Last week, my app "Physamajig" was a featured app for Windows 8. This means that it had a dedicated tile on the main Store hub which looked like this:

The app had real estate on the Games category like this for 5 days, from 2/8 through 2/12, and I received an email from Microsoft about a week before giving me a heads up that my app was going to be featured at that time. As you can imagine, having a featured app is a huge impact to the number of downloads and visibility of your app.

Looking at how this impacted Physamajig can provide a glimpse into what the most popular apps might be taking in for Windows 8 Monetization.

Impact on Downloads

The graph below shows Physamajig downloads in blue. The top 5 games are shown in the orange color. Notice the huge spike to 5000+ downloads per day during the featured promotion: 

Impact on In-App Purchases

The next graph shows in-app purchases, which remain very modest for Physamajig. I may need to toy with the model I currently have, where a single in-app purchase unlocks all sample mini-games and removes Ads. Or it may just be that my customer base (likely 9 to 13 year olds) doesn't have the money to purchase! :)  

Impact on Ad Monetization

Physamajig shows Ads until a user "unlocks" the full version through an in-App purchase. Pubcenter is used as the ad service. Let's first look at the "good news" which is the number of impressions per day. From the graph below you can see that the app spiked to 80,000+ impressions per day.

Now let's look at the bad news, which is revenue. Pubcenter continues to return an anemic CPM which is impacting developer revenue on both Windows 8 and Windows Phone platforms.

Normally you would hope for an eCPM of about $1 (or $1.00 per 1,000 ad impressions). But instead I am seeing between 20 and 50 cents per 1,000 impressions which makes for much less revenue. Imagine multiplying the revenue values below by 2 or 3 and things would certainly look more appealing, yes?   

Monetization Summary

Here is the summary of what I've seen for monetization in the first 3.5 months...

“Physamajig” Summary first 3.5 months
Total Downloads since publish	247,303
In-App purchases	$108.29
Ad monetization (pubcenter)	$1,641.87     (4,552,202 impressions @ 0.36 eCPM)
Total for 3.5 months	$1,750.16

Should you Develop Windows 8 Apps?

If you are lucky enough to have a top app in the Windows 8 Store, and have it stay at the top, is there sufficient opportunity for monetization? I guess that depends on the individual developer but personally I am having a lot of fun hobby time and the monetization is a nice bonus.

There have been some comparable stories to mine, and also some incredible ones regarding Windows 8 app success which you should check out.

One thing is sure, Microsoft needs Windows 8 apps! And they are providing some nice incentives to get people started with Windows 8 app development. Here is a collection of incentives that they are providing to get you started:

Generation App - Your Road to Windows 8

Sign up now and you'll receive the tools, help, and support you need to get your Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps developed

Generation App - Ultimate Experience

Free Windows Store Registration and a copy of HALO 4 for your first app and a chance to win and XBOX w/Kinect.

AppCampus
Get funding for your next great Windows Phone app idea.

Tech Affiliate Sweepstakes

Create an app and enter a monthly drawing for $1000, $500, or $250.

It's been three weeks since Windows 8 GA, and I've had several fellow developers ask about my luck on the Windows Store. So here is some usage and monetization data for "Physamajig" - an app which I developed in my spare time using the Physics Helper XAML and Farseer Physics Engine projects.

Physamajig has two types of monetization:

• PubCenter ads which show on the main hub and play screen
  
• In-App purchases (which unlock additional games and remove ads).

3 Week Summary for “Physamajig”
Total Downloads since publish	177,372
Total Downloads since GA (10/26)	19,509
In-App purchases	$25.32       (21 in-app purchases)
Ad monetization (pubcenter)	$419.24     (482,912 impressions @ 0.87 eCPM)
Total for 3 weeks	$444.56

Daily Ad Revenue (pubcenter)

So I suppose there are several ways to look at this data. Obviously the amounts are modest and undoubtedly there are better opportunities in competing platforms and app stores. But this is just the first three weeks after GA, and with the holiday season coming up you can bet there will be lots of people moving onto Windows 8 devices very quickly - so perhaps there is nowhere to go but up. On the other hand, competition in the store is quickly ramping up with names like Rovio and Halfbrick joining in, so the chances of your app getting buried in the store will increase.

