S02E01 – The Turning
Hey all 🤙
It’s Bardi AKA Third Culture Apps. Hope you're all safe & healthy.
A lot has happened since my last update, and so I thought it's a great time to catch-up.
The last six weeks have been challenging — trying to get work done with a 3.5 year old asking for your attention every five minutes has been disruptive. I started the year hoping to launch Appy Weather on iOS by June, but yeah that's not happening. The thing is I’m no longer sure that this summer is a smart time to launch a new app, especially a weather app.
See, when the world entered lockdown, Appy Weather’s sales immediately nosedived. I get it. People, myself included, curbed spending, and who needs a weather app when you’re at home all day anyway? But then in literally a moment, everything changed: Apple bought Dark Sky, and removed the app from Google Play.
I got a ton of press (most notably Gizmodo who described it as the “perfect at-a-glance overview of the weather for the day”) and was even interviewed by Fast Company. Sales didn’t just recover, they soared. Overnight I was seeing big numbers of Dark Sky users choosing Appy Weather as its replacement (Bear in mind, although Apple pulled the app, existing installs will continue to work until July 1 i.e. Dark Sky users are not waiting till then to make a move, but I expect (hope) to see similar traffic up to the cut-off date, potentially peaking on July 2 🤞).
What changed were my short-term priorities. iOS development was paused, and I shifted focus to make my ex-Dark Sky users feel at home in Appy Weather. I’ve pushed several updates, including two big ones, containing a number of improvements to reduce the probability of anyone feeling nostalgic for the Dark Sky app. And I’m only getting started! Custom notifications, an integrated radar and alternative weather providers are just a few of the items on the pipeline. What’s frustrating is I can’t move fast enough to get these out as early as I’d like. I’m aiming to get at least 2/3 done before Dark Sky’s exit. Hopefully the biggest wave is to come, and the app will have made leaps by then.
I’ll keep you regularly updated. Till next time.
Best,
Bardi
P.S. if you’d like promo codes to upgrade to ruff+, please let me know!