Publishers by now are aware of several content management options for optimizing the display of their content on the numerous number of smart mobile devices available (e.g., iPhone, Windows Phone, etc.). Sometimes, this functionality is part a general content management system (CMS) and, on other occasions, it takes the form of a specialized plug-in. Now, new tools such as Tainoapp have come to the fore to help publishers actually create mobile apps that run natively on each device.
Tainoapp has been profitable since the day it launched a prototype of its software to its first customer. Now, its customers hail from a variety of industries and include newspapers, magazines, state agencies, law firms and retail business, among others. As evidenced by recent new, this space may have legs. Last week, TechCrunch profiled a similar company named Appifier which creates IOS apps that can display WordPress content.
TainoApp implements a communication protocol on top of the content publisher’s CMS system, and provide ways of publishing this content as fully-native mobile applications for over 10 mobile platforms (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android phones and tablets, WindowsPhone7, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian, Meego, Bada, HTML5 and J2ME). In the coming months, TainoApp will be able to boast integrations with 10 of the most widely used content management system (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, tumblr, ExpressionEngine, Squarespace, TypePad, Blogger and MovableType).
Thanks to Microsoft’s interest and support, the TainoApp team developed a version of their software that supports Windows phone. Likewise, the team worked with Nokia to develop Symbian and Meego version and with Samsung developing mobile apps to be used by several mobile operators in the Caribbean (such as local telco Claro Communications). According to Gerardo Molina, Senior Manager for Claro at Samsung, “What started off as an experiment in one specific market, thanks to TainoApp, has now expanded to the whole Caribbean region and has served as benchmark for Latin America.”
The founders behind TainoApp bring some unique capabilities to the company. CTO Ricardo Alcocer has worked in the technology industry for more than a decade, is an accomplished magician and codes to the beat of heavy metal. CEO Ramphis Castro has started a number of technology companies and has a background in technology and law. Also, Ricardo has been active in the open source community while Ramphis has been helping develop local startups through a number of initiatives such as Startup Weekend.
Though the company is cash flow positive, Ramphis and Ricardo, say they are planning a US $150k round of funding. More than the money, the Tainoapp team is looking to connect with investors that posses deep expertise and a network of contacts in order to help the company expand globally.
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