Lomogram - photo editor for Windows Phone
Lomogram is a photo editing application designed for the Windows Phone platform. At the moment, this is one of the best photo apps for this platform.
How to develop in the shadow of Instagram, why it is important to keep constant communication with users, as well as other interesting details about Lomogram you can see under the cut. I hope this information will help you learn a little more about the Windows Phone market, get an approximate order of numbers and draw the appropriate conclusions.
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When the author of Lomogram, Pavel Tkhir from Lviv, sent me a description of it, I will not lie if I say that I took the application with great skepticism. I myself personally do not really like clones of popular services. And here it was clearly visible, with which service will Lomogram be associated.
Ardent supporters of the popular service will say that Instagram is not only filters, but a real “social network”. I agree, but I will add that I started Instagram exactly as a photo application with filters. At some point, we realized that there would be a comparison with Instagram, so we relaxed and began to enjoy.
Strangely enough, it turned out that Windows Phone users really lacked something like this and this is the first reason why attention was immediately paid to Lomogram.
The audience of the application, judging by the comments, is divided into three types:
The conclusion from this situation is the following: it is very important for developers to have feedback from users. I saw it several times when developers after a while began to improve their applications only because they saw a steady interest in their products.
The application was published in the market in mid-June 2012.
To date, we have the following indicators:
Download dynamics:
Dynamics of monthly launches:
Startup statistics:
By country:
As you can see, in Europe, the application is used more than in Russia. The ratio of foreign traffic to domestic: 3 to 1. I note that the application is translated into 10 languages, which increases the "loyalty" of users abroad.
At the moment, the number of users and launches is growing. How was this achieved? We read the next section.
By “project” I understand a certain set of tasks that need to be completed on time with a fixed or limited budget. This is what we do every day in service companies. “Product”, in my opinion, is a more complex entity. A product is a “project” + support and support + promotion and marketing + passion of its creators. And if the first points can be solved with money, then the last should just be.
So here - the growing popularity of the application forced to look at it as a product, and not just as an application with filters.
Therefore, in addition to working on functionality, we also focused on other important points.
Feedback. We respond to all the letters that come to us, even if it is just a phrase “thank you, like it,” or “twitter does not work, correct.” This approach helped us to save the audience in difficult times.
Under difficult times, I call the period when we mistakenly released an update with a very serious error that affected the main functionality of the application. Coincidentally, it was during this period that Microsoft modernized its Dev Center, which is why some applications, including ours, were blacklisted, which resulted in an update only a month later (!) After being sent for certification. During this month we received a huge number of letters from our users, and we all tried to maintain feedback. As a result, we did not lose the audience, held on to high positions and began to receive marks ala "if you have a problem, write to the developers - THEY RESPOND." I think it is not necessary to repeat how important the feedback is (and yes, if something difficult enough for a fairly complex application - give the developers a second chance, do not kill it in advance with your low score).
Communication with bloggers. We have established friendly relations with some foreign bloggers who helped us communicate our product information to our users. As a result, thanks to such friendly relations, we were able to very quickly become a leader in Italy, France and Germany - countries where Windows Phone is quite popular (compared to other countries). After the critical mass of reviews was passed, new reviews and video reviews began to appear around the world without our participation.
Updates. Users love updates. This suggests that the application is not abandoned and is developing. You do not need to do frequent updates (I know examples when the application is updated once a week - this, IMHO, is superfluous). According to statistics, the top 100 applications publish updates on average once every two or three months (not counting updates with the correction of critical errors). In my opinion, this is a reasonable period. Again, from experience: each update gives a short-term increase in users and a rise in the ratings.
Monetization and advertising. No matter how good the application is, any advertising in it gives -146% in karma to developers and rating. Therefore, we fundamentally do not insert advertising in Lomogram. Monetization? We are thinking about this, especially since Windows Phone 8 already has in-app purchases. I'm not sure that today you can earn a lot on advertising in applications for Windows Phone. So now we put the convenience of users above the mythical earnings on advertising. In addition, it is believed that simply on mobile applications it is difficult to earn.
Now the process of adapting Lomogram for Windows Phone 8 is underway, which means users will get more flexibility, features and functionality. And, of course, we are soon planning to enter the Windows 8 platform.
And now you can help us by installing the application at the link:
And finally, I offer you a video presentation of Lomogram:
If you have questions or comments, I will be happy to answer them!
Thanks for attention!
How to develop in the shadow of Instagram, why it is important to keep constant communication with users, as well as other interesting details about Lomogram you can see under the cut. I hope this information will help you learn a little more about the Windows Phone market, get an approximate order of numbers and draw the appropriate conclusions.
