Featured Mobster: Wattpad

January 05, 2010 |  Posted By : megan  In : Developer Community, Featured Mobster

Wattpad is the world’s most popular ebook community and their iPhone app is a natural extension of their business. Their iPhone app, of the same name, is currently ranked 10th in the book category and they have successful apps for other platforms as well.

The Stats (iPhone only):

• Monthly Downloads: 75,000
• Monthly Ad Impressions: 60 Million
• Daily Users: 20,000

We interviewed Wattpad CEO, Allen Lau:

1) Why did you decide to build an iPhone app?

” iPhone and ebook is a match made in heaven. With its touch screen and bright display, it is arguably one of the best mobile devices for e-reading. Wattpad has been supporting all phone models since we started in 2006. Building an iPhone version is a very natural and logical extension of our service.”

2) What made you think the ad revenue model made sense for you?

“Wattpad is the most popular ebook community for readers and writers to discover, share and connect. For a service that is focused on user-generated content, ad revenue model makes the most sense as it keeps content generation and consumption frictionless.”

3) What tips do you have for other developers?

“With so many free apps available on the app store, users are treating iPhone apps as disposables. Getting users to download is only the first hurdle. To make the ad revenue model works, The app needs to be super-addictive such that the users will keep coming back. The more they use it, the more ad impressions it generates and more money in the developer’s pocket”