App Store Developers Have Earned $320 Billion To Date, Says Apple (techcrunch.com) 43
Apple today shared an update on its subscription businesses and global App Store, noting that the tech company has now paid out a record $320 billion to app developers since 2008 -- a number that reflects the revenue apps have generated, minus Apple's commission. From a report: In addition, the tech giant said it now has more than 900 million paid subscriptions across Apple services, with subscriptions on the App Store driving a "significant" part of that figure. [...] The company noted that more than 650 million visitors from 175 regions worldwide visit the App Store every week and it's still delivering new experiences. Among the highlights was the launch of Apex Legends on mobile earlier this year, and the growing popularity of a new form of social networking with BeReal, Apple's "app of the year."
Apple's cut being 48 billion (Score:3, Informative)
Nice!
Small wonder that they don't want to share.
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its growth is slowing down now, which is why they advertise that figure, i guess. the actual yearly figures are quite obscure.
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and btw, their cut is probably a lot more than 48bill.
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doesn't seem right apple takes 30%
so developers earned = 0.7 * total
=> 320 = 0.7 * total
=> total = 320/0.7
=> total = 457 billion (3sf)
so apple earned 30% of that so 0.3 * 457 = 137 billion
That doesn't include subscription to be a developer of course, or money paid to apple for hardware to develop.
Also its a useless number, common in the media, because how many developers are there? if there is say a million then its 320,000,000,000 / 1,000,000 / 14 then its $2,285 per developer per year hardly an
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Sorry I didn't know that its rate was dropped to 15% for small apps, however for most of that period it was 30%,
Even using the smaller 15% rate for everything its still wrong its still 56billion.
While from here https://nextgrowthlabs.com/key... [nextgrowthlabs.com] 98% of apps fall in the earning under 1 million, that doesn't mean 98% of revenue does.
Even there it's better than it seems (Score:2)
Sorry I didn't know that its rate was dropped to 15% for small apps, however for most of that period it was 30%
Even then the situation is better than it seems, because of a recent class action lawsuit anyone who had apps for sale under the 30% rule (I think that was the cutoff) got a very substantial amount back - thousands to tens of thousands of dollars from the settlement.
I have a friend who has a very niche app that didn't make a lot but has been in the store a long time, he got several thousand dollars
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I don't know if its better than that, I gave the minimum if they charged everyone 15%, and back dated it to 2008 from 2020 and assumed no one charged 30% from 2020.
I don't how your friend set his expectations or how much his app made over that period, but I highly doubt that the class action suit gave the majority of apple developers from around the world the money they would of made if the fee was 15% from 2008, especially if you deduct legal costs. 2 thousand dollars over a 10 year period (I assume that s
That's the one (Score:2)
It is that lawsuit but I heard of no developer getting less than $2k, even if they were expecting under $500. That's where I am saying the estimated amount turned out to be very much lower than what people got from the pool.
I wasn't saying it equated to the missing 15% - just saying it's not as bad in the end (for U.S. developers) as Apple having taken 30% before, because some of that was given back.
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but you said:
I don't know if its better than that, I gave the minimum if they charged everyone 15%, and back dated it to 2008 from 2020 and assumed no one charged 30% from 2020.
Even then the situation is better than it seems
I assumed you that meant it was better than the example that I gave of 15%, maybe I misunderstood.
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Yeah, not better than the example you gave, just not the full 30% for all that time after the payment is factored in.
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I would be happy to do my own infrastructure- can do it much cheaper than that. Alas, not allowed.
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I have a couple of apps on the app store and the vast majority of sales are from searches on the app store. Yeah, you can do your own infrastructure for cheaper probably, but then spend a shitload of money on advertising to get anywhere near the sales.
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I would be happy to do my own infrastructure- can do it much cheaper than that. Alas, not allowed.
You can't.
Unless you sell 10 apps per year for 2500 each.
You would not even be able to cover the fees to the credit card company - and a single refund would cost you the price of 25 sales.
People who think they can make it cheaper neither value their own time nor have any idea for what the 15% "apple fee" is used/needed.
Re: Apple's cut being 48 billion (Score:1)
Interesting considering epic charges 12% commission, and their infrastructure costs have to be higher given their content is much larger (on the order of 10-50GB per game) and they're serving to customers on home broadband connections rather than mostly 4g customers.
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Sorry, are you comparing the Apple app store to the Epic store that is tied with that shit launcher thing they try to stuff down your throat? I mean Epic is giving away games and they still can't get enough traction for good reason! Of course they are trying to undercut everyone to get customers! They've been trying desperately for quite a while now!
Re: Apple's cut being 48 billion (Score:2)
Which has what to do with my question?
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You say that like you believe that they're doing developers a favor and that their 30% cut is fair...
They're not, and it's not.
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Apple was spending $30 million per month on infrastructure in March 2019. (That's for everything, not just their app store.)
Let's assume that those costs have remained flat from 2008 to now. (That's going to be too low for later figures, but much too high for earlier figures. So it's more likely our estimate will be too high.) Over that time, Apple would have spent $5.4 billion on infrastructure.
That $5.4 billion doesn't account for all their costs, however. Backblaze, who provide cloud storage only, claim
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Apples cost of storing delivering goods are completely different than Walmart's. Walmart has to hire people some to stock shelves, run their website, ship items to the store, pay for building to store physical items in.
The storage and shipping cost of an app are minimal per item, and unless the are doing something incredibly wrong.
Also Apple is charging a 43% markup if they charge 30%, of the price since if I want to make $1 on a product I need to charge $1.43 i.e $1.43 * 0.7 = $1.00
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math is hard
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Meanwhile... (Score:1)
...Apple becomes one of the first companies on the planet to be worth a trillion dollars.
Stop bragging, Apple. It's not doing you any favors in your bullshit 30% tax argument.
No. In fact I don't give a shit what your shareholders say.
So for doing absolutely nothing... (Score:1)
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So for doing absolutely nothing...
Apple has managed to extort > $100B with their walled garden racket!
That $320 billion dollars paid out was $0 before creating the appstore.
Making an amount over zero isn't "absolutely nothing".
Making $0 is absolutely nothing, which is what these people made from smartphone apps before apple "did nothing" and made the appstore.
If you're upset because you feel apple "takes a cut" of your money, perhaps you should set your apps price to the amount you want PLUS what apple wants. Then you'll actually get what you want in whole.
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That $320 billion dollars paid out was $0 before creating the appstore.
Oh, get real.
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No it wasn't those people could if done something else, with their time. To compare if apple did something useful you would have to measure the benefit to society of the which money is not necessarily a useful gauge.
For example crypto has made people billions as well yet in my opinion brought nothing of value to the world.
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So for doing absolutely nothing... Apple has managed to extort > $100B with their walled garden racket!
That $320 billion dollars paid out was $0 before creating the appstore.
Oh, my gosh! I had no idea that nobody wrote or made money on software before Apple created the iOS App Store. And to think how many apps I used before that. I guess they must have all been figments of my imagination.
Get real. Apple created a device, then locked it down so nobody could write software for it without their permission. The iPhone and its capabilities created revenue. The iOS App Store does not create revenue; it siphons revenue away from software developers. It is, in effect, little mor
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and in general, the iOS platform would have provided a richer, better experience overall.
Everyone - except you, of course - doubts that.
I have no real opinion ab out the app store. It is as it is. Capitalizm and such.
However nearly every argument *against* it or in that context *against bad evil Apple* is just nonsense, just like your rant is.
FI: who the funk knows how the reviews would be if there would be competing app stores? In one you get a bad review because you were late in refunding one, in the othe
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It's not extortion, it's a protection racket. Don't forget that was one of their exact arguments to the courts in the US, that they provide "security" through the app store and the %30 fee protects developers from themselves. It also serves gambling ads to gambling addicts, and other addictive services to matching addicts.
The rich and powerful and no qualms about their reasons. They're just a bunch of blowhards. Either you comply or find an alternative. Unfortunately if you want to target the iOS platform t
I find it hilarious (Score:2)
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That they're pulling in somewhere between 45 billion and 90 billion on this ecosystem
If Apple keeps 30% and they've paid out 320 Billion to app developers then their cut is over 137 Billion.
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You can *apply* with apple as a small business (less than 1 million USD/year revenue) then they might say you're a small business and only charge you 15%. You must apply, otherwise it is 30%. Then there's $99/year developer fee (plus tax).
This is the only reason why I put a 'Donate' button in my free apps- so I don't have to pay the annual fee myself. And yes, it's a hide and seek game getting that link pass the App Reviewers.
Why not just join? (Score:2)
it's a hide and seek game getting that link pass the App Reviewers.
$99 is not a huge fee. Just join and you can put the donate button wherever you like, and probably increase engagement of it.
Ethically Apple is putting a lot of effort forth to keep the platform running so I feel like $99 is a fair price to pay to offer up a free app on the Apple platform.
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Ethically Apple is putting a lot of effort forth to keep the platform running so I feel like $99 is a fair price to pay to offer up a free app on the Apple platform.
Fair is a hard thing to judge, you would actually have to know exactly how much effort apple put in and how much they got as a result. Then you would have to come up with a definition of what fair is, good luck with that.
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You can not have a 'Donate' button or a link that goes to a web site that has a Donate link- App Review has/will reject it. They want you to use in-app purchase for "tip jars" and give up 15-30% of the Donation.
For Mac apps, you don't need to post to App Store (you can offer directly), but for iOS apps, there is no game other than to play by their rules.
Fortunately users have given me almost $2k, so I should be set for the next 19 years. Don't really see what I get for $99/year. Neither App Store is easy to
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Why develop free iOS apps at all? Seems like you're just enabling the abuser.
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That's why the apps are free, to avoid that bit of abuse. I'm trying to get over my Stockholm syndrome...
Developers Earn $320 Billion (Score:2)
Apple thanks the developers, like a leech thanks it's host.
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Yes, BUT... (Score:2)
Yes, they made $320 billion, but there were 300 billion developers.