By sharing this; I by no means claim to ‘ have arrived’. We are all learning; but having crossed the 10,000 users milestone; I thought it nice to share the mistakes made in the process.

My first app on google playstore was GP Calculator. It has 16 flavors now for 16 Universities in Nigeria, and has a version that works for all polytechnics in Nigeria. The app according to google analytics has attained 10000+ downloads (all flavors). These are some of the things I wish I knew before making this app. As always, my target audience are newbies.

Making an app without planning how to market it is a waste of one’s effort.

After learning the basics of java back in late 2012; I delved right in to create something I thought students really needed: an app that will help them track their GPA. The academic frenzy in my school (UNN) was so rife that I imagined that once people heard that its about calculating GPA, they would freeze google playstore for hours in their rush to download my app.

As it turned out, a day went by,.. a week...2 weeks passed and no one had downloaded my app. It was just sitting there. I felt awful. I had spent all this time creating what no one wanted.
However, a popular school blogger back then whom I was friends with, because we both loved tech learned of this app, and published it on his blog. Within a week; almost everyone had the app! It was amazing!

This would never have happened if the blogger had not published it.


The no of downloads my app has on playstore is misleading as far as Nigeria is concerned. To know the Real No of Users you have, use google app analytics!

After some time, I could practically see my app in every phone I handled and was receiving fan mails like kilode. Yet; google playstore said I had only 125 downloads.

This confused me; until I realized that Nigerians RARELY download their apps from playstore. The likeliest way they get apps is through flashshare or xender. Thus, the no of downloads we see on playstore is just the number of people that directly downloaded the app from playstore. All the guys that got it from flash share go unreported.

With Google analytics though, I could see the no of unique users I had and how much time they spent in the app, as well as how frequently they used the app. My findings were quite disappointing which brings us to the next heading.

Making an app that will be used only once or twice in a year is not very profitable:
Having attained over 10,000 installations; I believed the time was ripe to start monetizing my app. The surest way to do this was to put ads. There was a problem though; people used the app only once in 6 months (each semester). This means that the ads I placed will be displayed just twice in a year to each user.

According to google adsense, I need 1000 impressions to earn 1 dollar. Poor me, right?

I concluded that whatever app I was going to make next would have to be one that engages users at least every day.

There is no perfection in app development and so; I will always have to update:
I spent so much time (about a month after the app was ready) fine tunning my app to what I thought was perfection before initial release in 2012. I added a lot of unrelated features, and kept changing colors, hoping it would look more beautiful. After all my efforts, It still turned out to be woefully flawed up on till I got user response, and amended the app to look and feel more like what the users desired.

Thinking about it now; I should have just released the app and patiently corrected it later after the user had tasted it.

To newbie programmers out there; once your app does the core thing it is supposed to do; RELEASE IT! Don’t bother adding features upon features until you have heard from the user. I also wish senior devs whom the newbies look to for correction would be more encouraging than devastating when reviewing apps made by junior devs..


Its unfortunate that once a newbie releases an app and shows off his/her pride on a programmers platform; everyone rushes to tear him/her down neglecting the purpose the app was made in the first place. This is wrong. Am grateful I did not experience it.

Well; thats it. To see GP Calculator for your school: below are the links.

Abia State University (ABSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.absu

Anambra State University (ANSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.ansu

Ebonyi State University (EBSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.ebsu

Enugu State University (ESUT):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.esut

Ekiti State University (EKSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.eksu

Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.futo

Obafemi Awolowo University:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.oau

University of Benin(UNIBEN):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.uniben

University of Lagos (UNILAG):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.unilag

University of Illorin (UNILORIN):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.unilorin

University of Portharcourt (UNIPORT):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.uniport

University of Uyo (UNIUYO):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.uniuyo

Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.unizik

Imo State University (IMSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.imsu

Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.lautech

Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.osustech

Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.rivers

Taraba State University (TASU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.tasu

Have any mistakes you made developing your first app? please share in the comments section

Source: http://larisoftng..com

larisoft:
By sharing this; I by no means claim to ‘ have arrived’. We are all learning; but having crossed the 10,000 users milestone; I thought it nice to share the mistakes made in the process.

