apple


Apple, the EU, and the Cost You Don’t Normally Get to See

Sixteen years ago, in the early days of the App Store, we built an app called The Red Carpet. It let you follow the Oscar nominees, wrapped around an audacious hook: guess every winner correctly and win a million dollars. The contest was real. We’d secured a $1M policy from Lloyd’s of London, gotten bonded […]


Apple had lost the plot. Did they rediscover it?

Last year I sold almost all of an Apple position I’d spent fifteen years building. The decision had nothing to do with the stock price. I assumed it would keep climbing for a while, the way Intel kept climbing long after it stopped being the company that defined its industry. Great companies run on a […]


The iOS Developer’s Guide to Updating an App to iOS14

Each year, like clockwork, for better or worse — sometimes, in my opinion, very much for worse — Apple releases a new version of iOS. We’re all used to the forced march of the calendar by now. In June, WWDC is held, and the new version appears in beta. In September, it goes final. And […]


The 4 Forces Applied: Why Microsoft’s Conversion Tool Won’t Entice iOS Developers To Windows

Microsoft’s newly announced conversion tool for bringing iOS code to Windows will not be compelling enough to move developers over. The 4 Forces help explain why. The 4 Forces are a lens used to look at why people decide to change their behavior to use a new product or service. It is a wonderfully helpful […]


Why Focus Groups Lead to Horrible Software

  The first rule of great product development is: Don’t ask the customer what they want. But why? Well, customers have no idea what they want. More importantly, they can’t tell you why they really buy your product. I love the Henry Ford’s quote, “If I’d of asked people what they wanted, they would have […]


How iBeacons are Revolutionizing Mobile App Development and Retail

How can your mobile app benefit? iBeacons have only been around since the release of iOS 7, but already they’re revolutionizing the way people shop, bridging the gap between online and in-store shopping and helping solidify mobile’s place in the retail space. How do they work? Small, inexpensive Bluetooth transmitters, Apple calls iBeacons, “a new […]