I have tried many launchers and during KitKat moved to LLX and now Lollipop 5.0.2 without looking back
I have tried many launchers and during KitKat moved to LLX and now Lollipop 5.0.2 without looking back … never a hiccup. I don’t write scripts and yet I find I can do the simplest and most sophisticated setups with LLX. LLX is as easy to use as any launcher. I have never once said ” I would like this ” or “I don’t like this”. A credit to the vision and expertise you had in creating this launcher Pierre Hébert
Here’s what I don’t get.
On Play store LLX is listed as having ~10k installs. By comparison Nova launcher is listed at ~10,000k installs. LLX is rarely, if ever, mentioned in a review of launchers and when it is the review is, imo, way off the mark … leaving the impression that LLX is complex and for the “experts”.
If the intent is to keep LLX in a small community then it has a passionate and dedicated community .. but if wider exposure is desired then I think Carolyn Boyle hit it in a post I remember …. MARKETING. Better marketing is required.
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I discovered LLX by accident about a month ago. Been hooked like a druggy every since. Super complex launcher if you want. Or easy setup. I pull off some pretty neat stuff without scripting either. Instead I find myself using tasker with it. Which, imo…makes it the most powerful launcher possible.
My only complaint is that I didn’t learn about it sooner. Blew me away when I got to looking and saw how long it’s been around.
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I have no say LLX is by far the most powerful launcher if not app ever.. I’m a huge fan of Nova too for the stability and simplicity, but honestly LLX is in a whole other category to itself lol
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Most developers, if not all, hope to get wide(r) exposure for their apps. And actually work hard on them. But this is a difficult thing in a crowded market…
Regarding LLX, your analysis is correct: it is tagged as “For experts only” and there is no marketing around it.
On the “For expert” side, the app has improved a lot over time because of incredible user feedback. Most good things come from users suggestions. I am sure early users remember how the app was clunky in the past. Still there is a lot of work to be done, but I am able to do it. And I will do it. (well, I am still hoping to do it, this will be this year or never anyway)
Marketing is another issue : I don’t believe this is within my reach. Firstly I am not a marketing guy and I don’t know where to start, secondly this costs way too much money.
I would like to invest more on the project, and I would even be pleased to hire someone to work with me. However this is really not something possible. And this is the case for 90% of apps publishers : this is possible to invest time, much less easy to invest money.
(by the way this raises the question of the current app store model sustainability)
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Really LLX is a killer. I’ve bought Nova, SL2., Lucid Launcher Pro but all others are far behind LLX
Only thing missing for me is a real Desktop Lock (it’s even possible with scripting. Thanks to the good scripters here Lukas Morawietz)
And lock in the appdrawer preventing unwanted changes
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Pierre Hébert These days social media has arguably become one of the most powerful marketing tools … in a way it has become a leveller, allowing businesses without the capacity for large advertising budgets to get traction by virtue of having a good product and a loyal user-base. I use a custom community-developed ROM for my phone which blows everything I’ve ever used out of the water .. and I always promote it and LLX in various discussion groups.
That said, and with reference to Play store sustainability can I say (and admit) that I too came across LLX by accident and my first try was with an unpaid copy of LLX. Having had the chance to try it, I was so impressed that I immediately went to PS and bought it … this is how I use apps. I will not use an app …free or paid .. if I don’t like it. But I need a chance to try it .. free and scaled down or as a limited trial. So maybe, at least until LLX gets a larger user base, the option might be to offer it on a trial basis or a free basic version (eg. without scripting etc.).
This is only my opinion and I’m sure that within the LLX community there are lots of ideas that could contribute to developing a marketing plan … so maybe a thread on this topic (marketing) is something to consider.
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I agree with you regarding social media, this is now a key marketing tool, but it is not sufficient to be used alone. The proof is that major players spend a lot of money to reach social media. My feeling is this is a required second step and that there need to be something else to bootstrap the process.
Killing the free version was the right choice. Firstly it was requiring too much energy, secondly most users were not attracted by the paid version, probably the free one was already complex enough. That was a difficult choice, but retrospectively I don’t regret it.
Frankly, that would be great to develop a marketing plan, although I think that a few shortcomings in the app urgently need to be fixed before to reach millions users 🙂
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Pierre Hébert and what about a trial version of 7 days, with an apk available on your website? (like the tasker app)
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Yeah I truly believe that any paid app should at least have a trial version if they do not have a free version at all. Being someone who completely understands what it’s like to be very hard on money, I myself find it hard to pay for anything without at least being able to try it out a little at first but that’s just me
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Yes, this is an option to consider, I will think at this.
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