Mobile cramming scheme halted by FTC
Thursday, November 30, 2023 by Richard Harris
The Federal Trade Commission has obtained orders with the four remaining individual defendants and their affiliated companies in a mobile cramming scheme that the agency says bilked consumers out of more than $100 million through bogus charges added to their mobile phone bills.
The proposed settlements with Darcy Michael Wedd and Phwoar, LLC.; Fraser Robert Thompson ...
Create 3D animations on your phone with Move AI
Monday, November 13, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
Move AI has announced the official release of a single-camera motion capture app, Move One. After 12 weeks in beta, the app is now available to animators and creators looking to bring realistic human motion to their 3D characters. Move One provides high-quality, realistic motion data that you can capture anywhere using just an iPhone.
Move AI unlocks 3D animation wit...
Piracy for streaming admitted by 44 percent of Asian consumers
Monday, October 23, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
Faced with a cost-of-living crunch, half of Asian consumers (59%) say they can no longer afford all of their subscription services. As a result, 44% now access content via illegal piracy sites. That’s according to a new Bango study, exploring subscription trends and the rise of Super Bundling in Asia.
Bango’s study incorporates data from over 6,000 consum...
GraphQL API launches from Point One Navigation
Thursday, October 19, 2023 by Richard Harris
Point One Navigation announced the public launch of its GraphQL API, delivering instant integration and unprecedented observability into precision location for GNSS-powered devices.
The GraphQL API radically simplifies development, eliminating the need for vendor libraries, intermediate data stores, or working with convoluted networks of REST endpoints. Developers bu...
OneSignal to delete inactive app users by October 31st unless you pay
Thursday, October 12, 2023 by Richard Harris
OneSignal, a company that provides a push notification service for mobile and web applications, just announced they are going to start deleting subscribers that are in-active for over 18 months unless you choose a paid subscription plan.
In an email to developers, they said: "If you'd like to retain all your push subscriptions (players), you can upgrade...
Fake app reviews impact developers more than you think
Thursday, June 29, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
Developers are well aware that a significant portion of online reviews for products and services, including those on popular platforms like Amazon, eBay, and TripAdvisor, are in fact fake. The issue of fake app reviews has become an increasingly pressing concern. These deceptive reviews have wide effects on both developers and consumers alike, significantly impacting th...
How app development is evolving
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 by Richard Harris
Smartphone applications are a ubiquitous part of modern life, we talk to friends, consume media and program our daily life using software available in the palm of our hands. Mobile app functionality has steadily become more advanced and developers have to continuously push the envelope to secure a meaningful segment of the market share.
There’s an average of 3,...
Low code will grow up in 2023
Monday, January 23, 2023 by Richard Harris
Cost consciousness is always important, but at times of greater uncertainty (global recessions, pandemics, etc.) it becomes a high (if not the highest) priority. That will almost assuredly change companies’ approaches to business applications, sometimes in paradoxical ways.
The challenge at hand
On the one hand, Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has offered simpl...
App marketing for subscription apps report
Friday, June 17, 2022 by Richard Harris
AppsFlyer, in partnership with Liftoff, released the State of App Marketing for Subscription Apps, an in-depth report containing key insights that detail consumer trends and help marketers understand how subscription apps are navigating the age of digital privacy.
As subscription-based apps grow year-over-year (YoY), reflecting the change in consumer behavior, apps i...
Quantum computing learning platform launches
Monday, April 18, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Q-CTRL announced the release of Black Opal Pro, an upgraded and expanded version of its world-first interactive quantum computing learning platform. Black Opal Pro adds new modules and features to the basic version announced in November 2021, which already has 3,000 registered users.
The announcement arrives on World Quantum Day, an international initiative dedi...
App price and tax changes from Apple
Thursday, January 20, 2022 by Richard Harris
Apple has announced new price and tax changes for purchases and apps.
According to Apple, "When taxes or foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store in certain regions and/or adjust your proceeds."
In-App Purchase and App price and tax and changes
"In the next few days, prices of apps and in-app purchases (e...
Apple gaming studio predictions for 2022
Monday, December 20, 2021 by Justin Welter
If Apple were a person, it would seem they are (still) living on top of the world. Still flush with cash, flexing those privacy muscles with the final rollout of iOS 14.5 and then benching more with iOS 15, and up 29% year over year. But like a senior year quarterback with three championships already to their name, expectations are high and when they’re not m...
