New year - new venture. iPhone to Ovi

[Mobigames]

Hi Forum,

I would like to port a couple of my more successful iPhone games to another platform and OVI seems the natural choice as I also have had some symbian experience in the past. I have a couple of questions though, if anyone has any advice please...

1. Does ovi still accept s60/symbian apps, or is it only QT apps being accepted now?

2. Do I still need the $200 verisign certificate?

3. Anyone have any experiences they would like to share in making the move from app store to ovi, i.e. setup, ease of submission, revenue or payment comparisons would be most useful.

Thanks!

[pixsta]

Hi Forum,

I would like to port a couple of my more successful iPhone games to another platform and OVI seems the natural choice as I also have had some symbian experience in the past. I have a couple of questions though, if anyone has any advice please...

1. Does ovi still accept s60/symbian apps, or is it only QT apps being accepted now?

2. Do I still need the $200 verisign certificate?

3. Anyone have any experiences they would like to share in making the move from app store to ovi, i.e. setup, ease of submission, revenue or payment comparisons would be most useful.

Thanks!

1.) Yes, s60 are still accepted.
2.) If you need only capabilities which are available for Express Signing then you do not need the certificate if you go only for Ovi-store/free signing
3.) Download numbers of free apps are very high (compared to Apple App Store), but performance of paid content is rather poor. You can make a living if you have multiple top-apps/games in Ovi store, but do not expect too much! Further, compared to Apple Store you cannot rely and trust in estimated revenue number from the stats tool. First, because it takes up to 6 months until payments are paid out (e.g. 2 weeks ago I received some payments from June/July period), and second because estimations are somewhat inaccurate (I had experienced inaccuracies of up to 20%).

[tamhanna]

Hi,
with Apps, I have seen conversion rates south of 1:100. On games, the conversion rates are closer to 1:1000 according to what I hear.

Of course, I am not a Nokia employee and thus just state what the people peddle in the industry.

[pixsta]

Hi,
with Apps, I have seen conversion rates south of 1:100. On games, the conversion rates are closer to 1:1000 according to what I hear.

Of course, I am not a Nokia employee and thus just state what the people peddle in the industry.

Tam, what do you compare here? Lite vs. Full version? If true, I can provide some own numbers: the ratio of free Lite downloads vs. Full version downloads is in the range of 150:1 (best case) to 400:1 (worst case).

[tamhanna]

Tam, what do you compare here? Lite vs. Full version? If true, I can provide some own numbers: the ratio of free Lite downloads vs. Full version downloads is in the range of 150:1 (best case) to 400:1 (worst case).

+1.

This is what I meant!

[Utumno]

I've got two 'Lite-Full' pairs (both are games) in Ovi and both perform at about 200:1, 300:1.

I just ported one of them to Android; it's in the Market for 3 days only but I can already see that the ratio isn't going to be much different ( and that's despite the fact that in Android's Lite version I have a 'Upgrade' button which takes the users directly to the Full version, while this is not possible in Ovi )

I wonder how high is the ratio in AppStore?

[powerpixels]

I've got two 'Lite-Full' pairs (both are games) in Ovi and both perform at about 200:1, 300:1.

I just ported one of them to Android; it's in the Market for 3 days only but I can already see that the ratio isn't going to be much different ( and that's despite the fact that in Android's Lite version I have a 'Upgrade' button which takes the users directly to the Full version, while this is not possible in Ovi )

I wonder how high is the ratio in AppStore?

Hello Utumno,
Would you tell us more about Android vs Ovi market? Where do you get more downloads? Since you have the same game in both markets, it is great for comparison.

[Utumno]

In my case it is a bit too early to compare (only 5 days in the Market so far ), but from what I talk to others ( people who have several apps in AppStore for a longer time ) situation is desperate everywhere: Nokia and Apple make a lot of money, and independent developers struggle to sell anything
Simply, the invisible hand of the market works here: If you have a better store and consumers willing to spend more ( like in the AppStore ) then you have 300000 apps and it all evens out...

I do it more as a hobby, but actually I wonder how come a company which has to employ people, pay those horrendous european taxes, and which has all kinds of expenses can support itself from selling stuff to mobile marketplaces. I hear that Angry Birds, supposedly the most popular game across all stores, has sold 3 million copies in the AppStore, 1.8 million in ANdroid Market and over a million in Ovi - so given their prices, I estimate they made 6-7 million dollars. Maybe a bit more because Nokia probably paid them to port their stuff to Ovi. Still, as for a market leader, this is pocket change - this means that most of other , professionally made games hardly ever cross the 1 million dollars mark , and for 1 milllion one can support a team of a few developers, graphics guys & a project manager for maybe a few months only...

[powerpixels]

Thanks for sharing infos Utumno. "Desperate" is the right word in my case too Companies has numerous channels of sales, and that's the way to survive. I can tell by my case, contracts with mobile operators are the most lucrative. One mobile operator pays out in an 1 month more than Ovi in a whole year. But maybe that's just my case.

[tamhanna]

Thanks for sharing infos Utumno. "Desperate" is the right word in my case too Companies has numerous channels of sales, and that's the way to survive. I can tell by my case, contracts with mobile operators are the most lucrative. One mobile operator pays out in an 1 month more than Ovi in a whole year. But maybe that's just my case.

EXACTLY the same here with an Austrian carrier. But the issue is getting in there...

[pixsta]

Thanks for sharing infos Utumno. "Desperate" is the right word in my case too Companies has numerous channels of sales, and that's the way to survive. I can tell by my case, contracts with mobile operators are the most lucrative. One mobile operator pays out in an 1 month more than Ovi in a whole year. But maybe that's just my case.

How do you get in touch with operators for direct contracts? (I mean: how do I know if there is demand for an individual application developer?)
Are you just asking them if they have a "job to to do"?

[powerpixels]

Pixsta, I'm not working as individual developer. Those are b2b contracts between operators and my company, which have been achieved more than 5 years ago. It's a completely different story today. Operators are pretty much saturated with content and one can reach them only through app stores. Ofcourse, unless you have some mega popular app like angry birds, but then, you don't need operators

[pixsta]

I understand. I am doing this just as a hobby, so I have no financial interest in operator contracts. I was just curious.

[xlazom00]

I've got two 'Lite-Full' pairs (both are games) in Ovi and both perform at about 200:1, 300:1.

I just ported one of them to Android; it's in the Market for 3 days only but I can already see that the ratio isn't going to be much different ( and that's despite the fact that in Android's Lite version I have a 'Upgrade' button which takes the users directly to the Full version, while this is not possible in Ovi )

I wonder how high is the ratio in AppStore?

You can always add button to you game as Buy full game and it will direct user to ovi store full game.

[Utumno]

You can always add button to you game as Buy full game and it will direct user to ovi store full game.

How? I've asked multiple* times** here and no one seems to know how to do that. ( note: it's J2ME )

* http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/fo...ght=Ovi+Client
** http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/fo...ght=Ovi+Client