Australian tablet publishing pioneer Mogeneration goes into liquidation
Early Australian leader in tablet development, Mogeneration, has gone into liquidation, Mumbrella has learned.
The company, which once counted ACP Magazines, The Australian, PwC and Mumbrella among its clients was founded in 2008 by former News Corporations employees Keith Ahern and Tom Adams.
Mumbrella’s Encore iPad app was one of Mogeneration’s products
Ahern, who now runs an AI real estate startup in his native Ireland, was mobile technology manager at News Corp before launching the startup which featured The Australian’s first iPhone app as its inaugural project in 2009.
In its early days the company had been a prominent part of the Sydney startup community as an early member of the high-profile Pollenizer tech incubator.
The company, which rebranded as Oomph in 2011, went on to create more than 70 iOS and Android apps, including Mumbrella’s Encore iPad app in 2012.
While Mumbrella’s Encore app received good feedback, the online venture was never profitable with the publication and app being closed down in late 2013.
Mumbrella’s experience with tablet publications was typical for the industry which, despite fast take up of tablet devices by consumers, saw publishers struggle to monetise their app investments, and Oomph’s fortunes seemed to follow that of its clients with Adams leaving the business in 2014.
Despite an investment from Melbourne-based Adventure Capital and retaining The Australian as a client for its revamped tablet edition in 2015, Ahern eventually sold the Oomph assets to Sydney digital marketing agency Daily Press in March last year.
Daily Press is no way connected with, or affected by, Mogeneration’s liquidation.
Ahern by that stage had relocated to his native Ireland to set up his latest venture Realar, an augmented reality app for home buyers trying visualise off-the-plan home purchases.
The company filed for liquidation on May 10, according to ASIC’s records.
Mumbrella has contacted Ahern, the directors of Mogeneration and its liquidators for comment on the company’s demise.
End of an era. At the tine Keith and the team inspired others that world class mobile products could be produced out of oz.
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What a wonderful innovative and creative software application it was; and so far ahead of other products in the marketplace. It was a challenge to learn but produced more lightbulb moments than most other software applications I’ve ever used. So sad to see it go.
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