Lawsuit from US developers sways Apple
Friday, August 27, 2021 by Richard Harris
Apple has announced a number of changes coming to the App Store that, pending court approval, will resolve a class-action suit from US developers. The terms of the agreement will help make the App Store an even better business opportunity for developers while maintaining the safe and trusted marketplace users love. Apple appreciates the developer feedback and ideas that...
How to attract more brand spending in your apps
Friday, April 30, 2021 by Joe Lige
As someone who has worked in programmatic advertising for some time, I was excited when header bidding became available in-app. Here was an environment that was completely contained, with a potential for full user engagement and 100% viewability. I, along with many of my colleagues in the industry, assumed that header bidding uptake in-app would be even faster than it h...
App Store commission cuts to 15 percent for some
Thursday, November 19, 2020 by Richard Harris
In a move that is echoing througout the dev community, Apple has finally taken mercy on small developers, startups, and others making less than $1,000,000 a year by cutting the commision rate from 30% down to 15%. Accourding to the post made by Apple on their blog, if you are a developer or business earning less than $1M, you just got a raise!
About 28 mil...
Apps selling data can monetize in safer ways
Wednesday, October 28, 2020 by Scott Walsh
Your data is everywhere. You give it away, knowing and unknowingly, all of the time. The most ubiquitous and nefarious, of these applications that harvest data are often with you all the time; they live on your smartphone. The wide availability of insights on consumer behaviors has given rise to a robust data economy that now subsidizes costs so people can have apps and...
cloudtamer io and Kublr team up to enable budget-based scalability
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
As the COVID pandemic drives large enterprises to lean heavily on cloud computing solutions to enable their global workforce, Kublr and cloudtamer.io jointly announced today an integration between their respective platforms to help customers better manage their cloud-native and container-based IT infrastructure.
Driven by the needs of its enterprise customers, Kublr,...
Increase in app development since start of COVID-19
Friday, May 29, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
Appy Pie observed a dramatic 198% increase in application development since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since February 2020, Appy Pie has experienced a 198% jump in the number of total apps created and a 241% jump in the total app subscriptions. It is this believed that this increase is driven by two separate demands: 1) Companies that unexpectedly faced wor...
FTC cracks down on stalking apps
Thursday, October 24, 2019 by Freeman Lightner
The Federal Trade Commission has barred the developers of three “stalking” apps from selling apps that monitor consumers’ mobile devices unless they take certain steps to ensure the apps will only be used for legitimate purposes. The settlement resolves allegations that these apps compromised the privacy and security of the consumer devices on which th...
Match.com gets sued by FTC for using fake love interest ads
Thursday, September 26, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
This just in from the FTC. The Federal Trade Commission has sued online dating service Match Group, Inc. (Match), the owner of Match.com, Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, and other dating sites, alleging that the company used fake love interest advertisements to trick hundreds of thousands of consumers into purchasing paid subscriptions on Match.com.
The agency also al...
Electroneum proves there is a real utility for cryptocurrency users
Friday, September 6, 2019 by Richard Harris
Electroneum users can now top up Claro, TIM, Vivo and Oi mobile airtime and data with ETN. This is the first time 95% of a country can top up airtime and data with ETN. Brazil currently represents the fastest-growing Electroneum community. The expansion unlocks new opportunities to partner with other major corporations, retailers, and businesses.
After great success ...
INTUITION.DEV wants to help developers survive the coming tech crash
Tuesday, August 20, 2019 by Richard Harris
Hacker News announced the release of a first working version of INTUITION.DEV. INTUITION.DEV is a completely free and open source low-code tool specifically designed for professional developers, not citizen developers.
Bubble (a commercial low-code tool for citizen-developers) estimated savings of ten to 50 times on traditional development costs through low-code, and...
Mobile app profitability and user LTV
Tuesday, May 28, 2019 by Alon Golan
According to a recent survey, mobile advertising and app marketing practitioners believe that more and more advertisers will focus on actual profitability this year and move away from the exhausting what-ever-it-takes growth strategy.
Profitability is a rallying cry I hear almost daily from mobile app publishers, and it begins with user acquisition campaigns. If ther...
American dating app registrations drop almost 500 percent
Friday, February 15, 2019 by Richard Harris
Liftoff released its third annual dating apps research and analysis. The most comprehensive and longitudinal study of its kind, the data reveals sweeping demographic and regional changes in the world of dating apps that mobile marketers need to know to succeed in 2019. Chief among the insights are the rise of Latin America (LATAM), a drop-off in North America (NAR), and...