')
Instagram vs. Lomogram
When the author of Lomogram, Pavel Tkhir from Lviv, sent me a description of it, I will not lie if I say that I took the application with great skepticism. I myself personally do not really like clones of popular services. And here it was clearly visible, with which service will Lomogram be associated.
Ardent supporters of the popular service will say that Instagram is not only filters, but a real “social network”. I agree, but I will add that I started Instagram exactly as a photo application with filters. At some point, we realized that there would be a comparison with Instagram, so we relaxed and began to enjoy.
Strangely enough, it turned out that Windows Phone users really lacked something like this and this is the first reason why attention was immediately paid to Lomogram.
The audience of the application, judging by the comments, is divided into three types:
- I want Instagram and nothing more - fortunately, there are very few of them (they usually give from one to three stars in reviews);
- I want Instagram, but Lomogram is good (most of them put four to five stars);
- Instagram <Lomogram (there are a lot of such and it is very strongly motivated to develop the product).
The conclusion from this situation is the following: it is very important for developers to have feedback from users. I saw it several times when developers after a while began to improve their applications only because they saw a steady interest in their products.
Some statistics
The application was published in the market in mid-June 2012.
To date, we have the following indicators:
- Number of sessions: 4 million (50-60 thousand launches per day);
- Average application time: 40.7 seconds;
- Average number of active users: 103,271.
Download dynamics:
Dynamics of monthly launches:
Startup statistics:
By country:
As you can see, in Europe, the application is used more than in Russia. The ratio of foreign traffic to domestic: 3 to 1. I note that the application is translated into 10 languages, which increases the "loyalty" of users abroad.
At the moment, the number of users and launches is growing. How was this achieved? We read the next section.
How to make a product, not a project
By “project” I understand a certain set of tasks that need to be completed on time with a fixed or limited budget. This is what we do every day in service companies. “Product”, in my opinion, is a more complex entity. A product is a “project” + support and support + promotion and marketing + passion of its creators. And if the first points can be solved with money, then the last should just be.
So here - the growing popularity of the application forced to look at it as a product, and not just as an application with filters.
Therefore, in addition to working on functionality, we also focused on other important points.
Feedback. We respond to all the letters that come to us, even if it is just a phrase “thank you, like it,” or “twitter does not work, correct.” This approach helped us to save the audience in difficult times.
Under difficult times, I call the period when we mistakenly released an update with a very serious error that affected the main functionality of the application. Coincidentally, it was during this period that Microsoft modernized its Dev Center, which is why some applications, including ours, were blacklisted, which resulted in an update only a month later (!) After being sent for certification. During this month we received a huge number of letters from our users, and we all tried to maintain feedback. As a result, we did not lose the audience, held on to high positions and began to receive marks ala "if you have a problem, write to the developers - THEY RESPOND." I think it is not necessary to repeat how important the feedback is (and yes, if something difficult enough for a fairly complex application - give the developers a second chance, do not kill it in advance with your low score).
Communication with bloggers. We have established friendly relations with some foreign bloggers who helped us communicate our product information to our users. As a result, thanks to such friendly relations, we were able to very quickly become a leader in Italy, France and Germany - countries where Windows Phone is quite popular (compared to other countries). After the critical mass of reviews was passed, new reviews and video reviews began to appear around the world without our participation.
Updates. Users love updates. This suggests that the application is not abandoned and is developing. You do not need to do frequent updates (I know examples when the application is updated once a week - this, IMHO, is superfluous). According to statistics, the top 100 applications publish updates on average once every two or three months (not counting updates with the correction of critical errors). In my opinion, this is a reasonable period. Again, from experience: each update gives a short-term increase in users and a rise in the ratings.
Monetization and advertising. No matter how good the application is, any advertising in it gives -146% in karma to developers and rating. Therefore, we fundamentally do not insert advertising in Lomogram. Monetization? We are thinking about this, especially since Windows Phone 8 already has in-app purchases. I'm not sure that today you can earn a lot on advertising in applications for Windows Phone. So now we put the convenience of users above the mythical earnings on advertising. In addition, it is believed that simply on mobile applications it is difficult to earn.
What's next?
Now the process of adapting Lomogram for Windows Phone 8 is underway, which means users will get more flexibility, features and functionality. And, of course, we are soon planning to enter the Windows 8 platform.
And now you can help us by installing the application at the link:
And finally, I offer you a video presentation of Lomogram:
If you have questions or comments, I will be happy to answer them!
Thanks for attention!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/159497/
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