My first app on google playstore was GP Calculator. It has 16 flavors now for 16 Universities in Nigeria, and has a version that works for all polytechnics in Nigeria. The app according to google analytics has attained 10000+ downloads (all flavors). These are some of the things I wish I knew before making this app. As always, my target audience are newbies.

Making an app without planning how to market it is a waste of one’s effort.

After learning the basics of java back in late 2012; I delved right in to create something I thought students really needed: an app that will help them track their GPA. The academic frenzy in my school (UNN) was so rife that I imagined that once people heard that its about calculating GPA, they would freeze google playstore for hours in their rush to download my app.

As it turned out, a day went by,.. a week...2 weeks passed and no one had downloaded my app. It was just sitting there. I felt awful. I had spent all this time creating what no one wanted.
However, a popular school blogger back then whom I was friends with, because we both loved tech learned of this app, and published it on his blog. Within a week; almost everyone had the app! It was amazing!

This would never have happened if the blogger had not published it.


The no of downloads my app has on playstore is misleading as far as Nigeria is concerned. To know the Real No of Users you have, use google app analytics!

After some time, I could practically see my app in every phone I handled and was receiving fan mails like kilode. Yet; google playstore said I had only 125 downloads.

This confused me; until I realized that Nigerians RARELY download their apps from playstore. The likeliest way they get apps is through flashshare or xender. Thus, the no of downloads we see on playstore is just the number of people that directly downloaded the app from playstore. All the guys that got it from flash share go unreported.

With Google analytics though, I could see the no of unique users I had and how much time they spent in the app, as well as how frequently they used the app. My findings were quite disappointing which brings us to the next heading.

Making an app that will be used only once or twice in a year is not very profitable:
Having attained over 10,000 installations; I believed the time was ripe to start monetizing my app. The surest way to do this was to put ads. There was a problem though; people used the app only once in 6 months (each semester). This means that the ads I placed will be displayed just twice in a year to each user.

According to google adsense, I need 1000 impressions to earn 1 dollar. Poor me, right?

I concluded that whatever app I was going to make next would have to be one that engages users at least every day.

There is no perfection in app development and so; I will always have to update:
I spent so much time (about a month after the app was ready) fine tunning my app to what I thought was perfection before initial release in 2012. I added a lot of unrelated features, and kept changing colors, hoping it would look more beautiful. After all my efforts, It still turned out to be woefully flawed up on till I got user response, and amended the app to look and feel more like what the users desired.

Thinking about it now; I should have just released the app and patiently corrected it later after the user had tasted it.

To newbie programmers out there; once your app does the core thing it is supposed to do; RELEASE IT! Don’t bother adding features upon features until you have heard from the user. I also wish senior devs whom the newbies look to for correction would be more encouraging than devastating when reviewing apps made by junior devs..


Its unfortunate that once a newbie releases an app and shows off his/her pride on a programmers platform; everyone rushes to tear him/her down neglecting the purpose the app was made in the first place. This is wrong. Am grateful I did not experience it.

Well; thats it. To see GP Calculator for your school: below are the links.

Abia State University (ABSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.absu

Anambra State University (ANSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.ansu

Ebonyi State University (EBSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.ebsu

Enugu State University (ESUT):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.esut

Ekiti State University (EKSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.eksu

Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.futo

Obafemi Awolowo University:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.oau

University of Benin(UNIBEN):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.uniben

University of Lagos (UNILAG):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.unilag

University of Illorin (UNILORIN):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.unilorin

University of Portharcourt (UNIPORT):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.uniport

University of Uyo (UNIUYO):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.uniuyo

Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.unizik

Imo State University (IMSU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.imsu

Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.lautech

Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.osustech

Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.rivers

Taraba State University (TASU):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larry.universitiesgpcalculator.tasu

Have any mistakes you made developing your first app? please share in the comments section

Source: http://larisoftng..com

LOL I understand how you feel about the marketing aspect and that is why till this minute, I still create apps for both BlackBerry Java phones and BlackBerry10 phones. As dead as BlackBerry might seem.... it has really helped to make my app Pin Pals popular.