Some More Detail

Some of the reports provided by the Windows 8 Store are quite interesting. Take for example the App Downloads chart below. Look at the nice spike on 10/26 at GA. It's no surprise that the top 5 apps - which are featured apps with dedicated tiles - get a much larger number of downloads than my app!

However, if we look at the App Usage per Day report, we can see that my app does keep user's attention longer than the average. By the way, if you are wondering why every 3 days in this report has the same data value, it is because this data is aggregated every 3 days only. So the repeating value you see is the average for those 3 days.

Summary

One thing I hope that the Windows Store makes better use of is an editorial process that highlights apps from all over the spectrum, not just the bigger game studios. In the early days of the Store they had "Apps that Cure Boredom" for example - which highlighted a few apps that weren't necessarily chart-toppers, but might interest certain people. So why not add category tiles for "Games with Creativity" or "Quirky Games" - and have editors swap different games in and out of these?

These are the very early days of the Windows Store, and I am sure there will be some great success stories for developers in this new platform. I hope this gives you an idea of where monetization is at now, and I look forward to seeing all of your cool apps on the Store!

My app "Physamajig" was one of the first apps available on the Windows 8 Store, and now has over 150,000 downloads. Physamajig is written using XAML/C# and uses the Physics Helper XAML and Farseer Physics Engine projects.

I was recently lucky enough to win an AppCampus award to port Physamajig to Windows Phone 7! The AppCampus program was formed by Microsoft and Nokia to "drive innovation and business opportunities" and "create a new generation of self-sustaining mobile startups." If you have a great mobile app idea, you can still apply for an AppCampus award by filling out a short application.

Here is a video demo of the port of Physamajig running on the Nokia Lumia 900:

To the Cloud!

Physamajig has a back-end web service which allows users to share their physics games. As part of the groundwork for the port to Windows Phone,  I wanted to make sure my back-end data service could handle any increase in traffic from users. Originally, I was using a shared hosting plan from a popular provider - but where I wanted to go was Windows Azure!

I was quite surprised at how easy it was to port to Azure. Granted, my database schema for Physamajig is quite simple - but I have to say, I think I spent only about 6 hours getting the data and service moved over to Azure. Here are the highlights of the process I took:

• First, I used SQL Server Management Studio to connect to my two databases: my legacy shared db, and the Azure SQL db.
  
• The I used the Generate Scripts Wizard to migrate the data from the legacy db to Azure SQL.  These steps are outlined for you here. Note that you can use the "Fully Qualified DNS Name" of your Azure SQL database from the management portal under Database.
  
• I then used the VS Templates for Azure to create a Windows Azure Cloud Service and WCF Service Web Role. Since I had a pre-existing service, I just brought the code over into the WCF Web Role.
  
• Physamajig has thumbnail images that allow users to quickly shuffle through the available online creations. These thumbnails are generated by a moderator when they approve creations for online use. For these thumbnails, I used Azure Storage in a public folder. This involved using the CloudStorageAccount class to add a CloudBlobContainer consisting of CloudBlob (files) for each thumbnail.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into what's happening with Physamajig, and please look for the app in the Windows Phone marketplace soon!

Today I released version 1.1 of Physics Helper XAML, which allows you to easily create 2D Physics Games and Simulations for the following platforms:

• Windows 8
• Windows Phone 7
• Silverlight 5

XAML has great support for 2D graphics including hardware acceleration, making it an excellent candidate for 2D physics based games. And because of XAML's extensive form controls and powerful project templates, it makes it super easy to create your games menus and input UI. Also, it is possible to target the three platforms using a single set of XAML assets for graphics and logic.

