App Store Sees 106% Growth as iPhone 7 Launches
This has been a huge week for iPhone app developers. First, thanks to an unintended (but much appreciated) social media gaffe, Apple users all over the world got a first look at promotional materials for the new iPhone 7 — and the first look doesn’t disappoint. Second, in a press event to support the iPhone […]
Lack of Regulation Makes Drones a Danger and an Opportunity
Drones are undeniably on the rise. Consumers are already getting used to the idea of drone package delivery, and San Diego mobile app developers are working with hardware developers to create ever-more user-friendly autopilot experiences. The big problem: drones are largely unregulated. The big opportunity: drones are largely unregulated. Every new technology goes through a […]
Mobile App Developers Gamify Biology, Discover New Species
There are over 8 million animal species in the world — finding, identifying, and cataloguing them all is one of biology’s biggest challenges. What if professional scientists could access the experience of casual ecologists and curious kids all over the world? That’s the vision of iNaturalist, a brilliant project from San Francisco iPhone app developer […]
The “API Economy” Isn’t a Fad, But It Won’t Eat Backend Tech
“Software is eating the world,” goes the infamous quip from startup investor Marc Andreessen. If that’s true, then APIs are part of a balanced diet for mobile app developers. Sure, the “API trend” that promised developers the ability to patch together complex software with APIs alone never really came to pass, but cloud APIs have […]
VR and EdTech Could Help Shrink the Class Divide
America has a class divide problem, and nowhere is that problem more apparent than in the school system. Programs like Teach For America work against the odds, but the facts remain: students born in the right places with the right level of family stability and income come out far ahead of those without. The question […]
Why Co-Founders Should Learn Basic Coding Skills
If you ever take a look at Hacker News comment threads or the Reddit startup community, you’ll notice a consistent trend: non-technical founders desperately seeking technical co-founders. This trend holds true in real-life mobile app development circles around Silicon Valley (and Silicon Beach for that matter). The difficulty with finding a technical co-founder isn’t entirely […]
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 […]
How to Monetize Mobile Gaming Apps Without Churning Users
Remember Angry Birds? Then you probably also remember the annoying, repetitive ads for the ill-fated Windows Phone. Angry Birds was easily one of the biggest mobile app development stories ever, but the story might be different if they’d launched today instead. Today’s users are much more averse to blatant advertising — particularly among gamers, some […]
Facebook Algorithm Change Is Opportunity for Digital Brands
Facebook recently made another major update to their News Feed algorithm, penalizing news sources responsible for headlines like “You’ll Never Look At Your Friends The Same… Once You’ve Searched This Site!” For many brands on Facebook, updates to the algorithm spell disaster. Impressions on existing page fans are at an all-time low, and Facebook is […]
I Have an App Idea: What Do I Do Next?
Think about this for a second: Apple has twice as many credit cards on file as Amazon, to the tune of well over 800 million accounts. That’s a ton of opportunity waiting to be tapped. …Does that mean your app idea is worth 800 million dollars? Not necessarily. Ideas get a bad rap in the startup […]