Brightcove steps into app creation biz with App Cloud

Brightcove, a company best known for its online video platform, is today launching a new online product, dubbed App Cloud, that will help developers create mobile apps.

It looks like App Cloud will do for mobile apps what Brightcove has already done for video publishing — making the production process as painless as possible, while delivering a high quality result.

App Cloud will allow companies to develop apps once using its online interface, and then deploy them as iPhone and Android native apps, as well as mobile web apps.

The apps are built using HTML5, Javascript, and CSS3, but you can also include native code if you wish. Brightcove’s app platform will also make it easy for you to include advertising, engage audiences with notifications, and give you analytics to help you track your app’s performance.

Brightcove joins plenty of other companies aiming to simplify mobile app development, including Red Foundry and Mobile Roadie, but its added experience with its video platform could give it a leg up. The company is reportedly preparing to go public this year, and having a strong mobile app platform will certainly help it seem more valuable.

The company is based in Cambridge, Mass., and has so far raised over $100 million from backers including Hearst Interactive Media, GE Commercial Finance, Allen & Company, Brookside Capital, Maverick Capital, Dentsu, J-Stream, Cyber Communications and TransCosmos.

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