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Just Landed Is Shutting Down

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Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#121

Post by fencepost »

jgrall wrote: post #77
amelius wrote: post #49

> With well over 2 million apps by now (officially 1.5M as of July 2015), the iTunes App Store is an incredibly crowded place where it’s almost impossible to get noticed. Despite the persistent myth of the app developer millionaire, it’s extremely hard to make a profit—let alone a living—as an iOS app developer. The Google Play Store is a similar story, except with the added bonus of rampant piracy and a zillion devices…

I wouldn't go as far as saying that Google and Apple are actively deceiving developers. However, they do have a strong incentive to keep things the way they are, and to keep the end user ignorant of how the app economy functions. You might be surprised to know that many customers on the App Store, and even some members of the press, seem to think that apps being featured by Apple have been bought by the company. I wo…

I wouldn't be surprised if it was more possible to make money on the Windows side - not so much with Windows Phone as with Windows Universal apps on both the Desktop and Mobile Windows Store.

The ending of "Project Astoria" that could have let some Android apps run on Windows 10 Mobile has undoubtedly hurt Windows Phone because of the dearth of good apps, but that same lack means that a quality application could still be a smallish fish in a small pond rather than a minnow in a large lake - even with the disparity in adoption 1% of the smartphone market is a significant number of devices. If an app is also something that's viable as a desktop or tablet app, that may provide enough of a larger market over time to keep some folks in business.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#122

Post by foobar1962 »

So, they went broke because the industry didn't standardise their data so a third party could scrape it for fun and profit.

Talia, is that you?

--

"An app like Just Landed relies on access to high quality flight data to function correctly. However, since the airline industry is extremely fragmented, and uses antiquated IT systems and many incompatible data formats, it is not practical for a small independent developer like us to negotiate data-sharing contracts with each individual airline, and then unscramble their jumbled data feeds into a usable format at a reasonable cost."

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#123

Post by IkmoIkmo »

tw04 wrote: post #98
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he did touch on that though. Essentially he's selling bread, and he's got to buy scarce flower at high prices in a convoluted system from a small number of farmers, and be forever at the mercy of the flower selling farmers. Only it's data instead of flower. Further, the data sometimes is bad and causes inaccuracy issues for customers without him knowing, this causes lots of complaints that he has no control o…

Not to be that guy, but I think you mean flour? Sorry, it threw me off and had to re-read a few times.

Thanks!

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#124

Post by IkmoIkmo »

quadrature wrote: post #58
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he did touch on that though. Essentially he's selling bread, and he's got to buy scarce flower at high prices in a convoluted system from a small number of farmers, and be forever at the mercy of the flower selling farmers. Only it's data instead of flower. Further, the data sometimes is bad and causes inaccuracy issues for customers without him knowing, this causes lots of complaints that he has no control o…

hate to nitpick, but you might appreciate that its called "flour". good analogy !.

Thanks!

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#125

Post by yitchelle »

Veratyr wrote: post #115
therockspush wrote: post #102

I can see something like this being able to work without paying for access to a flightaware api or something similar as ADS-B rolls out fully. A lot of aviation companies still pay hefty fees to tap into ATC data, that will essentially be made free. ADS-B Out broadcasts identification, position, altitude... With more aviation geeks out there supplying the data, people won't be reliant on centralized sources of info.…

Interestingly, "aviation geeks out there supplying the data" are how the FlightAware API you mention gets much of its data: https://flightaware.com/adsb/coverage#data-coverage https://flightaware.com/adsb/piaware/ With a bit of promotion your idea could work and in fact... It does! http://www.adsbexchange.com/ http://global.adsbexchange.com/VirtualRadar/desktop.html Also, ADS-B rollout isn't entirely necessary. It's…

Thanks for sharing this. This looks like a really good alternative to flightaware, if the data is accurate.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#126

Post by pmontra »

GauntletWizard wrote: post #117
teraflop wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would that even be possible? I know I've never been able to get GPS to work reliably on any phone I've owned while on an airplane (even holding it up to the window), and presumably cell tower location wouldn't be available either above a certain altitude.

