How I started developing for Windows Phone and almost failed miserably
Here is how it all started.
I bought myself my very first smartphone at the end of April in 2014. It happened to be a HTC Windows Phone 8X.
I chose it because it I got it for only 50€. Yes you heard that right. 50€.
So after a few weeks of pure joy on my very first smartphone ever I decided to learn how to code for Windows Phone. I searched online and soon started watching a series of videos on Channel9.
After a week of watching Bob Tabor’s videos, I released my first app in the store (G-Force meter). This app actually costs $0.99. And after half a year, it had exactly 5 downloads.
But this didn’t kill my spirit.
A week later, I released another app called Blog Reader+. Nothing fancy really, just an app which displays news feed from the blog community. The app got 1 download on the first day and exactly 0 in the next week. And after that, it got approximate 4 downloads per month. Big fail again.
This is when I took my foot off the throttle and started thinking. Which app is missing from the Windows Phone marketplace?
I was searching through the store day by day and after a month I thought found a nice niche.
Hotels and travel.
By the time I was looking for an app to make, there was only one or maybe two apps that allowed you to find a hotel room with your WP. Big market and not a lot of competition. I just got a chance to succeed.
So this got me going.
I quickly started looking for a hotel booking site (or however you call it) that would give me an access to their API. I thought that this will be easier than it actually was. I got refused several times but finally got my application approved by easytobook. A really nice company which is offering accommodations from all over the world.
So after a few more weeks of hard work with my friend, I published a new app called Book a Room.
It got about 10 downloads on the first day and the next day and the next day.
Not much, but a lot compared to my other apps.
After a month, the number of downloads per day increased to about 70 with occasional spikes. A few months later, it got to about 100 downloads per day but then dropped a bit.
And this is where it is now. Me and my friend are trying various things to increase the downloads. Some are working, some are not. Advertising on different platforms cost us quite a lot of money and didn’t result in any more downloads while some free promotions got us a really nice spike in downloads.
The app was also featured in a few stores but we still want to get featured in US or UK store. This would be “the bomb.”
But my story doesn’t end here.
In March 2015, me and my friend released a brand new Windows Phone app.
It is called Bookdom and it is meant for people who like to read a lot. The app offers you to create lists of books you want to read, of books you have read and books you are reading. You can also follow your friends and see what are they reading at the moment.
It is a really nice app, and it got featured in India just two weeks after we released it. And keep in mind that India is a huuuuge market.
But more about it in my next post ;)
Best Regards,
Peter Gold
P.S.: Somebody should check my grammar.
