Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#1

Post by vsbuffalo » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:23 PM UTC

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#2

Post by Xcelerate » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:39 PM UTC

I know there's a big push against Not-Invented-Here-Syndrome, but he makes a good point about how a lot of small apps and websites depend on services that drastically change or disappear over the course of a few years. I wonder if in some cases it's better to simply develop an in-house solution for a service — it may be more expensive and less refined, but at least you know that service will be there as long as your company is.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#3

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:41 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#4

Post by markab21 » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:44 PM UTC

Sad to see companies like this go. The founder stated in the article above that the cost of the data being expensive was part of the demise, I wonder if croud-sourced solutions such as https://flightaware.com/commercial/flightxml/ (FlightAware) was ever used. That said any time I walk into an FBO or look on the screens for arriving or departing flights in general aviation, FlightAware data is the only thing I see people use. It could be because FlightAware owns the data (which is crowdsourced in a similar fashion to WeatherUnderground stations) they provide a service that Just Landed simply can't compete with.

As with anything in Travel outside of actual aviation aspects these types of services such as just landed, to me, feel more like Value Ads than core products. I personally just use google to track the flight of an arrival and can do it from my phone's browser by typing the flight number in a google search box.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#5

Post by coldcode » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:46 PM UTC

This cries out for Apple to support update pricing. However the likelihood of that every happening is less than giving the NSA a backdoor. Update pricing would make Apple money (not that it needs it) and change very little but the desire is zippo to bupkis to do it. This would allow smaller companies to survive. Oh well, doubtful it rises to the level of anyone caring.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#6

Post by polpo » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:47 PM UTC

From the article:

While the app was initially used primarily by individuals who made a few airport pickups per year, today Just Landed is increasingly used by professional limousine and taxi drivers, airline professionals, and travel companies.

So they were seeing increasing use by commercial users. Sounds like a ripe opportunity to start charging for such access.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#7

Post by exelius » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:51 PM UTC

Yeah; unfortunately this is not a space that's super profitable. There used to be a bigger need for it; but airlines have gotten a lot better about communicating delays to customers, so I'm not sure this kind of app is necessarily needed anymore.

Even the "leader" in this kind of app -- TripIt -- has basically been reduced to a free giveaway for users of Concur's (owner of TripIt) corporate travel booking platform.

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#8

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:51 PM UTC

polpo wrote: post #6

From the article: While the app was initially used primarily by individuals who made a few airport pickups per year, today Just Landed is increasingly used by professional limousine and taxi drivers, airline professionals, and travel companies. So they were seeing increasing use by commercial users. Sounds like a ripe opportunity to start charging for such access.

[deleted]

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#9

Post by grandsham » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:51 PM UTC

markab21 wrote: post #4

Sad to see companies like this go. The founder stated in the article above that the cost of the data being expensive was part of the demise, I wonder if croud-sourced solutions such as https://flightaware.com/commercial/flightxml/ (FlightAware) was ever used. That said any time I walk into an FBO or look on the screens for arriving or departing flights in general aviation, FlightAware data is the only thing I see peo…

Since a screenshot of the Just Landed app shows up in the image carousel on your link, I am assuming that they used FlightAware for their data. FlightAware charges people for API access, and also specifically provides a set of tools for FBOs (https://flightaware.com/commercial/fbotoolbox).

Re: Just Landed Is Shutting Down

#10

Post by rocky1138 » Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 7:52 PM UTC

Xcelerate wrote: post #2

I know there's a big push against Not-Invented-Here-Syndrome, but he makes a good point about how a lot of small apps and websites depend on services that drastically change or disappear over the course of a few years. I wonder if in some cases it's better to simply develop an in-house solution for a service — it may be more expensive and less refined, but at least you know that service will be there as long as your…

I wish he would have elaborated more on the services in question which have disappeared over the years. How he dealt with that would make for interesting reading.