I personally used the Physics Helper XAML project as the core for my first (and award winning) Windows 8 game, Physamajig. To get started yourself, I recommend:

• download the source code and check out the sample projects which target all three platforms.
  
  
• read the Getting Started docs (currently these docs mention pre-release version of the tools but they will be updated soon)
  
  
• use the forums to ask questions

Here is a video showing the Physics Helper XAML demos running on Windows 8 (Samsung Series 7 Slate), Windows Phone 7 (Nokia Lumia 900), and Silverlight 5 (Sony Vaio Laptop).

The Windows 8 App Certification Requirements are a necessary evil meant to protect users, but they can cause developers a few headaches. One of the requirements in particular has plagued me with failed certifications:

4.1 Your app must comply with the following privacy-related requirements:

4.1.1 Your app must have a privacy statement if it collects personal information

4.1.2 Your app must obtain opt-in or equivalent consent to share personal information

If your app uses any kind of web service, it will likely need to meet this requirement or fail certification. Here are some pointers to help meet the 4.1 requirement:

• Create a web page that states your app's privacy policy and what personal information it collects. Here is an example privacy policy which I use for one of my apps that does not collect personal info.
  
  
• If your app does NOT collect personal information, state that clearly in the privacy policy (maybe your app just calls a web service and the user is anonymous). 
  
  
• If your app DOES collect personal information, you have a bit more work to do. You should get some legal wording here from a lawyer or appropriate entity for your privacy policy. You will also need a settings mechanism to enable/disable opt-in by the user. I personally haven't had to follow this path yet so I don't have many details on this one.
  
  
• When you submit your app for certification, and you fill out the description section of your app, be sure to enter the URL to the privacy policy you created above:
  
  
  
• You will need to provide a link to the privacy policy in your Settings Panel as well. Here is an example method (XAML/C#) that adds in an entry into the Settings Panel with the text "Privacy Policy" - this is a clickable control that brings up IE with a web page containing the policy:

public static void AddSettingsCommands(SettingsPaneCommandsRequestedEventArgs args)

{

    args.Request.ApplicationCommands.Clear();

    SettingsCommand privacyPref = new SettingsCommand("privacyPref", "Privacy Policy", (uiCommand) =>

    {

        Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchUriAsync(new Uri("http://www.myserver.com/myPrivacyPolicy.aspx"));

    });

    args.Request.ApplicationCommands.Add(privacyPref);

}

You would use this method from each of your pages in your app by setting up event handlers (I use the OnNavigatedTo event, and be sure to clean up your event handlers)

protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)

{

    SettingsPane.GetForCurrentView().CommandsRequested += GroupedItemsPage_CommandsRequested;

}

void GroupedItemsPage_CommandsRequested(SettingsPane sender, SettingsPaneCommandsRequestedEventArgs args)

{

    SettingsHelper.AddSettingsCommands(args);

}

That's should help you get your connected apps through this certification requirement... good luck!

App Reviews can impact a user's decision to download or buy your app, and provide valuable feedback for enhancements and issues for v.next. It's important to make it apparent and easy for users to add a review for your app so you are sure to gather as many of these reports as possible.

Let's explore three ways that a user can get to the review page for your app:

1. Through the Windows Store
   This one is pretty obvious, but if a user visits the Reviews link on the page for your app in the Windows Store, they can choose "Write a Review," which brings them to the "Write a Review" page. 
   
   
   
   
2. Through the Settings Pane
   This one is provided automatically for every app on the Windows Store - but note that you will not see this link while you are developing/debugging you app! It will only be visible after your app has passed certification and has been installed from the store.
   
   If a user swipes from the right side of the screen, and chooses the Settings Charm, they will see a Rate and Review link:
   
   
   
   
3. Through a Link you Provide
   While the built-in Settings Pane support for Rate and Review is great, there are times when you want the Rate and Review option to be a bit more apparent to the user. Maybe after so many days of using the app, you would like to try and coax the user to write a review through a link you provide.
   
