Phunware CEO and the Trump Campaign Mobile App

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In the last episode before the end of this strange year 2020, I'm joined by Alan Knitowski, the CEO of Phunware.

Phunware is a company founded in 2009 and based here in Austin, Texas. They provide cloud platform for mobile including location-based and advertising software. They've seen some phenomenal success early on when internet went mobile and won numerous awards for fastest growing companies.

Phunware were recently in the news because of the mobile app they built for Trump's re-election campaign. Alan Knitowski is here to talk about that and why they received negative press attention around the elections.

This conversation touches on so many burning questions for all of us glued to our mobile phones. Although we do strongly disagree over certain political topics, I've enjoyed every minute of this interview and I hope you will too!

"You are the product. As long as you understand it, opt in or opt out." - Alan Knitowski

Time Stamps:

00:45 - What this episode is about.
5:10 - Alan’s background in the military and what brought him to Texas.
14:05 - What Phunware do and how they got involved with MythBusters.
22:10 - Phunware’s acceleration and growth journey.  
26:30 - A CEO's perspective on the backstage rivalry between Apple and Google.
29:05 - In what way Phunware disrupted the mobile app industry.
35:00 - What makes Phunware different from their competition.
38:30 - AP News article about Phunware’s app built for Trump’s campaign and the claims laid there.
52:00 - Media involvement with election results, and what the role of media and digital platforms should be.
55:32 - What media and information Alan consumes.
58:30 - Whether AP News article about Phunware is truthful.
1:10:00 - Data collecting concerns about Phunware’s and other mobile apps.
1:20:50 - Three groups of data, who owns them and how it is used.
1:28:40 - The problem with legalization of canabis.
1:34:28 - The lack of critical thinking in the society.
1:49:00 - Alternative ways to solve a number of political problems and the lack of willingness to do so.  
1:56:30 - How mobile phones already provide huge amount of data about all of us.
2:00:02 - Alan’s favourite place to eat in Austin.

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