So what does being a Featured App on the Canadian WP7 marketplace mean?

As a casual WP7 developer, I am always interested in seeing what happens when an app is "featured" in the Canadian WP7 marketplace.

I am also confused about how an app is "featured" but since my normal job keeps me pretty busy, I never had the chance to look.

That is until this morning when I woke up to check out the new applications and and the featured apps.  And man was I surprised to find that something I wrote was front and center on the featured apps list.

Canada Border Wait Times was listed in the featured app section and man was I surprised.  I released this app around the beginning of February and it constantly sits in the top 50 in the travel & navigation category within the marketplace.  Last I checked, it was again hovering between 40-45 spot within the category.

I will report back in a few days with the results of what happens to this app when it gets featured.  I have already seen an increase in the ads impressions report.

Before Being Featured:
                    impressions per day avg: 20
                    estimate revenue per day avg: 1.5 cents
                    downloads per day avg: 5
                    downloads per month: 64
                    spot in travel & navigation free category: 40-45

After Being Featured (also coincide with Easter Weekend so I am pretty sure it is skewed):
                    impressions per day avg: 150
                    estimate revenue per day (it's only been 2 days): 30 cents

I will report back in a few days' time once apphub updates with the figures

Few things you will noticed if you are using free ad-driven apps:

• Ads are annoying but still don't get indie wp7 developers like myself anything close to being significant (considering subscription to appHub is $99 + tax a year)
• Not every developer is Rovio (maker of Angry Birds) or OMGPOP (makers of Draw Something)
• Clicking on apps increases the revenue but no one actually clicks on the ads (next time you use a free, ad driven app, click on the ads once in awhile.. That's why WP7 has a "back" button")

Other tidbits:

• My wife does laugh at me for being so happy for making 30 cents a day these last couple of days - I do tell her it's 30 times better than before)
• Microsoft pay threshold is $50 for ads.. before you say MS is evil and is all about $$$, Google's pay threshold is $100 for ads - this blog since the beginning 1.5 year ago has 15K visitors which yielded a grand total of $10.18 that I can't have 
• 15K visitors to this blog also only yielded 10 ad clicks

Canada Border Wait Times App is now available

If you travel to the US a lot and want to see the wait times for the land border entry points, my new app have just been released in the WP7 marketplace and is ready for your enjoyment.  As usual, it's FREE so go forth and click on those ads!!! (I am kidding).. but please do take time to rate it.

Shows US bound land border wait times from entry points from across Canada where information is available.
- includes vehicle wait time information for regular vehicle passengers, NEXUS lanes and Ready lanes
- available US bound border crossings information from:

BC (including Point Roberts!) - folks in the GVRD area can also download this if you are looking for traffic cams of places around GVRD
Alberta
Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec
New Brunswick



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