LG Optimus Quest 2

Following on from the hugely successful Optimus Quest competition, we now have the inevitable sequel. I’ve got two brand new LG Optimus 7 devices up for grabs. This is a really good Windows Phone with 16G of internal memory, a lovely screen and a nice metal body.

This time the competition is different. All you have to do is send me your download stats from Windows Phone Marketplace and at the end of July and the end of August I’ll give a brand new LG Optimus 7 Windows Phone to the Hull Student with the most downloads. I’ll be checking the numbers with Microsoft, so no photoshopped graphs or tampered screenshots please .

Note that this is open to Hull Students only, and not those who have just graduated (sorry Harry). If you have applied to join us in September, you are eligible to enter too, as long as we have your details on file in our admissions system. 

Just email me your entries at optimusQuest2@robmiles.com before the end of July and I’ll send you a phone if you are the best. Then we do the whole thing again in August.

Some tips to optimise your Marketplace stats:

1. Always give a trial mode. If you are selling your game, make it a free download with a trial mode so that users can get an idea of what it is like for free.
2. Release updates. Don’t finish all the levels and then put the game out there. This means you will be late to market. Instead you can release level 1 in trial mode and then add features and functions as you go along. Harry Overs is doing this very successfully with Destruction Golf, which is picking up quite a following on the Marketplace. Bottled Games and Rusty Spoons also deserve a mention here too, as they have applications out there which are chugging along nicely.
3. Take trouble over your icon and description. Don’t do these the night before you submit. These are your “shop window” and the better they look and the more enticing the text the more chance you have of catching the eye of a customer.
4. Move your game around the Marketplace. If you are not sure which category your game fits into, move it into different ones (within reason) then you can find the one where it attracts the most attention.

Don’t worry if you only get a few downloads, send me your entry anyway. If everyone else forgets to enter you might sneak in and win the prize. Oh, and sign up for rewards at http://www.my-rewards.com. That way you will win something whatever happens. And enter the Windows Phone competition at the Microsoft UK Student Blog.

Update on Friday, June 10, 2011 at 03:21PM by Rob

A little clarification here; the figures must be for a single Windows Phone app or game that you have placed in the Marketplace. What I want to see is the total number of downloads from Marketplace. It makes no difference whether it is free or paid, or paid with a free trial. You can't win twice, once you have one phone that's it.

Comments

[Simon Johnson]

Just to add to this Rob, there are two more things you can do. Firstly if you read the submission guidelines carefully you can enhance your "shop window" as well. When you submit an app to the WP7 marketplace you can also upload a a piece of background artwork, this is in Section 3 of submission.

http://create.msdn.com/en-US/home/about/app_submission_walkthrough_artwork

If you're a dab hand at graphics (or know someone who is, and has made you some swish images) you can enhance things a bit. This art is the background shown when someone views your app in the store, and if you've got a unique or interesting art style you can grab attention with this.

Secondly, and more importantly, email Rob himself to do some free promo a lá this blog.

[harry overs]

am i still allowed to enter another app?