4Blend HDR, the path to success: from winning the Nokia Developer competition to popularity in the Windows Store
4Blend HDR is one of the most interesting and successful applications that exist in the Windows Phone App Store at the moment. 400,000 downloads in the first three months after publication - agree, not so bad for the application created for the developer contest on the Nokia Developer page.
Inspired by success, application developer Sebastiano Galazzo (Sebastiano Galazzo) has already released a second version of the application. We decided to devote our today's post to the history of this application, as well as to Sebastiano’s story about how Nokia developer resources help make the application more successful.
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As a professional developer (Sebastiano received a degree in computer science from the University of Catania in 2003, after which he moved to Milan, where he began working in the field of search engines and artificial intelligence) and an enthusiastic photography enthusiast, Sebastiano has long been developing the idea of ​​his own application for processing photos, but the developer contest on the Nokia Developer website was the very impetus for its creation.
“When I won the developer competition ( Nokia Imaging Wiki Competition 2013 Q3 - ed.), I sensibly decided that modifying the prototype into a full-fledged application and publishing it in the“ App Store ”would be a sensible idea,” Sebastiano comments.
By finalizing his own application, Sebastiano decided to participate in several more developer competitions and activities in DVLUP , which allowed him to make several useful additions and optimize the code.
“Sometimes it seems to me that if I had not taken part in all competitions and contests, my application would never have seen the light,” adds the developer. “I think this is a good opportunity for a brand to motivate developers to create applications.”
As you know, HDR (high dynamic range shooting) is a shooting technique that allows you to take images with a high dynamic range by combining multiple shots: with low (underexposed), normal and large (overexposed) exposure. As a result, images are obtained where the bright zones become darker and the dark ones become brighter.
The 4Blend HDR application takes this process to a slightly different level. If other applications to work with HDR apply filters only upon completion of the process of combining images, the Sebastiano application does this individually for each image, and then only combines them. The result is more natural and high-quality looking pictures, compared to other applications. In addition, if most of the applications available in the “Store” are designed to work with “top-end” devices, like the Lumia 1020, then 4Blend HDR works quietly with cameras in entry-level models, that is, with Lumia 520 and above.
Writing an application like 4Blend HDR is no easy task, especially if you are a single developer. Sebastiano mentioned more than once that the success of his application would not have been possible without the Nokia Imaging SDK toolkit, as well as without the support of the developer community.
“The Nokia Imaging SDK was crucial in developing my application,” says Sebastiano. The second version of the application uses new features in the toolkit, such as Boke and interactive segmentation of the foreground. Using the Imaging SDK had other prerequisites. “I, as an independent developer, really enjoyed having a filter library in my toolbox,” comments Sebastiano. “This has saved a significant amount of time and effort in developing an application and focusing on more important parts of it, for example, developing our own algorithms.”
After the app was ready, another Nokia initiative, DVLUP, helped Sebastiano with its promotion.
“The DVLUP program uses a gamification model, which involves rewarding developers for their activities,” says the developer. “For example, you can get special points (internal currency in the program) for updating your own application. Then you can use what you have accumulated to purchase test devices, developer tools and, more importantly, to conduct marketing campaigns to promote your app in the Store. This is something that most other App Stores do not have and this is a good opportunity for users to notice our apps. ”
“The Nokia Developer community also makes a very big contribution to the success of the developer,” he continues. “Operational support, helpful guides and recommendations are what I got there. I was developing for many other platforms and the process of creating applications took me about five times longer. The advantages of developing for Windows Phone are not only in the intuitiveness of the platform, but also in the many publicly available SDKs, the best conditions for publishing in the App Store and a high level of monetization. ”
A few words from Sebastiano regarding the monetization of applications: “I have localized my application into Vietnamese. And although Vietnam did not bring me much revenue from “internal purchases,” I saw a great interest and a high number of downloads from Vietnamese users. This, in turn, led to the high popularity of the application on a global scale and high sales in general. "
Inspired by success, application developer Sebastiano Galazzo (Sebastiano Galazzo) has already released a second version of the application. We decided to devote our today's post to the history of this application, as well as to Sebastiano’s story about how Nokia developer resources help make the application more successful.
')
As a professional developer (Sebastiano received a degree in computer science from the University of Catania in 2003, after which he moved to Milan, where he began working in the field of search engines and artificial intelligence) and an enthusiastic photography enthusiast, Sebastiano has long been developing the idea of ​​his own application for processing photos, but the developer contest on the Nokia Developer website was the very impetus for its creation.
“When I won the developer competition ( Nokia Imaging Wiki Competition 2013 Q3 - ed.), I sensibly decided that modifying the prototype into a full-fledged application and publishing it in the“ App Store ”would be a sensible idea,” Sebastiano comments.
By finalizing his own application, Sebastiano decided to participate in several more developer competitions and activities in DVLUP , which allowed him to make several useful additions and optimize the code.
“Sometimes it seems to me that if I had not taken part in all competitions and contests, my application would never have seen the light,” adds the developer. “I think this is a good opportunity for a brand to motivate developers to create applications.”
HDR comes to Windows Phone
As you know, HDR (high dynamic range shooting) is a shooting technique that allows you to take images with a high dynamic range by combining multiple shots: with low (underexposed), normal and large (overexposed) exposure. As a result, images are obtained where the bright zones become darker and the dark ones become brighter.
The 4Blend HDR application takes this process to a slightly different level. If other applications to work with HDR apply filters only upon completion of the process of combining images, the Sebastiano application does this individually for each image, and then only combines them. The result is more natural and high-quality looking pictures, compared to other applications. In addition, if most of the applications available in the “Store” are designed to work with “top-end” devices, like the Lumia 1020, then 4Blend HDR works quietly with cameras in entry-level models, that is, with Lumia 520 and above.
SDK, awards and community support
Writing an application like 4Blend HDR is no easy task, especially if you are a single developer. Sebastiano mentioned more than once that the success of his application would not have been possible without the Nokia Imaging SDK toolkit, as well as without the support of the developer community.
“The Nokia Imaging SDK was crucial in developing my application,” says Sebastiano. The second version of the application uses new features in the toolkit, such as Boke and interactive segmentation of the foreground. Using the Imaging SDK had other prerequisites. “I, as an independent developer, really enjoyed having a filter library in my toolbox,” comments Sebastiano. “This has saved a significant amount of time and effort in developing an application and focusing on more important parts of it, for example, developing our own algorithms.”
After the app was ready, another Nokia initiative, DVLUP, helped Sebastiano with its promotion.
“The DVLUP program uses a gamification model, which involves rewarding developers for their activities,” says the developer. “For example, you can get special points (internal currency in the program) for updating your own application. Then you can use what you have accumulated to purchase test devices, developer tools and, more importantly, to conduct marketing campaigns to promote your app in the Store. This is something that most other App Stores do not have and this is a good opportunity for users to notice our apps. ”
“The Nokia Developer community also makes a very big contribution to the success of the developer,” he continues. “Operational support, helpful guides and recommendations are what I got there. I was developing for many other platforms and the process of creating applications took me about five times longer. The advantages of developing for Windows Phone are not only in the intuitiveness of the platform, but also in the many publicly available SDKs, the best conditions for publishing in the App Store and a high level of monetization. ”
A few words from Sebastiano regarding the monetization of applications: “I have localized my application into Vietnamese. And although Vietnam did not bring me much revenue from “internal purchases,” I saw a great interest and a high number of downloads from Vietnamese users. This, in turn, led to the high popularity of the application on a global scale and high sales in general. "
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/223941/
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