Google Trips Proves a Promising Addition to Mobile Travel
It’s been a couple weeks now since Google’s mobile app development team launched Trips, their take on travel planning and mobile exploration, to the Apple App Store and Google Play. The reviews are pouring in and the verdict is that the app doesn’t offer enough customization options — but might make up for it with […]
Snapchat Wearable Hardware: Users Curious But Skeptical
Google Glass crashed and burned in their attempt to bring wearable augmented reality tech to the masses. Will SnapChat be able to succeed where Google failed? New media material leaked around the upcoming Spectacles launch has NYC iOS app developers and consumers cautious but hopeful that the “new media” company could bring the concept of […]
Wikipedia Becomes A Battleground For Detail-Obsessed Bots
It turns out bots aren’t as peace-loving as Microsoft’s Tay might have lead us to believe. (I jest.) According to a research study published by Cornell University, Wikipedia has become a quiet, passive-aggressive battleground for communities of bots deployed to conduct routine maintenance and undo the work of socially-motivated trolls. Rather than concentrate on human […]
Getting Your App Idea off the Ground: Zero to Critical Mass
Getting your app idea off the ground is similar to getting a rocket into space. Both are risky. Both take an enormous amount of fuel to reach their goal. And unfortunately, both crash and burn without careful planning. When startup founders look up and see big brands like Instagram and Facebook floating effortlessly across the […]
Investors Vote with Their Wallets for Messaging App Startups
Messaging was a theme for the past three years of mobile app development, even before bots came into the picture. While SMS has long been scheduled to go the way of the dinosaurs, the ecosystem has gotten more complex rather than more streamlined. Between Slack, Messenger, Google Hangouts, and dozens more, group messaging is one […]
Controversial iPhone 7 Headphones Put Software Center Stage
There’s a saying that for a carpenter, the solution to every problem is a nail. The saying holds true among techies — mobile app developers will always see software solutions, while hardware designers will always see hardware solutions. This debate is raging particularly brightly within Apple right now, as users discovered thanks to the iPhone […]
How Startups Can Succeed as “Mega-Apps” Dominate App Store
Apps are like people — they tend to congregate in the interest of convenience. User behavior has changed dramatically in recent years, and there’s no longer a feeling of excitement about seeking out, downloading, and learning to use smartphone apps. Instead, users expect things to “just work.” Between Google’s predictive information services and the prevalence […]
Studies Show Diverse Startup Teams Outperform Their Peers
Diversity is more than just a buzzword in Silicon Valley. A study in the last year by McKinsey found that ethnically diverse teams outperformed their peers by as much as 35 percent. MIT, Columbia University, and other leading research institutions have made similar findings. Overall, homogenous teams tend to make more predictable decisions — and […]
Apple Going All-in on IoT and Connected Home Devices
The smart home is here — it just isn’t evenly distributed yet. (Or, more specifically, properly organized.) The biggest critique against IoT startups among New York City mobile app development companies is that the field is simply scattered. Users have been slow to adopt IoT devices largely due to the friction of installing an individual […]
Facebook Messenger Opens Native Payments to Bot Developers
There’s been a lot of chatter about the “bot revolution” the past few months, but the spread of bot app usage among mainstream mobile app users has been slow at best. Part of the reason behind that, at least on go-to messaging platform Messenger, is the limitation on payments. Specifically, in order to make a […]