If you read anything about interactive media startup Qwiki today, you probably ran into the trope that the New York-based startup had “disappeared” over the last year. And it’s true, to some extent–we hadn’t thought about Qwiki since shortly after its 2011 launch. But Doug Imbruce, Qwiki’s cofounder and CEO, strongly disagrees with this assessment.

“These reporters like to compress the tech hype cycles even more than they already are,” Mr. Imbruce told Betabeat over the phone today with a laugh. “We launched one of the year’s most popular iPad apps that won an award. We’ve increased traffic. I don’t know if we went underground, but our whole vision was always for not just a reference experience but also to release a publishing platform and ultimately develop a new media format. That takes time.” Read More