Edit: I am utterly wrong about my first point, the export controls don't kick in til 1,200mph or 59,000 feet; Both much faster and higher than standard commercial jetliners. [1] GPS on your phone can't, by US law, work when you're in a plane. It is required that consumer GPS devices stop sending data when it is traveling over a certain speed, to prevent them from being repurposed as guidance systems for cruise missil…

Out of curiosity, do the GPS chips stop working above a given speed or it's the smartphone sw that must stop reading from them to pass import controls? And what about GPS chips manufactured outside the US, put in phones sold outside the US by non american companies (I'd say the vast majority of the market), are they still subject to that limitation?

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#127

Post by [deleted] »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #56
Eridrus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No kidding, this was the weirdest shutdown statement I've read in a while, "we found users who derive commercial benefit from using us... so we're shutting down"

I think he did touch on that though. Essentially he's selling bread, and he's got to buy scarce flower at high prices in a convoluted system from a small number of farmers, and be forever at the mercy of the flower selling farmers. Only it's data instead of flower. Further, the data sometimes is bad and causes inaccuracy issues for customers without him knowing, this causes lots of complaints that he has no control o…

[deleted]

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#128

Post by motdiem »

IkmoIkmo wrote: post #56
Eridrus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No kidding, this was the weirdest shutdown statement I've read in a while, "we found users who derive commercial benefit from using us... so we're shutting down"

I think he did touch on that though. Essentially he's selling bread, and he's got to buy scarce flower at high prices in a convoluted system from a small number of farmers, and be forever at the mercy of the flower selling farmers. Only it's data instead of flower. Further, the data sometimes is bad and causes inaccuracy issues for customers without him knowing, this causes lots of complaints that he has no control o…

You touch an important point. I'm in the process of winding down an app that relies on scraping a variety of badly formed data - there is commercial interest, but it is really difficult for me to make people pay for something if I can't guarantee the quality of the data- which after struggling for a couple of years chasing obscure data format changes, I was not looking forward too. I'm sure there were other factors, but I completely understand the app creator's decision to shutdown rather than enterprise up with that in mind.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#129

Post by annnnd »

jgrall wrote: post #61
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he did touch on that though. Essentially he's selling bread, and he's got to buy scarce flower at high prices in a convoluted system from a small number of farmers, and be forever at the mercy of the flower selling farmers. Only it's data instead of flower. Further, the data sometimes is bad and causes inaccuracy issues for customers without him knowing, this causes lots of complaints that he has no control o…

Creator of Just Landed here. Actually, I have been approached by a number of companies over the years about selling Just Landed, including some household names. The trouble is, almost none of them wanted the app – they just wanted me as an employee. These weren't companies I could get super excited about working for - especially since I love being an entrepreneur and working for myself. Of the few who did want the ap…

Hmmm. If it's about users, then why shutter the service they depend on? I am sure you have throught about this a lot and are probably tired of investing more time and energy in this project, but if you have hundreds of thousands of users, you have a huge opportunity on your hands.

How about:

1) start building your own set of data to complement the bought data. Every time there is an inaccuracy, approach the airline company and start using their data directly. Later on, you can even become one of the companies who provide data to others. When there is a problem ("the data companies are not doing their job") there is an opportunity.

2) change the pricing model to charge big users more. They should be your bread and butter, because they get paid to use your app. You are just a small additional cost to them. You can even lower the initial price tag and charge more for enterprise usage... Since you are better than others (see 1.) the enterprise users will be happy to pay more.

3) failing that, sell to an entrepreneur who will continue. I am sure there are many interested persons and your users would be better served if someone picked up where you left off. Hell, I am interested... :)

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#130

Post by wingerlang »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #45
old-gregg wrote: post #38

This sucks for us long-term users of Just Landed. I want to congratulate John for making something people _clearly_ wanted. Apparently sometimes that's not enough... This jumped out at me: "...Just Landed has outlived several of the services that it originally depended on, and each time a service provider has disappeared..." This statement refers to the less than 4 years old app, which speaks volumes about value prop…

My buddy enjoys rendering weather data. Using just one source- NOAA - he has to update the app several times a year to respond to their capricious, random changes to web interfaces, server names, random hosting requirements and so on. Its a real thing to factor into any data-repackaging app.

Assuming you mean iOS app which is hard to update instantly. Maybe he would benefit from creating his own middle-man server-api that the app talks to. That way he just needs to update the server-code and the app will still get the right values.

Just some thoughts, maybe it doesn't apply.

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