It has been almost a month since the txtWeb contest started. We now have some early data on how various apps are doing with respect to usage.

Here I am showing top apps based on usage through a mobile phone (as opposed to emulator on the txtWeb site) over the last 30 days:

There are some interesting insights here. The two most popular apps (@wikipedia and @word) are similar in a variety of ways. Both have very simple flows. They provide the user with the information requested in a single interaction. Usage instructions are also very simple and minimal text input is needed from the user. In addition, I would guess that since the users here are predominantly students, they provide them the information they need regularly in a way that is significantly more convenient than the next best alternative (i.e. getting it from the internet). Therefore, one could conclude that these apps truly understand the need of their customers and have been able to get them hooked by consistently delivering on the convenience dimension that the customers truly value. Kudos to Manish Shah for the @wikipedia app and to Manish Kumar for the @word app.

The next most popular request that we have been getting is for search. Therefore, it is important to use the right keyword description when you create an app so that your app shows up in search.

The next 3 apps are @placement, @cricket and @tweets respectively.

@placement: What is interesting about @placement is that it is a TxtSite. Sushanth Kamath has been able to very creatively use the TxtWeb platform to deliver relevant placement-related information to the students. Again, I see very simple flow, deep understanding of customer need and ability to deliver more convenience via SMS as compared to next best alternative. Great work Sushanth Kamath in using TxtWeb to solve a real student need with such a simple but yet so useful idea.

@cricket: We Indians can’t ever have enough of cricket. This app provides the user with cricket info when they need it and even if they are not close to a computer or a TV. Great work, Praveen Kumar in thinking about your customers’ need and delivering them superior convenience over alternatives.

@tweets: Twitter is catching on like wildfire in India and what can be more convenient than being able to do almost all the Twitter things just with an SMS. Great initiative Madhav in understanding the need of target customers and delivering on that through such a delightful app.   

By the way, I also looked at which apps are topping the charts in the last 7 days. Here is the data:

Notice that there is significant momentum in @cricket (made by Praveen Kumar) and @FootyScore (made by Rohith Shenoy) app in the last 7 days. @cricket has replaced @word for the #2 position. Continue to watch this space. Exciting stuff going on. Given that popularity is one of the award categories, hopefully this blog will help you create winning entries.