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Month: June 2020

Mobile Apps and Fireworks

How a Business Grew Using a Mobile App

In the spirit of Independence Day this year, it’s only suitable that we focus on a business that specializes in fireworks and expanded their business from a single stand to the most significant American fireworks distributor as well as a technologically advanced company with a mobile app.

In 1964, a single stand popped up in Pittsburg, Kansas.  Their product?  Fireworks. John and David Collar opened that stand as a summer business to earn some extra cash. Little did they know that summer business would scale into Winco Fireworks, one of the largest firework distributors in America.

As the business continued to grow, they knew they had to stay relevant and competitive. When the opportunity presented itself, the company entered a new era, designing a firework show and executing it all on a smartphone or tablet.  Kevin Wu, a product developer, pitched the idea/concept to Winco Fireworks. Winco saw it as a great opportunity and, in late 2017, launched the new product FireFly.

Since the launch of FireFly, they amassed over 26,000 users in over 31 countries, which shows that the future of the firework business is in technology.  Winco Fireworks has leaped in front of the competition and all from a concept utilizing a mobile app.

 

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Apple Press Release

All the Reveals from Apple’s WWDC20

Cupertino, California — Apple today announced a robust line-up of new technologies to help its 23 million developers design and build the apps of tomorrow. These new tools will enable developers to bring more powerful app experiences to Apple’s industry-leading platforms, and help them better manage and grow their businesses. In addition to Apple’s annual developer survey, WWDC20 will feature an online App Store lab so that developers from around the world can share their feedback and help inform future improvements to the App Store. Apple is also adding new forums for developers to relay suggestions throughout the coming year and beyond.

Read more.

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Apple CarPlay

Apple CarPlay gets an update, plus, replace your car key with your iPhone

Apple announced a slew of new features and updates at its 2020 Worldwide Developer Conference today, many of them directly related to the automotive world.

To start, Apple CarPlay is getting an update. There’s no new user interface, but users can pick a custom wallpaper now as the screen’s backsplash. Additionally, there are three new categories of apps that are allowable within the interface: parking, EV charging, and food ordering. There will certainly be more manufacturer-made EV charging apps made available in the future, so Apple CarPlay integration makes a lot of sense.

Read more.

 

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WWDC 2020

WWDC 2020

Monday marks the start of Apple’s 31st WWDC! Unlike any year before, this year is virtual and free for everyone!  Let’s dive into the details of this year’s WWDC.

 

What is WWDC?

WWDC is Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference.  Every year Apple engineers, software developers, and people from all areas of the tech world come together to participate in in-depth sessions covering a wide variety of topics.  Apple uses this platform to showcase its new software and technologies to a variety of developers.

 

What are this year’s expected announcements?

We are expecting to hear an array of news from tvOS 14 to new in-house chips.  This online event will allow millions of developers to access the future versions of iOS, tvOS, macOS, watchOS, and iPadOS.

We are expecting Apple to announce the transition from Intel chips to chips made in-house.  This will give developers time to prepare for the change as the first Macs with these new chips aren’t expected until 2021.

We anticipate the unveiling of a newly redesigned iMac that will utilize the “iPad Pro design language” and feature thinner bezels of those on the Pro Display XDR.

We believe Apple will preview the new software updates that could be launched as soon as September 2020, which includes iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS 10.16, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7.

 

watchOS 7

Medical

It’s rumored that Apple may release an update to detect your blood oxygen levels for the Apple Watch. It is unknown if this will be something older models of the Apple Watch can detect.

Parental Features

It looks like watchOS 7 will be a blessing for parents as it’s believed Apple will allow parents to manage which apps can be used during specific hours and add additional features for managing your child’s Apple Watch.

Control Center

It’s believed that Apple will add new features to the control center for noise detection and sleep mode.

 

iOS 14

Third-Party Apps and Packs

Apple may be allowing users to set third-party apps as their default music, mail, and browser apps in place of Apple’s apps as well as allowing developers to create wallpaper options for the iPhone that can be installed in the Wallpaper section.

Home Screen Changes

You may see changes to your home screen with iOS 14.  Apple may allow users to view their home screen as a list so the user can see every app installed in one comfortable place.

Messages

Messages are expected to get a slew of features, including the ability to @mention someone in a group chat, retract iMessages, mark messages unread, and typing indicators for group chat.

