8 tips for creating successful applications for Windows and Windows Phone in 2015

Microsoft recently analyzed applications in the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store and provided an overview of the trends in the application market. The article seemed to me interesting, I decided to translate it and get a better look - on what should I focus my efforts today on creating successful and popular Windows applications?

1. Create applications for operating systems version 8.1
By the end of 2014, Windows 8.1 became the main operating system for the Windows Store: in November, the vast majority (92%) of applications in the Windows Store and 65% of downloads of applications for Windows Phone were performed from operating systems of this particular version.
The graphs below show how growing interest in Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 during 2014.
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Charts 1, 2. Operating systems from which applications for Windows and Windows Phone were downloaded worldwide, November 2014.

In addition to popularity among users, a significant advantage of Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 for developers is the versatility of the created applications. The application, written under 8.1 on any device, is easily converted into a universal project, in which, managing one set of source code, you can create a product for both Windows and Windows Phone. And in operating systems version 8.1 there are technical features that simplify development - for example, using XAML and WinJS.

2. Optimize the application for a small amount of RAM
According to Microsoft statistics, 71% of Windows Phone applications are downloaded from devices with a small amount of RAM. These are devices based on Windows Phone 7.x, having up to 256MB RAM, or devices based on Windows Phone 8.x up to 512MB.
The graph below shows the percentage of application downloads relative to the size of the device's memory.


Chart 3. The number of application downloads, based on the amount of RAM in the phone, worldwide, November 2014.

By optimizing your application for low memory phones, you will more than double its potential market. Another option is to create a separate version of the application with lower system memory requirements, which can then be promoted along with the main version of the application.
The most common device in the segment of Windows Phone is the model Lumia 520 - this device accounts for more than a quarter of the total number of application downloads.


Chart 4. The number of applications downloads, based on the model and volume of the phone's RAM, worldwide, November 2014.

3. Choose a popular category
In November 2014, the category of games became the most popular by the number of downloads of applications, followed by tools and performance, music and video, social applications.
Positions of categories by the number of downloads are relatively stable, while the most popular category - games - is becoming more and more popular, and now it is 42% of all downloads of applications for Windows.


Charts 5, 6. The number of downloads per category, worldwide, November 2014

Another important criterion that is worth paying attention to is the indicator of the average number of downloads per category, that is, the number of downloads per application.
Below is a graph of the number of downloads in relation to the number of applications available in the category.


Charts 7, 8. Indicators of the average number of downloads per application per category, worldwide, November 2014.

Despite the fact that the category of games is the most downloaded, the category of social applications has the highest download rate per application.

4. Aim at the most promising countries and popular languages.
Windows Store is available in 242 countries and Windows Phone Store in 191 countries. If you plan to adapt your application for consumers from other markets, pay attention to which of them are the most downloads.


Charts 9, 10. Indicators of the average number of application downloads in different countries around the world, November 2014

Most downloads take place in the US, but at the same time, many other markets also generate a high number of application downloads - China, India, France, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Russia.
Significantly increase the potential audience of the application by supporting additional languages. For example, an application in English will give you the opportunity to go to 25% of Windows Phone users, and if you add Spanish, Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian to it, you can reach more than 50% of users all over the world.


Charts 11, 12. Main application languages, worldwide, November 2014

5. Choose the most successful way to monetize
An important decision for the success of an application is the choice of how to monetize it: payment for the application itself, in-app purchase (purchase) or advertising. Income analysis of applications in November 2014 showed that built-in purchases and advertising bring the most revenue, and only in third place are paid applications.
Revenue from paid applications continues to decline, both in terms of other monetization methods and in terms of absolute profit. In August 2014, paid applications brought only 20% of the total revenue to developers, and by November 2014, this figure has decreased to 11%.
At the same time, in-app purchases are generating more and more revenue. So, 88% of the top 50 applications use this type of monetization.


Chart 13. Revenues of developers, depending on the method of monetization, worldwide, November 2014

6. If you sell ads, use Windows ad mediation
Both in the Windows Store and in the Windows Phone Store advertising revenue continues to grow, in November 2014 they accounted for 53% of the total revenue for applications. Perhaps this was influenced by seasonality, because November and December are the months in which advertisers traditionally increase advertising budgets.
If your Windows Phone application earns on advertising, then Microsoft recommends using the Windows ad mediation extension, a solution that helps aggregate and manage several SDKs (sets of development tools) of advertising networks, increasing the fill rate of the application with advertising (fill rate) and profit.

7. For purchases within applications, choose the best, not the lowest price.
At the end of 2014, in-app purchases accounted for 35% of the total revenue of Windows and Windows Phone developers. 44 of the 50 most profitable applications use this way of monetization.
Microsoft asked a question - what price indicators for purchases within applications bring the greatest income? It turned out that a price reduction does not always lead to an increase in profits. Although most of the prices for in-app purchases in the Windows Phone Store are below $ 2, the highest revenue came from $ 9.99, $ 4.99, and $ 19.99. Thus, the purchase price within the application does not have to be low to make a profit.


Chart 14. Price indicators for in-app purchases that generated the most revenue worldwide, November 2014

8. Create highly specialized productivity apps.
As for recommendations on the choice of application functionality, Microsoft cites the opinion of vice president of cloud, mobile and digital research at IDC analyst Christopher Chute. He believes that success in the near future will be able to reach applications designed for a narrow niche, in which a specific scenario of using a certain group of users will be laid. Also, according to him, in 2015, highly specialized mobile applications will become popular, improving workflow and making it mobile, increasing the productivity of employees and small business in general. As an example of such applications Chut leads Office 365, SharePoint and OneDrive.