Apple Moving Select Manufacturing Back to the US
According to a Notification of Proposed Production Activity submitted by Apple in recent weeks, the tech giant will be expanding an existing production center in Mesa, Arizona to increase domestic hardware activity. Does this mean your next iPhone will come with a “made in America” stamp? Almost certainly not. It does, however, point to the […]
On-Demand Startups Save Money by Increasing Employee Pay
The on-demand marketplace is one of the most controversial topics in the great American tech growth spurt, and for good reason. Depending on your perspective, the part-time contractors who make apps like Uber and Sprig function are either liberated from traditional work, or trapped in a dog-eat-dog game of diminishing returns. While big-player apps like […]
Could Tech Automation Disrupt 50% of the Job Market?
50% of jobs, wiped out in twenty years. That’s the figure that pundits have been pushing lately — and while it’s largely based on speculation, the fact is that we’re already losing jobs to automation. Quickly. While it’s often presented as a negative thing or a sign of American failures, let’s be honest: if tech […]
App Developers Shaping Media to Favor Simple, Direct Content
Facebook just launched a feature to automatically subtitle videos posted to their platform. Why does this matter for iPhone app developers? It matters because it illustrates that Facebook has successfully brought back the “silent movie,” forcing content creators to cater their wares to the limitations of the platform rather than the other way around. Following […]
2017’s Unicorn Startups Could Be in “Brick-and-mortar” business
“Brick and mortar” or employee-reliant tech companies often face an uphill battle in Silicon Valley. The costs are high. Investors are suspicious. But if Amazon’s strategy has anything to teach us, it’s that so-called “traditional” businesses could be some of the hottest tickets for new entrepreneurs in an increasingly crowded, competitive app store. Does that […]
App Development and Ethics at the Crossroads Post-Election
In the past five years, the effects of the app economy on the social and financial structure of America has grown far beyond what anyone expected. The Ubers and AirBnBs of the app store have revolutionized how we rent, buy, and even think about property. Social networks like Facebook have connected us in ways we […]
Ringing in the New Year with the Promise of Mobile Tech IPOs
Expectations were low for tech IPOs in 2016 — driven in large part by the slow plateau and declining userbases of former stars like Twitter and GoPro. While the tech sector as a whole continued to thrive, public companies floundered, driving a general suspicious outlook on publicly traded mobile app companies on Wall Street. But […]
Liquidation Preferences and Why They Matter for App Developers
Founders tend to be a passionate group focussed strongly on the nuts and bolts of their product or service. When it comes time to raise venture capital, it’s easy to just say “yes” to anything and everything that presents itself. The problem is that shares of a company aren’t all created equal, and startups often […]
White House Report Highlights Pros and Cons of AI on Economy
The White House issued a follow-up to their fall report on artificial intelligence in the US economy this week, stirring up important debate among NYC app developers involved in ushering in the future of mainstream AI products. While mostly positive in it’s outlook on how AI app development will affect the country, the researchers behind […]
FinTech Apps are Leading the Pack in AI and Chat Interfaces
Bots were the hot app development trend of 2016, but they haven’t proved to have much mainstream staying power across all app categories. One place they have, however, is FinTech — where San Francisco app developers have found a tech-friendly market of millennial users growing more interested in mobile money-management solutions. While mobile banking concepts like […]