Tumblr for iOS launching next week
With 57 million users and a Android version already available, Tumblr will deliver a version of the blogging platform designed specifically to run on Apple's iOS.
Tumblr will offer the Apple contingent of its 57 million users a version native to iOS starting next week.
Speaking at the F.ounders conference in New York, Tumblr founder David Karp said the iOS version would be as "incredible" as the Android version, and include advertising. "We have two or three ad spots already designed and ready to go into circulation," Karp said.
In describing the user base and content, Karp said that Tumblr has "incredibly flat distribution," with the top 250 blogs representing only 4 percent of the total traffic on the network. The top category is fashion, representing 16 percent of the content on the network. Karp was particularly proud of the fact that the verticals on Tumblr are not spread more evenly across many categories, and took a swipe at Pinterest, saying it is "dominated by "girl-s---. He also noted that 2 to 4 percent of the traffic on Tumblr is porn-related.
Regarding an IPO, Karp said, "I wake up ever day hoping the company is still employing me in 20 years." That said, he admitted in the interview with Nick Bilton of The New York Times that he has rebuffed attempts to buy his company. "It tests you every time and challenges your assumptions," he said. "I am sure there is a price, but I have never gone into a meeting with a price in mind or deal in hand."
He said that Tumblr is "one of few technology companies today that cares about creators and is building tools for creators," and confessed to admiring Adobe and Apple, as companies who he said share a similar care about creators.
Watch the interview below: