App Store Earnings For Developers Exceed $70 Billion; App Downloads Up 70% YoY (macstories.net)

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App Store Earnings For Developers Exceed $70 Billion; App Downloads Up 70% YoY (macstories.net)

Posted by msmash on Thursday June 1, 2017 @03:20AM from the growing-affinity dept.

Apple announced today that since it launched in 2008, developers have earned over $70 billion from the App Store. From an article: "People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Seventy billion dollars earned by developers is simply mind-blowing." According to Apple's press release, subscriptions saw a 58 percent increase year over year, fueled by their availability in all 25 app categories. Games and Entertainment are the App Store's top grossing categories, Lifestyle and Health and Fitness apps have experienced 70 percent growth, and the Photo and Video category is up over 90 percent.

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And yet... by DontBeAMoran · 2017-06-01 03:25 · Score: 0

Try to imagine how much more money would be made if they allowed adult/porn/hentai apps.

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#DeleteFacebook
msmash, apple, and carbon by LynnwoodRooster · 2017-06-01 03:31 · Score: 0, Troll

Imagine all the carbon that wouldn't have been released if Apple didn't sell all those apps...

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Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Who does? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 03:38 · Score: 0

I don't know anybody in my circle of friends who buys, let alone downloads, apps from the App Store.
1. Re: Who does? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:08 · Score: 1
  
  That's a really cool anecdote, bro, but we know that you don't actually have any friends, so you're not fooling anyone.
Only apps can app apps... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 03:39 · Score: 0

...but apps that app other apps get apped!

Apps!
1. Re:Only apps can app apps... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 05:00 · Score: 0
  
  There you are, we missed you.
Note that this is all in aggregate by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 03:44 · Score: 0

They don't want you to know how much the average app store developer makes, or the median earnings per year.
1. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:19 · Score: 0
  
  Of course not; its apple. Half truths and outright lies at their best.
2. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by BarbaraHudson · 2017-06-01 05:33 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I'm glad you asked. It's easy to calculate what the average is for those who aren't in the top 1,000.
  $70 billion 2.2 million current apps gives 31k per app per 9 years. say 3.5 k per year. Now you have to deduct for apps that used to be in the store but are no more, so let's be generous and say the rate of attrition is 50% over the last 9 years (it's probably much higher). That means the average app makes $1.75 k per year.
  So let's be nice again, and say that the top 1,000 apps take 90% of the revenue (it's probably much more). That leaves the 4.4 million apps (we have to include those that are no longer there, remember?) to split $7 billion over 9 years, or $1,509 each over 9 years, which works out to $176 a year.
  So, how many apps does the average app developer have to crank out to make $10 an hour ($20,800 per year) for a 40 hour week (260 days, no 2 weeks holiday for YOU!) You would need to crank out 118 apps in 260 working 8-hour days in a year..That's more than 2 apps a day. With no money left for overhead, income tax, etc., and no time or budget for promoting your app or support.
  Most app devs are either suckers or they've got a customer who is a sucker.
  And remember, this is an average. Half will be making less than $10 an hour pumping out 118 apps a year.
  
  --
  "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
3. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 08:55 · Score: 0
  
  "No reasonable person would believe our advertising"
  If you think they're actually telling the truth with this $70B figure, I have to say LOL.
  If this figure is accurate, then I'll bet this includes the $100/year/dev and whatever cost corporations need to pay for MDM, and the 30% that gets skimmed off... Wouldn't be surprised if it included the hardware (the desktop and phone) that devs have bought. Throw in the cell companies that need to pay APL multimillion dollars to just have their phone on the network.
  Of course, this could be just a fake number...
4. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by lucm · 2017-06-01 11:35 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Most app devs are either suckers or they've got a customer who is a sucker.
  Spot on. Apple Store app devs are for the most part Apple customers. Gartner usually releases a report every year about the business of selling apps, and last year their research indicated that less than 1% of non-free apps are profitable.
  
  --
  lucm, indeed.
5. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by TheFakeTimCook · 2017-06-01 20:13 · Score: 1
  
  I'm glad you asked. It's easy to calculate what the average is for those who aren't in the top 1,000.
  $70 billion 2.2 million current apps gives 31k per app per 9 years. say 3.5 k per year. Now you have to deduct for apps that used to be in the store but are no more, so let's be generous and say the rate of attrition is 50% over the last 9 years (it's probably much higher). That means the average app makes $1.75 k per year.
  So let's be nice again, and say that the top 1,000 apps take 90% of the revenue (it's probably much more). That leaves the 4.4 million apps (we have to include those that are no longer there, remember?) to split $7 billion over 9 years, or $1,509 each over 9 years, which works out to $176 a year.
  So, how many apps does the average app developer have to crank out to make $10 an hour ($20,800 per year) for a 40 hour week (260 days, no 2 weeks holiday for YOU!) You would need to crank out 118 apps in 260 working 8-hour days in a year..That's more than 2 apps a day. With no money left for overhead, income tax, etc., and no time or budget for promoting your app or support.
  Most app devs are either suckers or they've got a customer who is a sucker.
  And remember, this is an average. Half will be making less than $10 an hour pumping out 118 apps a year.
  Are you saying you aren't good enough to to write an App that can attain that hypothetical Top 1,000?
6. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by TheFakeTimCook · 2017-06-01 20:15 · Score: 1
  
  "No reasonable person would believe our advertising"
  If you think they're actually telling the truth with this $70B figure, I have to say LOL.
  If this figure is accurate, then I'll bet this includes the $100/year/dev and whatever cost corporations need to pay for MDM, and the 30% that gets skimmed off... Wouldn't be surprised if it included the hardware (the desktop and phone) that devs have bought. Throw in the cell companies that need to pay APL multimillion dollars to just have their phone on the network.
  Of course, this could be just a fake number...
  This is royalty payments to App Developers. Nothing more, nothing less.
7. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-02 02:26 · Score: 0
  
  apple is not a very honest company. Lots of lies and half truths in everything they say. Its in their DNA
8. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-02 02:31 · Score: 0
  
  What a stupid thing to say. Typical
9. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by BarbaraHudson · 2017-06-03 01:25 · Score: 1
  
  Well, it's not just the App. There's the promotion, support, etc. It certainly takes more than one person to do that for an app in the top 1,000. No matter how good it is, if it isn't promoted properly it won't be going anywhere, and crappy support will kill it quickly. :-)
  Plus, I hate the whole "App Mania." It's a huge diversion of resources that could be better deployed elsewhere. I've spent the last month doing flood disaster relief work, and I've seen firsthand how what I do, along with everyone else, is improving people's lives in real ways. No app is going to give you the same emotional high that helping people who have literally lost everything except the clothes on their backs. And the need isn't going away tomorrow, or even next month ...
  Honestly, I'd rather continue to do that. Consider it a kind of "don't be evil" as opposed to "don't do evil." It's simply wrong (aka "evil") to ignore someone who is in need if you can help them. I think most people feel that way, bu there are so many inhibitions and practicalities that prevent them from rising to the occasion. I get that, so I'm not going to judge those who don't act, but I've got to say, the hundreds of tons of food donated to feed the victims can't leave you unmoved. In the last week alone, we've probably distributed food to 1,000 people, plus making lunch for hundreds of clean-up volunteers, and the other regular stuff like community suppers for $2 a head, $5 a family for a 3-course meal, fund raising, etc. It's f'ing awesome.
  At one point yesterday we had 3 families (representing 20 people - blended families tend to get large) simultaneously filling up shopping carts and trolleys to overflowing with whatever they needed. They've lost their homes and their cars. But when they left, they knew the community was behind them 100%. It's a real privilege to be able to do this.
  
  --
  "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
10. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by TheFakeTimCook · 2017-06-03 12:02 · Score: 1
  
  Well, how can I make a decent snarky reply, when you have already obviously outclassed me?
  Good on you, seriously.
11. Re:Note that this is all in aggregate by BarbaraHudson · 2017-06-04 07:26 · Score: 1
  
  Oh come one, you know I LIVE for when people snark me :-) You can do it! I have faith in you.
  On a more serious note, the whole Apps mania is just another sign of the shift that has made software development "not fun" any more. Long ago, the thrill was in developing something that was useful or entertaining in its' own right, there wasn't this hysterical drive to monetize asap and walk away (serial entrepreneur now is just another term for huckster).
  Things really started for fall apart with the "we must have a new version every year, and it must have a zillion new features", which caused a huge decline in quality - see what happened to Corel at version 4 as one example. Michael Copeland just had to juice his stock every year on schedule, so the motivation was monetary, not "We'll have the best of breed and the money will come." They're not quite the same when it comes to work environment and execution. Hence the rise of the psychopathic manager - and this happened all across the employment market, not just in IT. I blame Reagan. After all, even fish rot from the head. It certainly killed Borland. (side note - just to show how far it's declined, spell checker didn't recognize either Corel or Borland).
  It's gotten to the point that major portions of the economy (IT, the military) need to continuously inflate bubbles. Crazy. And not sustainable.
  
  --
  "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by mykepredko · 2017-06-01 03:44 · Score: 4, Interesting

When I was at RIM, the iPhone 4 came out with one of the benefits for buyers was the extensive library of apps that were available for download. The iPhone SDK was free or a very nominal cost. To develop an app for the Blackberry at the time required an expensive SDK as well as a costly testing process to make sure the app met their standards.
RIM at the time (and I talked about this with very senior executives) made it clear that the way Apple was doing would destroy Apple as professionals wouldn't want something which had unvetted and, to their eye, silly apps.

--
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
1. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by Gilgaron · 2017-06-01 03:47 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Interesting observation. They may have even been right for the professionals of the time, but the mass market is what won things for Apple.
2. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by tlhIngan · 2017-06-01 04:57 · Score: 2
  
  When I was at RIM, the iPhone 4 came out with one of the benefits for buyers was the extensive library of apps that were available for download. The iPhone SDK was free or a very nominal cost. To develop an app for the Blackberry at the time required an expensive SDK as well as a costly testing process to make sure the app met their standards.
  RIM at the time (and I talked about this with very senior executives) made it clear that the way Apple was doing would destroy Apple as professionals wouldn't want something which had unvetted and, to their eye, silly apps.
  Actually, until the Apple App Store came out, the whole vetting process was a gong show. Apps were everywhere - every phone had a version of J2ME that could run apps and often shipped with games and such for it.
  The big problem was if anyone wanted to develop an app for a phone, they had to get SDKs from the manufacturer, and then the carrier had to approve the app for a specific phone in the end. It was a gong show and only the largest companies could actually do it. (These days, those companies are much smaller now as they didn't have to jump through a million hoops to get dinky apps onto phones anymore).
  Even with Apple's approval mechanism, it was still way easier to go through Apple's process and get an app up than the old way. And it worked across all of Apple's phones - there was no messing with individual phone SDKs (each phone had their own J2ME implementation, and every phone had idiosyncrasies in it) and in general it was one all very consistent development environment.
  And yes, Apple did it to prevent unvetted silly apps too. Thought it was also to try to contain developers so they'd avoid doing stuff that would kill the battery, DoS the cell network or impact system security over trying to keep fart apps off the phone. (One has to admit, there's a whole category of silly/stupid apps that simply never existed... until some developers decided to get creative).
3. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 06:26 · Score: 0
  
  Why did they think Apple was making billions from professionals? This is just like the rest of the computer market. The most awesome computer jobs (sims, CAD, finite element analysis, AI, whatever) is always done on what is basically a kick-ass consumer gaming rig. Why would they think a kick ass consumer mobile rig wouldn't be what all the mobile work gets done on? LOL. I used to love my BB, and only recently got rid of it. And there are a lot of things I miss from it that iOS is still missing (starting with a god damned blink msg LED so I know a msg is waiting). But they gave up on BBOS 10 which was good, and there is no way I will use Google's junk.
4. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 07:25 · Score: 0
  
  iPhone SDK isn't that free when you consider you need to buy massively overprices hardware to run it on.
5. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 11:02 · Score: 0
  
  unvetted? Some naysayers claim Apple does TOO much vetting. (Not me.)
6. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by lucm · 2017-06-01 11:22 · Score: 1
  
  the mass market is what won things for Apple.
  By "won" you mean a 13% market share? Which is more or less where BBRY was a couple years ago.
  
  --
  lucm, indeed.
7. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by Gilgaron · 2017-06-01 14:00 · Score: 1
  
  Well the business model won, even if Android did better by market share doing a more open version of the same thing. I'm not sure if they'll keep becoming more like PCs or if malware will preserve the walled garden approach for a while.
8. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-02 12:00 · Score: 0
  
  the mass market is what won things for Apple.
  By "won" you mean a 13% market share? Which is more or less where BBRY was a couple years ago.
  Maybe he means the 104% smartphone industry profit share.
  http://www.investors.com/news/technology/click/apple-iphone-grabs-104-of-smartphone-industry-profit-in-q3/
9. Re:This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone wars by lucm · 2017-06-02 13:34 · Score: 1
  
  it still amazes me how fanbois are so proud of being ripped off by Apple, who overprice their phone so much that they make a $400 profit per device while other manufacturer make $20 on vastly superior hardware.
  
  --
  lucm, indeed.
Would have been 100 billion... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 03:46 · Score: 0

...without the app store.
Re: The 1% by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:10 · Score: 0

Ooh, you and your âoe1%â rhetoric are so edgy.
YoY?!? by kit_triforce · 2017-06-01 04:11 · Score: 1

I am unfamiliar with YoY as a term and had to google it.
All I could think was "Zoidberg is happy!"
1. Re:YoY?!? by Chris+Mattern · 2017-06-01 04:14 · Score: 1
  
  I am unfamiliar with YoY as a term and had to google it.
  Obviously, it means "Your own yoyo".
2. Re:YoY?!? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:50 · Score: 0
  
  Learn some business ?
3. Re:YoY?!? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 05:53 · Score: 0
  
  An expression of disbelief or surpise
  As in, "Oh yoy" (Yiddish for "My cat could type better than your cat").
4. Re:YoY?!? by kit_triforce · 2017-06-02 04:47 · Score: 1
  
  I'm a tech in the education sector with a background in science (geology). I specialize in large format graphics and on-the-ground tech support for an implant print shop. I have no need to learn business at this time. Woop woop woop!
Re: The 1% by TFlan91 · 2017-06-01 04:20 · Score: 1

Ohh, you and your charset are so edgy.
Some one need to explain the word "earning" to Ap by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:26 · Score: 0

It NOT the same as your GROSS money in. It is the NET. Have Apple really taken the developers costs into account?
And Apple earned $30 billion by Tony+Isaac · 2017-06-01 04:37 · Score: 1

Since Apple takes 30% from AppStore sales.
1. Re:And Apple earned $30 billion by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:56 · Score: 0
  
  $21 billion - math is hard.
2. Re:And Apple earned $30 billion by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:59 · Score: 0
  
  Forgive me - I see where the $30 comes from.
3. Re:And Apple earned $30 billion by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 06:26 · Score: 0
  
  you were right. math is hard.
  there might be an app for that.
It's also what destroyed Apple by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:43 · Score: 0

They used to be an amazing platform to which creative people wanted to contribute. Now, they're just a walled-garden, trapping people inside with hungry codemonkey hacks.
1. Re: It's also what destroyed Apple by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 05:38 · Score: 0
  
  We talking about Apple or RIM?
2. Re: It's also what destroyed Apple by paulej72 · 2017-06-01 08:27 · Score: 1
  
  We talking about Apple or RIM?
  Yes
ransomware by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:47 · Score: 0

They have a YouTube app that encrypts your files and charges you to get them back. It's ransomeware from the app store.
So much money given to Apple by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 04:56 · Score: 0

And yet there are billions of starving people in the world. Apple needs to give its fair share back to the people.
"People everywhere love apps..." by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 05:21 · Score: 0

...because they need to download apps to get basic functionality that isn't supported at the OS level. Like file management. An iPhone can connect to the internet. An iPhone can connect to a computer. But an iPhone can't take a file from a computer and get it out to the internet (and no, the iCloud doesn't count). At least, not without third-party apps. I mean, just look at what it does to photos. Sure, you can sync photos from your computer to your phone. It's not an ideal process, but it can be done. Except the photo gets modified in the process. And the filename gets stripped off. So you can't really sync photos from your computer to your phone. And so you need apps just to move files around without Apple mangling them. At least most of them are free. As for that $70 billion, that's a heck of a lot of money to extract from gambling addicts and kids who don't understand how money works. Not exactly something I would be bragging about.
How many billions for the IRS????? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 05:49 · Score: 0

If App Store earnings for developers exceeds $70 billion, there
should be many billions in tax money that the IRS is tracking.
So, exactly how does this get reported to the IRS?
And exactly how much tax revenue is derived from the App Store.
Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer!
1. Re: How many billions for the IRS????? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 06:43 · Score: 0
  