Like right from day 1, it started with 150+ downloads per day
Then improved to 300 per day
And when thy featured it (for free) it climbed to an amazing 2k - 4k per day....

Bottom line is Blackberry has helped my life

Larry Okeke my man

FincoApps:


LOL I understand how you feel about the marketing aspect and that is why till this minute, I still create apps for both BlackBerry Java phones and BlackBerry10 phones. As dead as BlackBerry might seem.... it has really helped to make my app Pin Pals popular.

Like right from day 1, it started with 150+ downloads per day
Then improved to 300 per day
And when thy featured it (for free) it climbed to an amazing 2k - 4k per day....

Bottom line is Blackberry has helped my life

Lol... Thanks so much for reading , fincoApps. You are one of those guys I usually think of as "seen it all, done it all" on this platform.

FrankLampard:
Larry Okeke my man

mmm...FrankLampard. This one you are hailing me by my real name. I dey wonder how you come know the name oh. Thanks for stopping by my brother.

larisoft:

mmm...FrankLampard. This one you are hailing me by my real name. I dey wonder how you come know the name oh. Thanks for stopping by my brother.

E be like say you know no say your name dey on your blog o. Abi you think say people no dey read your sense making article on your potentials filled blog? I go soon flash you Na joke o.

However I got a coding problem and it seem this is the perfect opportunity to lay bare the problem to you, but I don't know what is wrong with nairaland PM, for I have tried PMing you and for some unknown reasons I couldn't get to type into the text field on the PM page.

larisoft:


Lol... Thanks so much for reading , fincoApps. You are one of those guys I usually think of as "seen it all, done it all" on this platform.

Lol you welcome...

And I wish I could say the same.... some others has gone as far as editing the firmware of BlackBerry

satmaniac:


E be like say you know no say your name dey on your blog o. Abi you think say people no dey read your sense making article on your potentials filled blog? I go soon flash you Na joke o.

However I got a coding problem and it seem this is the perfect opportunity to lay bare the problem to you, but I don't know what is wrong with nairaland PM, for I have tried PMing you and for some unknown reasons I couldn't get to type into the text field on the PM page.

wow thanks for the thumbs up satmaniac. You can reach me on larypetero at gmail.com

larisoft:


wow thanks for the thumbs up satmaniac. You can reach me on larypetero at gmail.com

After that desktop app you did who does not know Larry okeke and his blog.

Nice experience. I appreciate you find time to share your personal experience with others.

Just like I use to say, look for app idea that people will like to use frequently, that is engaging and appeals to different ages if you are planning to make money from android app.

Thank you for sharing this timely knowledge.

larisoft:


wow thanks for the thumbs up satmaniac. You can reach me on larypetero at gmail.com

You got mail.

somehow this post is boring but quite interesting

From The look of things, ur app is an offline app how do you display ads

larisoft:


Lol... Thanks so much for reading , fincoApps. You are one of those guys I usually think of as "seen it all, done it all" on this platform.

Hmmm. These points are very enlightening and well written. Thumbs up larisoft.

[quote author=Raypawer post=46303333]From The look of things, ur app is an offline app how do you display ads

[/quote

I used Google admob, bro

enigmatique:
Hmmm. These points are very enlightening and well written. Thumbs up larisoft.

Thanks for reading, Enigmatic

Now this is a very good post and i wish people will contribute more to this. Because i see some creativity here.

dhtml18:
Now this is a very good post and i wish people will contribute more to this. Because i see some creativity here.

Lol.

You know say when musician dey sing, im go sing some misses, sing some hits...

Thanks, Dhtml. I appreciate your recommendation. Really.

Of course, you are doing a good job of keeping the forum lively.

Nice post.
I was just thinking, rather than have different versions for different schools, why not have a select school option inside the app?

tr3y:
Nice post.
I was just thinking, rather than have different versions for different schools, why not have a select school option inside the app?

my brother, I wanted the students to some how think the app is by the school authorities... at least till they realize it works and get hooked.

I think it worked.