Richard Walters is the developer of Calculator² and Calculator³. You may have used these apps before on Windows 8 or Windows Phone - we've taken a look at the mobile app in the past. It's been announced today that Walters has been able to accumulate over 1 million downloads on Windows Store for his Calculator² app alone.
Entering the DreamSpark program as a student, Walters received a Windows Phone and his journey began. What makes this story that much more unique is Walters doesn't have a development background. In fact, Calculator² was his first app ever developed, released on Windows Phone.
In a rather lengthy blog post over on MSDN, Walters is interviewed and reveals some helpful pointers on how he managed to accumulate so many downloads.
"I am thrilled to have reached a million downloads. I’ve been looking forward to passing the million mark for quite a while and it’s amazing to think that it’s finally happened. It’s still a bit surreal to think that 1 million people have downloaded the app - it’s not what I imagined when I started out."
What's also interesting is how Walters states he had to do very little to get the app from 500,000 downloads up to a million. It has taken around 6 months and there's been little promotion or coverage (we last looked at his apps back in February). So how many downloads has the developer achieved on a daily basis? Around 3,000. Not a bad figure.
"There are a few contributing factors to the success of the app. It’s now in a variety of languages, including Chinese, French, German, and Russian," explained Walters. "I also use AdDuplex, a cross-promotional advertising network, which has resulted in approximately 300 clicks through to the Store page per day."
It's worth nothing how the apps work well on desktop and tablets, thus targeting a broad audience for maximum exposure. The tl;dr version of the article is for everyone to try out DreamSpark and see if Windows development is for you. There are many resources available for both Windows 8 and Windows Phone to help get you started.
Want to check out his apps?
- Calculator² - Windows 8 / Windows Phone (left-hand QR code)
- Calculator³ - Windows Phone (right-hand QR code)
Source: MSDN
