Apple Reaches 45B App Downloads With $9B Paid to Developers

70 million apps downloaded a day is what I'm all like at.

Damn that's a lot of apps!

However, the bulk of that over $1billion per quarter is paid out to a very small percentage of app developers. The vast majority of app developers make a little coffee/beer money or less directly from the App Store. Consulting for companies that can throw money away is the only real income opportunity these days for most.

What happened to the app contests?? Haven't seen those in a while.

firewood said:

However, the bulk of that over $1billion per quarter is paid out to a very small percentage of app developers. The vast majority of app developers make a little coffee/beer money or less directly from the App Store. Consulting for companies that can throw money away is the only real income opportunity these days for most.

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how would you like that to be changed?

tann said:

70 million apps downloaded a day is what I'm all like at.

Damn that's a lot of apps!

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Or 800 per second

Those figures are just insane aren't they? - almost impossible to get your head round!

firewood said:

However, the bulk of that over $1billion per quarter is paid out to a very small percentage of app developers. The vast majority of app developers make a little coffee/beer money or less directly from the App Store. Consulting for companies that can throw money away is the only real income opportunity these days for most.

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Many small developers have made huge amounts of money thanks to the App Store, and many continue to do so. Just because you make a app and submit it does not mean you should be raking in cash instantly. Big companies start small.

numlock said:

how would you like that to be changed?

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Personally, as an app developer, I would like to spend more time creating cool new and unique apps, and less time and money on marketing and PR efforts to keep older apps up the charts. But there's very little (near zero?) visibility for all but a tiny number of new interesting apps these days.

45 billion apps downloaded with $9 billion to developers. That's an average of 20¢ per download.

acorntoy said:

Many small developers have made huge amounts of money thanks to the App Store, and many continue to do so. Just because you make a app and submit it does not mean you should be raking in cash instantly. Big companies start small.

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True, alot of indie devs like me made huge cash. Not with my first few apps of course but subsequent apps improved in terms of quality and downloads.

covering 90 percent of the world's population.

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what a reach...!

MacRumors said:

There are now 850,000 iOS apps in total, with 350,000 of those being iPad-only apps.

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Wait a minute, iPad-only? Not including universal apps that run on iPhone and iPad (not in the iPhone 2X emulation, but actually designed for iPad)?

HiRez said:

Wait a minute, iPad-only? Not including universal apps that run on iPhone and iPad (not in the iPhone 2X emulation, but actually designed for iPad)?

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Quite right! Apps only designed for iPad.

firewood said:

However, the bulk of that over $1billion per quarter is paid out to a very small percentage of app developers. The vast majority of app developers make a little coffee/beer money or less directly from the App Store. Consulting for companies that can throw money away is the only real income opportunity these days for most.

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The onus is on the imagination and ideas that eventually implement an application which drives sales. It's up to the App Developers to create markets people will want and how it fits into their various aspects of entertainment, productivity, knowledge, etc.

I read these numbers all the time. I see Apple sits on their butt and still makes $. I wonder how Google fares with their Android ecosystem? Samsung fans will always be Samsung fans, probably because they hardly buy anything from Playstore.
Then there are movies that are bought thru iTunes. Man, Apple is richer than The Treasury.

Does anyone know if theres a new apple tv coming out? I want to buy an apple tv but i dont want to buy it and than new apple tv comes out on september 2013

tdtran1025 said:

I read these numbers all the time. I see Apple sits on their butt and still makes $. I wonder how Google fares with their Android ecosystem? Samsung fans will always be Samsung fans, probably because they hardly buy anything from Playstore.
Then there are movies that are bought thru iTunes. Man, Apple is richer than The Treasury.

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What? If you are referring to Galaxy users they all use G Play, since Galaxy uses Android.

I am really surprised that people who read MacRumors are questioning whether the App Store is good for small developers. Do you read this news feed at all? Yesterday they ran an article on how Wavii managed to sell itself for $30 million and you're honestly arguing that the App Store (iOS or Mac) isn't a real tool for developers?

I buy my software in one of three ways: when I know of a well known piece of software I specifically need for something, often made by a large company; when I see something great on the App Store that is really novel and works; when a super discount bundle comes up on the web and I want one thing in it and get nine other apps I will try out but probably not use. Of these methods, the first two I would be willing to pay top dollar for an app which means lots of money for the developer, the last I will pay a bit but generally not a lot and half of that money will go to the bundler or (more often than not) Parallels or vWare, leaving very little to be shared between all the small developers in the bundle.

In short, the App Store is a really great platform for small developers because they are the ones who need the exposure; big firms have a name for themselves and people come to them, small firms don't and this is a great way to get business.

Fairly certain 0.00001% of the developers made 99% of that 9B.

Wow!

