What Twitter’s #RIPTwitter Fiasco Can Teach Young Startups
If you’re a Twitter user, you’ve probably noticed the #RIPTwitter hashtag floating around your Twitter feed. (Whether that feed appears chronological or dynamic is another discussion.) For iPhone and Android app developers, watching the once-promising unicorn startup drop in value from an initial high of $45 per share to today’s low of under $20 has […]
How to Leverage Customer Service to Bootstrap a Beta Product
Bootstrapping is hard. Ridiculously hard. (Trust us, we all worked on startup teams for years before going into iPhone app development full-time at Dogtown Media.) Even if your app idea is completely new and innovative, it’s bound to spawn competing iPad app developers the second you go public — and those competitors will have the […]
Side Projects and the Art of Solving User Problems
Content marketing trumped traditional banner ads on desktop and mobile because it offered something that actually got user’s attention: value. On desktop, iPhone app developers and startup founders blog about their knowledge to both help the community and bring like-minded people to their brand. On mobile, integrated content helps third-party brands reach users in a […]
Luxury Services the next Frontier for On-demand App Startups
Disagreements between on-demand startup giant Uber and their legions of independent contractors may be dominating the startup conversation as we move into 2016, but at the same time luxury on-demand services are quietly racking up a significant market share — both for iPhone app developers and the workers participating. Take the NYC iPhone app developers at […]
Virtual Reality Is Here. What Does That Mean for Developers?
SXSW Interactive is unpredictable. The eclectic mix of startups, brands, corporations, app developers, and media changes every year, with the only constant being a sense of playful innovation. One other thing that never changes, though, is the tendency for what’s trendy at SXSW to become trendy with the general public within the year. (Think Twitter, […]
How to Validate Your App Idea Before You Start Developing
We get dozens of messages a day asking the same question: “will my app idea succeed?” The answer is actually simpler to find than you might think, but there’s a catch: iPhone app development companies don’t know the answer. Sure, NYC mobile app developers can make an educated guess based on the successes and failures […]
SXSW Interactive 2016 Wrap-up: Emerging Tech & Mobile Trends
SXSW Interactive has an uncanny knack for guessing what’s next in tech. Ever since Twitter caught on like wildfire at the 2007 gathering, throngs of iPhone app developers have migrated south each year to get in on the ground floor of the latest tech innovations. (And consume a lot of craft beer and Texas BBQ.) The […]
Why Simplicity Matters for Mobile App Developers
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” —Steve Jobs Clean code. Minimal interfaces. Simple services. The mantra of “keep it simple, stupid” is heavily ingrained into […]
Value & Monetization: A Tricky Balance for App Developers
It goes without saying that when it comes to providing a service, more value equals more money. It’s an equation that has held true since the very first financial transaction — that is, until the mobile economy began turning everything on its head. These days, iPhone and Android app developers find themselves in a much […]
How to Decide Between Web and Native for Your Startup Idea
You have a great startup idea. Your service will solve a gnawing problem for millions of users, attracting investors and generating huge revenues. The question is, should your product be a web app or native iOS/Android app? Depending on the details of your service (and budget), both web and native mobile app developers offer compelling […]