  Not every app dev is in the usa, just sayin...
2. Re: How many billions for the IRS????? by gnasher719 · 2017-06-01 06:57 · Score: 1
  
  Apple deducts VAT; in the USA sales tax is added to what the customer pays. That money goes straight to various tax offices in the world. The rest goes to the companies. And Apple verifies you have a company. The companies book it as income, deduct their expenses, and pay their taxes. What did you think how this works?
Re: This is why Blackberry lost the smartphone war by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 06:37 · Score: 0

I would say play store is the mass market.
Less than Apple makes in 6 months by jasonharrop · 2017-06-01 09:37 · Score: 1

Apple's just announced quarterly revenue $52.9 billion.mmMostly from the iPhone. So in less than 6 months, Apple's revenue exceeds their all time payments to developers for the software which makes the iPhone attractive in the first place. Amazing.
Year Over Year by dohzer · 2017-06-01 10:52 · Score: 1

Nuf Sed.
More spin to hide the nosedive by lucm · 2017-06-01 11:17 · Score: 2

They used to say: Apple sells the most smartphones. Then it was: Apple users spend the most time per session. Then it was: Apple makes the most money per phone. Now they use app store numbers to claim success. What's next? Number of iPhones seen at Starbucks?

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lucm, indeed.
1. Re:More spin to hide the nosedive by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 23:57 · Score: 0
  
  Apple still is the most profitable smartphone manufacturer in the world.
2. Re:More spin to hide the nosedive by lucm · 2017-06-02 13:40 · Score: 1
  
  Wrong. Samsung is more profitable than Apple, even if they don't make a $400 profit per phone.
  Next time you buy an iPhone, just think of that. 2/3 of the price tag goes straight in Apple's huge pile of cash, for no reason other than you accepting to be separated from your money. This whole process is called a wealth transfer from the idiots to the wealthy.
  
  --
  lucm, indeed.
3. Re:More spin to hide the nosedive by zioncat · 2017-06-04 22:10 · Score: 1
  
  Wrong. Samsung is more profitable than Apple, even if they don't make a $400 profit per phone.
  From Yonhap News dated 2017/06/04:
  
  According to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics took up 12.9 percent of the combined operating profit posted by global players by posting US$1.57 billion in earnings over the January-March period, down 21.9 percent from a year earlier.
  
  Samsung's archrival Apple Inc., on the other hand, posted an operating profit of $10.1 billion over the cited period, accounting for a whopping 83.4 percent of the global industry, a gain from 79.8 percent posted last year.
4. Re:More spin to hide the nosedive by lucm · 2017-06-05 11:29 · Score: 1
  
  That's because you do some cherry picking to make Apple look good.
  Samsung actually makes a profit of around 100 billions per year. Apple makes a profit of a bit under 80 billions. Yes, Apple makes more per iPhone because they absurdly overcharge their customers, but they still make a lot less money than Samsung.
  Now go ahead, and spin those numbers by made-up market segments to put Apple on the first place. That's what they've been doing for over 5 years now, although their market share keeps shrinking quarter after quarter, even though the smartphone market as a whole keeps growing.
  
  --
  lucm, indeed.
5. Re:More spin to hide the nosedive by null+etc. · 2017-06-05 15:29 · Score: 1
  
  Samsung actually makes a profit of around 100 billions per year.
  
  What are you smoking, and where can I get some?
  Samsung had a 2016 operating profit of $26 billion USD. If you don't believe me, visit Samsung's newsroom website.
  https://news.samsung.com/globa...
YoY? by sheramil · 2017-06-01 13:27 · Score: 1

"YoY"? I understand they are happy with the result, but that is one of the strangest exclamations of joy I've ever heard, and I used to watch Ren and Stimpy. YoY!
(I know, it means "year over year", but I had to look it up.)
so apple got what? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-06-01 13:34 · Score: 0

1 trillion?
Advertising revenue is missing here by seoras · 2017-06-01 13:34 · Score: 1

I write and publish Apps. A good chunk of the money I make on iOS & iTunes doesn't come from Apple but from advertisers like Google AdMob, Facebook Audience Network etc.
I'd love to know what chunk of the big app revenue pie is advertising revenue and not just in-app purchases?
Apple is missing from this market since it pulled out, and killed off iAds, a year ago.
It's important to remember, if you are thinking of getting into writing and publishing apps, that asking for app payments isn't the only, or main, means of monetising your work.