   To create this link you'll first need the Package family name for your app. Open the Package.appxmanifest file and go to the Packaging tab. Copy out the Package family name:
   
   
   Now you can create a button or other control in your app which launches to the following URI:
   
   

   Windows.System.Launcher.LaunchUriAsync(new Uri("ms-windows-store:REVIEW?PFN=MY_PACKAGE_FAMILY_NAME"));
   
   (Just replace MY_PACKAGE_FAMILY_NAME with your app's PFN). 

We've heard about how the Windows 8 Store will be the "largest developer opportunity, ever," given the sheer number of Windows 7 licenses and the expected number of people upgrading and purchasing Windows 8 tablets. I wanted to share some of my metrics so far with the Windows Store...

Physamajig for Windows 8 has reached a bit of a milestone with over 100,000 downloads on the Store! It took a little over 3 months to reach this milestone... but note that this is just the preview versions of Windows 8!

Here are a few more metrics from Physamajig, showing download peaks, market, and age group...

Windows 8 Store vs Windows Phone 7 Marketplace

Compare Physamajig to one of my more popular Windows Phone 7 apps, Boss Launch 2, which took over a year in the WP7 App Store to reach 100,000 downloads (it currently is at 115k+ downloads). But this was a year in release of Windows Phone 7 - whereas Windows 8 is in preview.

Submitting your App

As of now, the Windows 8 Store is still closed for general submission, but if you create a great app or game, you can apply for a Windows Store token by following the steps outlined in this blog post.

The next update of Physamajig will allow users to create their own "Mini-Games" - without writing code! This new version will be released after the June 2012 Windows 8 Release Preview. Like the current release of Physamajig, you just draw out elements on the screen to create physics objects - but in the new version, you can add Behaviors to your objects to add much more interactivity.

So what kind of games will Physamjig allow you to create without using code? This video shows a few examples:

My inspiration for the no-code approach came from Behaviors and Triggers inside Expression Blend, which I used for previous versions of the Physics Helper Library. Inside Expression Blend, you just drag/drop Behaviors onto elements to add runtime logic to them. It was a great way to encapsulate complex logic and allow designers to add interactivity to their creations without needing to write code.

Since Behaviors and Triggers are not (yet) present in WinRT Metro, I had to create my own custom implementation of them. A Trigger is generally an event, such as the user making a gesture on the screen, a collision, or an object being destroyed. A Behavior is what happens in response to the trigger, such as applying force to an object, playing a sound, or destroying an object. In Physamajig, the designer for adding Behaviors looks like this:

If this designer looks familiar to you, it might be because you've seen the cool Project Mayhem from Microsoft Research which was another source of inspiration for me. Project Mayhem calls them "Events" and "Reactions," but really these are the same as Triggers and Behaviors. In Mayhem, the designer looks like this:

So is there really such a thing as the "no code scenario?" Will it ever be possible to put together complex, custom solutions using a simple UI to snap together various logic? I am not a believer yet, but I am convinced that adding Behaviors/Triggers (aka Reactions/Events) in a solution can greatly increase productivity and customization in many solutions.

Let me know what you think, and I'll leave you with one last teaser video, this one with extra cheesiness!

Physamajig was selected as one of the Winning entries of the Windows 8 First Apps Contest! Microsoft unveiled the 8 Winners today in Barcelona while unveiling the Consumer Preview of Windows 8.

[read the Windows Store blog post]

[see the video about the contest winners]

[the contest site also has a nice summary]

If you've downloaded the Consumer Preview, you can find Physamajig in the Store under the Entertainment Category:

I'll be continuing to add some goodies to Physamajig, and here is a little sneak peek of something in the next version: Textures! I really like how these textures make your creations seem more toy-like!