I suspect the catalyst for this acquisition was due to one thing: their blog has an easily identified link to their product site. Startups should take note of this oft overlooked detail.
The only opt-in email marketing I've ever been glad to receive, and not soon unsubscribed from, are those that presented an exceptional offer in the very first mailing.
It seems like such an obvious engagement tactic, I'm surprised so many companies don't employ it.
(That said, those same emails will piss me off more than anything else if I've JUST purchased the product for full price. Another seemingly obvious fail.)
Admittedly, my second two statements are largely digressions. But as to the first...
My basis was that the button pusher was critical to your business and automation was not feasible, since you would have done that from the beginning. I don't know which economic concept this describes, but the idea is that you are compensating the button pusher based on their absolute, objective value (no pushing, no profit) rather than subjectively (skill-less "schlep").
I will freely admit that most of what I attempted to read beyond the first few pages was over my head (and certainly my attention span), but the gist of my interpretation would be that humans are increasingly mating with sameness in mind, or as I will henceforth (egotastically--not a typo) call "self-identifying physiopsychological compatibility".
Interesting that a highly transient society has managed to apparently reduce genetic diversity to an observable degree in such a short span of time.
Having recently rewatched Gattaca and falling in the Asperger range of ASD, I can't help but wonder if studies of this nature will nudge us closer to passive forms of eugenics. We're certainly within the realm of feasibility at this point...
(I can only speak as a user when it comes to native apps, so what I'm getting at may not align with your point of view or context. Please take my tone not as derision, but pragmatism as a paying customer and interested reader.)
You say "Of course your app should be useful", yet your post opened with "Chances are, someone has already thought of your app idea". So to me your post communicates, "Since your app is just another knockoff, polish it up real nice and hope for a media/celebrity mention or a front page link on HN/Reddit."
My tendency would be to say, "Of course your app should have a decent UI" but having owned a few Android devices and an iPhone, my experience is that utility trumps all. It's not unusual for very useful apps to exhibit truly shameful user experience. They may have a high utility factor and even have a polished interface, but be terrible to actually use. (We're going to assume through all of this that we're not even talking about minimal bugs or smooth, consistent performance, those should also be a given.)
Plus half of your first point was really your second point -- in essence, "Getting People to Use Your App" boils down to "Figure out a strategy to get popular."
Look, all I'm trying to say is that surely, with your background, you have more insight to offer than "...make your app high quality. Hike up production value. Make it really good."
2) Resemble/enhance something people already enjoy.
Because the article's #1 point is entirely valid and thoroughly unnecessary for popularity. And #2? Well, good luck with all that (no, seriously, that's exactly what you need.)
While it's not news for a computing device to rely on ignorance in regards to marketing of specs, at what point does it cross the line from casually misleading to intentionally deceptive?
Understood, which is why Google, if it's going to all the effort of setting up open door press days, is missing a huge opportunity by not employing hypervisualized metaphors/exhibits to demonstrate how truly amazing a modern data center is, not to mention reinforcing how critical it is for so much of what the average user does every day.
They should probably contract a couple Disney Imagineers and do it right. They could benefit from the the humanizing effects and even create a quirky, niche destination in the process. Hell, throw in an "Android Experience" showroom and it'd probably even have legitimate commercial value.
Seems having only a dentist on hand for that "experiment" is akin to having a mechanic as your only expert for analyzing a car wreck? As the author even concedes, an abundance of anecdotes is not evidence.
Was it so hard to find a chemist way back in aught-9? (Go down to the nearest uni and find a chem major at least...)
The wide distribution of oversimplified, media-sanitized, pseudo-science is likely one of the affectations of Western culture that has kept it from progressing further for a solid 60 years--since television gave the ability for snake oil salesmen to multiply their effectiveness. The internet exponentially increased that ability.