I wonder if that figure also includes in-app advertising revenue?

Compile 'em all said:

Fairly certain 0.00001% of the developers made 99% of that 9B.

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Correct - it is a small percentage of developers that actually make money, the majority don't. I think this is a very well proven fact. Those companies that sell for 30 million are extremely few and far between - referencing a post above.

If App discovery was easier then maybe developers would make more money?

You can find plenty of articles backing this up via Google.

And people complain about the 30% cut.

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Adam1988 said:

Does anyone know if theres a new apple tv coming out? I want to buy an apple tv but i dont want to buy it and than new apple tv comes out on september 2013

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Buy it if you want it because there is always something new coming around the corner.

Apple products also retain their value well, so just sell the old one.

mdriftmeyer said:

The onus is on the imagination and ideas that eventually implement an application which drives sales.

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That used to be true. But, these days, marketing, advertising, social PR and having an established brand seem to be more important in driving app sales.

thepowerofnone said:

I am really surprised that people who read MacRumors are questioning whether the App Store is good for small developers. Do you read this news feed at all? Yesterday they ran an article on how Wavii managed to sell itself for $30 million and you're honestly arguing that the App Store (iOS or Mac) isn't a real tool for developers?

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And there was also a recent news reports that someone won well over $30 million in some state lotto. But that doesn't mean the lottery is a "real tool for developers". The lottery is often said to be a tax on people who aren't good at math (statistics and probability). Only a microscopic percentage of the several 100 thousand iOS developers do anywhere near as well as Wavii. Maybe with slightly better odds than playing the lotto (but maybe not given the high "ticket" cost to play). Certainly not good enough odds for a business plan unless you are a professional gambler. Not many people are. Thus, the App store is really terrible for most small developers.

Stella said:

Correct - it is a small percentage of developers that actually make money, the majority don't. I think this is a very well proven fact. Those companies that sell for 30 million are extremely few and far between - referencing a post above.

If App discovery was easier then maybe developers would make more money?

You can find plenty of articles backing this up via Google.

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Apple have been continually tweaking their search engine for the past year and as a result keyword rankings been effecting a lot of devs, (most bad). It seems now apple favors big companies and are trying to push out of the crapps out of the store. The change in ios 6 App Store was not good as well. Showing apps one at a time when scrolling thru instead of listing 20 per page means that apps ranked at the top of a keyword search have greater power of being downloaded.

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phillipduran said:

And people complain about the 30% cut.

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Buy it if you want it because there is always something new coming around the corner.

Apple products also retain their value well, so just sell the old one.

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Personally I don't care about the cut, what I care is apple just straight out screwing indie devs with their AppStore changes...

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darijoe said:

45 billion apps downloaded with $9 billion to developers. That's an average of 20¢ per download.

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Also external ad networks that pay us too. I make 10 times more with ad networks paying me than apple. And apple makes 10 times more than google play store and google play apps make. 10 more than what I make on amazon store

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firewood said:

That used to be true. But, these days, marketing, advertising, social PR and having an established brand seem to be more important in driving app sales.



And there was also a recent news reports that someone won well over $30 million in some state lotto. But that doesn't mean the lottery is a "real tool for developers". The lottery is often said to be a tax on people who aren't good at math (statistics and probability). Only a microscopic percentage of the several 100 thousand iOS developers do anywhere near as well as Wavii. Maybe with slightly better odds than playing the lotto (but maybe not given the high "ticket" cost to play). Certainly not good enough odds for a business plan unless you are a professional gambler. Not many people are. Thus, the App store is really terrible for most small developers.

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Everything is a gamble, the company you work for today may be gone tomorrow, or you may be fired, its the same deal, when I went into this business there was nothing to lose. I quit my job because I was like "meh it's only a 50k salary job I could obtain it again if I fail." 3 years later I make 4 times more than what that job offers me despite the AppStore changes and its been great. I wake up when I feel like it, I work when I feel like it, don't need to care what day it is or have those Sunday nights where I stress about work tomorrow and I just love the feeling of waking up and think to myself "oh yeah I made $200 while sleeping and had to do nothing!"

thepowerofnone said:

I am really surprised that people who read MacRumors are questioning whether the App Store is good for small developers. Do you read this news feed at all? Yesterday they ran an article on how Wavii managed to sell itself for $30 million and you're honestly arguing that the App Store (iOS or Mac) isn't a real tool for developers?

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Do the math.

That's an average net of $10,588 per app.
Average. Over how many years?
Median net is far less than that, with (as others keep noting) most of the money going into a very few pockets.
At that rate, "good for small developers" means the model works only, with exceptions of course, for hobbyists not looking for a big payoff.
$10k/app is not viable.

A few apps will hit it big. Most won't make enough to cover lunches during development.