How a brain training app helps Tom Brady play faster
Wednesday, January 30, 2019 by Richard Harris
Despite recurring suggestions that he has peaked and that the Brady era will soon see its final sunset, New England Patriots’ Quarterback Tom Brady keeps pulling out the critical wins. How does he do it year after year, while seeming to defy the effects of aging?
Like most sports, football is a game of decision-based movements - with continuous demands for the ...
Developing video games that work for everyone
Monday, January 14, 2019 by Matias Nicolas Rodriguez
Video games are interactive experiences – as the player, you can live many different lives racing fast cars, fighting great creatures and going on exciting, magical adventures. For as long as video games companies have existed, the focus has been largely on games that are fun to play.
Of course, though, we’ve all had to sit out a round and wait for a free...
Google is turning on the Restore feature soon
Thursday, January 10, 2019 by Richard Harris
In a recent email sent to Android developers that have subscriptions enabled, Google wants to remind you that soon they will be activating the Restore feature. The email read:
"We are writing to let you know about an upcoming change to the Restore feature in the Google Play Console. On April 15, 2019, Google will be turning on the Restore feature for all develop...
How Pycom wants to help IoT developers
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 by Richard Harris
Although IoT development is increasingly on the rise, challenges still exist in the development and manufacturing process that prevents a streamlined workflow for developers.
In this interview, Fred de Haro, CEO, and co-founder at Pycom discusses the company’s new consumer-focused developer offering, and shares insight into the current challenges developers are...
The subscription based app model is working and here's proof
Monday, November 5, 2018 by Richard Harris
Liftoff released its annual Mobile App Engagement Index, describing trends in consumer app engagement and ways mobile marketers can adapt to thrive in the changing landscape. Specifically, the report reveals that mobile users are head over heels for the subscription model, with considerable momentum gained from last year. Additionally, the Index highlights a shift in ge...
The changes in iOS 12 for developers
Monday, October 1, 2018 by Richard Harris
It's here, iOS 12 - Apple's latest operating system, and it's chalked full of changes in everything from the user experience to under the programming hood. Along with the new OS, Apple has also released a new round of hardware, most notably with bigger screen sizes, a faster A12 chip, and the new Apple watch series 4. We've all seen the key note int...
Changes to the way notifications work in iOS 12 you need to know
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 by Mike Herrick
iOS 12’s public release has brought about key changes to the way we do notifications. With these changes, Urban Airship urges app publishers to adopt customer-centric messaging best practices to accommodate new user behavior, improve notification visibility and maximize the value that their app can deliver. Granular user controls over notifications, new Grouped No...
iOS 12 subscription based app tips for success
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 by Eran Kinsbruner
Last year, Apple held a secret meeting with a select group of iOS app developers in New York to talk about changing the current app delivery model from one-time purchases to subscription-based. From Apple’s view, these one-time purchases typically are inexpensive ($1-2), yet grant end-users unlimited access to the app and support, which can prove to be costly from...
Estimote LTE Beacons hit the market
Tuesday, August 28, 2018 by Richard Harris
Estimote, Inc. was founded in 2012 by Jakub Krzych and Lukasz Kostka, and in 2013, they launched their first product, the Estimote Bluetooth Beacons compatible with iBeacon. Since then, Estimote has built a community of 150,000 developers worldwide - all using their SDK and Beacons to build incredible real-world interfaces that dovetail app experiences with your su...
How to calculate app lifetime value
Tuesday, July 24, 2018 by Jonathan Raveh
It’s safe to say that one of the most common struggles of any mobile-first company is understanding the value of their customers. With this in mind, user Life Time Value (LTV) is not only one of the most powerful business KPIs, but also serves two more roles - a great tool to plan for future growth, and a constant reminder of the ever-growing importance of user lo...
Get your free developer package from Pusher and SendGrid
Monday, June 4, 2018 by Richard Harris
Pusher released the Pusher Developer Package. This pack is aimed at developers and will offer them free access to 13 key services they need for building great applications. Pusher is joined in this project by great service suppliers like Algolia, Auth0, ButterCMS, Chargebee, Cloudflare, Codeship, DataDog, DigitalOcean, Instabug, MongoDB, Mux.com, Nexmo, and SendGrid.The...
