Marketing Your Windows Phone

Applications

Jason LeeEthos Technologies

Agenda• Zune• You as a Developer• Silverlight on Windows Phone 7• Development Tools• XAML• Play Time• DataBinding• MVVM• Q & A

Zune• Zune Software

• Zune is a tool to synch media content of your PC and your phone

• + Visual Studio• Zune is also used as link between Visual Studio and a real phone for

deployment and debugging

App Deployment• Marketplace

• The Marketplace is the ONLY way for a user to get applications onto a Windows Phone

• Applications can be downloaded directly from the phone• Users can also purchase applications from Zune, and deploy them on to

the phone later

• For developers• Developers has different way to deploy and test their applications

You as a Developer• Real phone ? Real phone !

• A real device is not mandatory for Windows Phone development• However, it is highly recommended to test your app on a real phone

before submitting it

• Unlock• In order to deploy your app to a phone, it needs to be unlocked• Registered developers can unlock devices( 3 devices for now), and

deploy/test their own applications• Hook your unlocked phone to your PC, deploy using Visual Studio or

Application Deployment tool provided by SDK• Zune software is necessary for debugging on a real phone

Applications on Marketplace• Applications can be free or paid• “Try Before Buy”

• For those paid applications, in order to attract as many users (which leading to as many buyers), it’s a good practice to provide trial phase (also known as the “try before buy” approach) in them.

• The Windows Phone Framework provides you API to do it

• Price it appropriately• So far, prices among 0.99$ ~ 1.99$ are best accepted.

• Advertisement is another good plus• Even if your app is free, you still can make money by embedding AD in

your application• The Windows Phone Framework provides you API to do it

Beta Versions• Beta Version Support

• The Marketplace supports distribution of beta version.• Beta version will expire after a short time (90 days for now)• No need to unlock phones to test while enabling developers to build

higher quality apps• Beta version can NOT be updated

• Steps• Developer selects a list of testers (up to 100 for now)• Developer sends an email with a private DeepLink to the testers• Only selected testers can test the applications and provide feedback

Private Distribution Service• Private Distribution

• A way to distribute certified apps privately to a targeted set of users• Can be updated• No limit on the number of participants and duration

• Steps• Developer need to get the app certified before distribution (app is not

discoverable on Marketplace Search)• Developer sends an email with a private DeepLink to users• Turn the distribution into public at any time

Show Me The Money• 70% For You

• Money is transferred directly to your bank account, deducting taxes (tax rate may differ among different locations)

• Payments are made monthly

• 99$ per Year From You• In order to publish applications on Marketplace, you should pay a

membership fee of 99$ per year

XAP• XAP package

• Contains all elements of an applications• Applications are deployed in the form of *.xap onto your phone• It’s is actually a zip file

• Size• A XAP file should not be larger than 20M• Limit for all files is 400M

• Still many more on App Hub• Refer to detailed information on App Hub.

Localizations• Your Apps Are Sold Around World

• The Marketplace is accessible from many countries• It’s a good idea to support multiple languages in your app

• Localization Considerations• It’s a common practice to manage your localization resources in dedicated

DLLs.• Leave enough area for display elements in case translations in some

languages are longer.• You can use localization features provided by .NET Framework• Do NOT depend on any machine translations or online translators, have

your app fully tested by experienced target language users.• Never hardcode

Manifests• AppManifest.xml

• Defines assembly parts that included in your app• Do NOT change it manually

• WMAppManifest.xml• Defines phone services used in your app• Marketplace will use this information to notify end users of what this app

is going to do (i.e. Location Services, Camera, Contacts, Push Notifications)• Remove unused capabilities to avoid any unexpected disfavor.

! & ?

Thank You ! Any Questions ?