in iPorn’s library are already skewed toward the small screen of a browser-based video player. So they fit onto an iPhone without looking shrunken. They take a while to fire up, and I suspect that a faster processor would deliver a better experience. There’s a pop-culture theory that low-def, smaller-screen porn is actually hotter than super-high-def video. Whether or not that’s true, let’s be honest: For a lot of guys, iPorn is the best reason to upgrade to an iPhone 3 S. To be nitpicky, their community-voted stuff on the home screen isn’t my favorite fare, but the technology is there to deliver a wider range of video with no extra effort.
iPorn’s funding is less explicit than its content: The Beverly Hills, California startup is privately funded.
[Photo by Dean Takahashi]
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About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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