 

There are expected to be many other announcements and unveilings, so we encourage you to follow Pioneer and drop-in on Apple’s WWDC 2020.

 

 

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5 Steps Entrepreneurs Can Take to Adapt During Difficult Times

Proof that pandemics can accelerate innovation can be found as far back as the Black Death in Europe during the 1300s. The Plague eventually forced the people of the Late Middle Ages to reassess their medical practices — which were previously rooted in religion — and adapt them in favor of a more scientific approach, thereby moving the world towards modern medicine.

Continue Reading.

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App Can Make You Money

How an App Can Make You Money

Mobile apps can make you money and serve many different purposes. You may have had an app built so you could communicate with your constituents more effectively, you may have had it built so you could market your products directly to your consumers or have an app used for contact tracing to help in the healthcare industry.  There are so many different reasons why apps are developed, but how do you make money?

The most straightforward answer to this is charging for the app, but most people don’t want to pay for an app unless it is very targeted and specific.  The other obvious answer is ad placement.  Ad placement can be useful, but it can also backfire.  If your users get annoyed with the constant bombardment of ads, they may delete the app and never return. There is also the issue of needing large amounts of users to make money with ad placement, requiring a significant marketing budget.

 

So what are some ways you can make money with your new mobile app?

 

In-App Purchases

In-app purchases can be one of the best ways to make money with your app consistently.  The app itself is free for download, but users can opt to purchase additional content or premium access in the app.

Email Marketing

Email marketing remains the top seller in the game of marketing.  58% of people check their email first in the morning, even before social media.  Some app developers opt to require a sign-in feature on their app to collect email addresses and user data.  They then can email the user and begin that user in the conversion funnel or even place advertisements in the email.

Subscriptions

Subscription modeled apps can create quite the revenue for businesses and individuals. If you do go down this road, you want to make sure that you can deliver well-tailored content to ensure long-lasting subscriptions.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship can be a significant way to establish and enhance a revenue stream from a mobile app. App developers can partner with large or small organizations to build an app and provide content.  App developers and the organization would then split the profits in an agreed-upon manner.

 

As you begin to think about app development, you’ll also want to focus on the revenue strategy for the app, as that is just as important as the construction and design of the app. Mobile apps should be developed with a revenue strategy in mind to enhance the success of the app.

 

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UX vs. UI Designer

The difference between a UX and a UI Designer

UX and UI designers are used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing.  To start, UI is user interface, and UX is user experience.  Each one is incredibly different, and so are the tasks of a designer.

What does a UI designer do?

A UI designer is typically a more visual person.  A UI designer creates the look and feel of the product through branding and graphic development, user guides and storylines, design research, and customer analysis.  The UI designer is also responsible for the interactivity and responsiveness through UI prototyping, animation, and the adaptation for all screen sizes.

What does a UX designer do?

Unlike the UI designer, a UX designer is responsible for a variety of tasks.  The UX designer is typically 33% marketer, 33% designer, and 33% project manager, and 1% anything else the project requires.  A UX designer’s typical tasks vary from strategic to execution with content, wireframing, prototyping, and analytics in between.

As the differences are apparent between UX and UI designers, why do companies use the term interchangeably?

The answer to why they are used interchangeably isn’t too clear as these are relatively new fields. Still, most of the time, they are used together because the company is demonstrating that they have both designers or are versatile enough to be both.

Now that you know the difference between UX and UI, hopefully, you’ll be able to make a more informed decision when hiring a designer or even to look for a job as one.

If you’d like to learn more about UX and UI design, please visit our website at pioneerapplications.com.

 

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From Idea

From Idea To 500,000 Users – An App Success Story With Christian Perez

In Appfigures latest App Success Story, we talked with Christian Perez, indie designer, and entrepreneur behind The Name App. Christian’s journey started with an idea that evolved into an app used by more than 500,000 users all around the world. In this #aftalks Christian told us more about the app’s development, marketing, monetization, and more.

Click here to read the full article. 

 

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A Beginner's Guide to Starting and Marketing an App

A Beginner’s Guide to Starting and Marketing an App

If you’re building a mobile app for the first time, you no doubt have many questions: Is it worthwhile? Does it make sense? How will people know about it?

I’ve helped build more than 100 apps in categories ranging from utility to social networking, so I field a lot of questions on the process from entrepreneurs. Here are the most common queries — and the answers.  Continue reading.

 

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