Being featured in the "recommended by Nokia" influence your Ovi Store sales?

Hi all
One of our apps these days is featured in the "recommended by Nokia" section of the Ovi Store, in some selected countries^ (one of these countries is in the top ten as for the Ovi Store daily downloads)

While being featured in that spot, it means for us really an important aknoledge of our job, at the same time, I can say that for now it doesn't seems translate in more sales or downloads of the apps.

We forwarded this experience to the Ovi Store support, because it looks so odd to us. But, anyway, it's possible that it's not a bug or delay in the sales report. It's possible instead that the "recommended by Nokia" section in the Ovi doesn't contribute significantly to the number of downloads.


I'd love to ask you if you have any experience to share on this topic. or if it's something happened to you, too


If you have any insight please let me know

best

Pierluigi
Koinup founder

Hi,

My experience is that being "Recommended" caused a very large increase in downloads for the "Demo" version of our app. The spike in downloads was sudden and large. The large spike also caused our "Demo" version to make it into the "Top Free" category for many phones, and that seems to have kept it in the 5,000 - 10,000 downloads/day range.

Unfortunately, the pay version (price 2 euros) is being downloaded at a rate 1/1000th of the "Demo" version.

While it's nice to get a lot of downloads, the revenue stream is insignificant.

Thanks for the followup Matt
We're selling the "recommended app" at a 1euro. It's a price aligned with "similar" apps in the Ovi.

Is it possible that Ovi customers don't want to pay for the app? I read that the free/paid ratio purchase in the Appstore is about 8/1 . I'm wondering how these figure translate in the Ovi Store. Any direct comment from Nokia staff?

[QUOTE=Koinup;730717]Thanks for the followup Matt
Is it possible that Ovi customers don't want to pay for the app? I read that the free/paid ratio purchase in the Appstore is about 8/1 . I'm wondering how these figure translate in the Ovi Store. Any direct comment from Nokia staff?[/QUOTE]

Here's part of a [URL="http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/forum/showpost.php?p=730549&postcount=20"]post[/URL] I made to a different thread earlier...
[QUOTE]All the spin from Nokia about huge numbers of free downloads is just that - spin. I've had huge numbers of free downloads. At the end of February, I reached the half a million mark for downloads of trial versions of my apps. Also at the end of February, I had a conversion rate from trials to purchases of 0.677% which is pretty disastrous to say the least (that's a little over half of one percent). It's got much better since Nokia fixed the search and customers can actually find my apps, but even now I'm still making less money than I would on the dole - and that's with an app currently in the top ten best sellers list.[/QUOTE]

Hi,

I'm interested in discussing this and related matters in detail with others, but I would prefer not to have this discussion in a public forum.

If you would like to continue this discussion please drop me a line at:

mbrenner at unme2.com

(of course you should replace " at " with an "@" sign.

Let me suggest that we continue this on the PEF-Talk mailing list:
[url]http://lists.markspace.com/mailman/listinfo/pef-talk[/url]

it once was palm OS only, but is now a general mailing list for mobile developers. And, it is strictly moderated so that nobody unwanted gets in ;)

[QUOTE=Koinup;730717]Thanks for the followup Matt
We're selling the "recommended app" at a 1euro. It's a price aligned with "similar" apps in the Ovi.

Is it possible that Ovi customers don't want to pay for the app? I read that the free/paid ratio purchase in the Appstore is about 8/1 . I'm wondering how these figure translate in the Ovi Store. Any direct comment from Nokia staff?[/QUOTE]

Dear Koinup,

I'm not sure if the ratio 8/1 is accurate, since we do not have that information. However, it is true that free contents get more downloads than paid contents.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email]publishtoovi.support@nokia.com[/email]

Thank you.

Dear OviPen,

It is entirely disingenuous of you to assert that Nokia doesn't know the ratio of paid/free downloads. Nokia regularly brags about how many daily downloads Ovi achieves. They simply won't provide any information about downloads by country, by language, by device, by price point, or in any other way. I can't say with any certainty why, but I imagine it's because the ratio is low and it would dampen developer enthusiasm.

I have several times written to ask for this kind of information, as it would be helpful in deciding which languages and phones to support. I have offered to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I get no response to my requests.

It would, at least, be honest to say, "We won't tell you, even though we know." It is patently dishonest and, frankly, insulting to make believe you don't know the most basic download profile information.

Based on conversations I've had with other Ovi publishers it seems almost certain that the free to paid download ration well under 1 : 100, and is probably around to 1 : 500.


[QUOTE=OviPen;733474]Dear Koinup,

I'm not sure if the ratio 8/1 is accurate, since we do not have that information. However, it is true that free contents get more downloads than paid contents.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email]publishtoovi.support@nokia.com[/email]

Thank you.[/QUOTE]