Fanhattan Demo at D9: Consolidating Online Video on Your iPad (Video)
Even for the most experienced Web user, sorting through the vast landscape of online movies and television can be confusing. Fanhattan, is a cloud-based app trying to aggregate the Web’s many scattered video sources into a single location.
Fanhattan has partnered with Apple, Amazon and Hulu, among others, in an attempt to streamline how users discover and then connect with TV and movies, but that is just one crucial piece of this very big puzzle.
Fanhattan CEO Gilles BianRosa gave an onstage demo of the iPad app at D9 on Wednesday afternoon. His company hopes the app will help consumers of online video content who don’t currently have a comprehensive selection of movies and television shows.
2:52 pm: Gilles BianRosa showing off Fanhattan for the iPad. “It’s an immersive experience creating gorgeous imagery that takes you right into the movie.”
2:53 pm: A user can read reviews and actor/director info when browsing a movie/TV show.
2:53 pm: BianRosa: If you don’t have a specific application to which Fanhattan is linking, it gives you the option to install or subscribe on the spot.
2:54 pm: The filmography option on Fanhattan shows films in production, movie premieres and soundtrack data. According to BianRosa, all of this information is either stored on Fanhattan servers or sourced from various partnerships.
2:55 pm: BianRosa showing the app’s “Smart Browse” feature, which utilizes filters across genre, release date and ratings to make the user experience customizable.
2:58 pm: Now demonstrating a stream of “Modern Family,” which can be pulled from Hulu and ABC.com.
2:58 pm: Fanhattan launched its app on iPad today.
BianRosa: The app is free, but we make money from partnerships. He points out that if someone subscribes to a service like Netflix through Fanhattan, Fanhattan gets a portion of the proceeds.
3:00 pm: BianRosa now demonstrating prototype software for Fanhattan on a Web-connected TV.
3:00 pm: Fanhattan is working on a feature that allows viewers to get info about and view film series with multiple installments. BianRosa is currently using “Pirates of the Caribbean” as an example.
3:02 pm: BianRosa points out that it’s too early to say right now which platform will be dominant for Fanhattan.
Here’s video of the demo:
