Bots in Developing Economies Are a Major Startup Opportunity
Hindsight is always 20/20, among iPhone app developers as well as anybody else creating products in a fast-paced market. Guessing trends isn’t easy. Luckily, we’re starting to see proven success for two emerging trends, both of which have big growth opportunities for startups that jump in early: bots and developing economies. While the bot trend […]
What Is the Role of a Non-Technical Startup Founder?
Non-technical startup founders often get a bad rap in the tech world. This is partly because there’s simply a scarcity of quality technical talent — and partly because many non-technical founders try to jump to the top of the ladder without proving their value. Take a look at Hacker News, Quora, Reddit, Medium, or anywhere […]
To Strike Gold in the IoT App Economy, Eliminate Clutter
Proxy, a mobile app that just raised $1.6 million at the seed stage, highlights a problem that’s plaguing the IoT (Internet of Things) app industry: clutter. Love it or hate it, the Internet is getting connected to everything. The existing standard for connecting objects to the internet is to create a native app that pairs […]
How to Make an App Your Users (and the App Store) Will Love
Submitting apps to the Apple App Store is the scariest part of mobile app development. Apple is notoriously selective about the apps they allow into the iTunes ecosystem, meaning that only carefully-vetted iPhone and iPad app developers ever see their products reach end users. When it’s all said and done, around 30% of apps are […]
Social Networking App Developers: Go Niche, or Go Home
Instagram for photos. Snapchat for goofing off. Facebook for letting Mom know you’re still alive. Social network startups have changed a lot since the days of MySpace, and the trend for app developers is clear: niche services win out over all-purpose networks. The “social network-ization” of popular music video sharing apps like Thriller and Music.ly […]
New Film Explores the Cultural Effects of Mobile Technology
Mobile is entering adulthood. More than 60% of US adults own smartphones, and virtually everyone connects to the Internet daily. iPhone app developers launch around 1,000 apps every day. Everyone from grandmothers to children use smartphones to communicate and network. So, it’s a fitting time for a film by renowned documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog to […]
Bots on Kik Pass the 20,000 Mark: How Will This Affect Apps?
While there are just over 100 bots actually featured in the much-publicized Kik Bot Shop, developer on the platform have created well over 20,000 to-date. The catch: most of these bots are invite-only, accessible only through direct invite from creators. That said, major brands like CNN and Funny or Die have embraced the platform. Kik’s explosive […]
How to Guess Startup Success Without Knowing What They Do
Yahoo’s $4.8 billion sale to Verizon in recent months has drawn the eyes of the tech community. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is bearing the brunt of that attention, but you’d never know it from a recent Bloomberg Businessweek interview. In conversation, Mayer seemed confident and relaxed about the huge changes to the company, and the […]
How Can Code Bootcamps Make App Development More Accessible?
According to a study from Inside Higher Ed, coding bootcamps have major economic barriers that are stopping low-income students from enrolling. The result: most coding bootcamp graduates are already members of the middle class, going against President Obama’s recent praise for bootcamps as a “ticket into the middle class.” iPhone app development companies need more […]
Outsourcing App Development: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
“Go ahead and outsource.” People are always surprised when we tell them this. We get dozens of questions about offshoring every week, and the people asking always expect us to steer them away from it. After all, we’re an LA-based app development company — why would we encourage someone not to work with us? The […]