The company has named Avi Zimak, currently ad manager at Town&Country, to the role that will see him look after the mobile and tablet versions of Hearst's brands on Apple's iPad and iPhone, as well as other tablet products in the marketplace.
Zimak will also oversee all sales and marketing activities for the App Lab, a new initiative that will launch in October and will offer previews of emerging mobile content, applications and platforms, as well as advertiser and agency roundtables on new ad formats and models.
Hearst said that in early 2011, it will unveil a physical space in Hearst Tower to showcase Hearst's iPhone, iPad and tablet products.
Michael Clinton, president, marketing and publishing director, Hearst Magazines, said: "We see huge potential to collaborate with our advertising partners in exploring new opportunities for innovation. With his energy and experience, Avi is the right person to spearhead this effort and work with our publishers to expand our footprint in the app landscape."
To date, Hearst Magazines has launched 24 apps, including Redbook's One Stop Shop, the Seventeen Fashion Finder and Cosmopolitan's Sex Position of the Day, available on the iPhone and Android platforms.
All of Hearst's 14 magazines are available for the iPad through the Zinio application and Popular Mechanics launched a successful iPad application in July, which is going monthly with the November issue. IPad apps from Esquire and six other Hearst brands will roll out later this year.
The appointment follows moves at other major media groups, including News Corp, which is reported to be working on the launch of two possible app-based newspapers.
One of those is thought to be coming and Dow Jones, with another from the more populist end of the spectrum with the
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