Apple Celebrates Successful Year with Record-Breaking App Store Sales, Strong Job Creation

[firewood]

Slamming Apple employees for one of the worst iOS rollouts in its history...

Really? What software with as many lines of code have you rolled out with fewer bugs? If you know how to develop such complicated products with fewer flaws, or know how to hire people to do it for you, why aren't you richer than Zuckerberg and Musk combined?

Customers are waiting...

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

#bendgate

1 out of 1 M iPhones had this issue at launch. I haven't heard about it since.

ample security exploits

As I recall, the only real vulnerabilities came from *nix, and AFAAK, these vulnerabilities were never exploited. Not saying that Apple did nothing wrong, but you're making too big of a deal out of it.

the celebrity nude photo leaks

Celebrities set up lousy passwords and didn't use 2 factor authorization. You could blame Apple for allowing lousy passwords and not requiring 2 factor authorization, but I'd be willing to bet you probably use a lousy password too, as do most other people. If you were a celebrity, you'd probably be hacked.

Apple's quality has degraded to near 1990's Microsoft levels over the last few years.

Remember that software that Apple shipped and ran on zero devices? Me neither. Microsoft shipped Windows with a copy of Lion King that ran on precisely zero machines. So Apple is still doing better than 1990's Microsoft.

 

[kwrzesien]

Just imagine how much they might have sold if the base phones had enough storage! Almost everyone I know with 16GB has stopped buying most apps (especially large ones) and any music/tv/movie content due to a lack of storage. Especially with the every-growing size of the OS and free space needed for automatic updates, not to mention the perpetual creep of personal photos and videos made on the phone.

It's 2015, when is 32GB going to be the base size for the flagship phone? Fine, keep 16GB for the previous year models (or 5c/6c). But the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus should be 32/64/128 (for +0/+50/+150) or frankly just 32/128 (for +0/+100).

 

[firewood]

but what about the food producers, oil producers and office supply producers? apple wouldnt exist without those yet none of them would claim to have created all of jobs at apple.

its an ecosystem and apple has no superior claim than the devs or customers.

Yes they all contribute to the economy. But the value of any one company is in proportion to how much it would be missed. If there was no Texaco station on the corner, I fill up the car at Shell. If there was no Apple and Google, I would still be developing mobile apps for PalmOS? That would be rich... not.

 

[dugbug]

Slamming Apple employees for one of the worst iOS rollouts in its history, #bendgate, ample security exploits, the celebrity nude photo leaks, iCloud is STILL not patched, and a slew of other headaches and things that just should not happen when one of the highest profit companies goes on about how great their sales are for a year.

It's great to make all that money, now its time to invest in making Apple better than the average Asian OEM manufacture in terms of product quality and security.

Apple's quality has degraded to near 1990's Microsoft levels over the last few years.

this post is over-the-top alarmist. Can we tone the hyperbole down around here.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

But if it wasn't for Apple building these products there would be no customers or anything to buy.

... No Apple device customers, obviously. Surely people would be buying products and services de jure from other companies if Apple didn't exist. Apple customers and their money do not live in a vacuum. It is a bit arrogant for Apple to take claim for successful 3rd party developers, especially when many of them have cross platform apps. It's like Home Depot taking credit for any home built with products from its stores.

 

[blco02]

Another evil corporation creating jobs and wealth.

Good job Apple!

 

[MH01]

Don't be ridiculous. There would be no app dev jobs without Apple. In fact, I would go so far as to say that there would be no android dev jobs without Apple because there would be NO android without the iPhone.

What a stupid comment. Though I forget , unless Apple does something, for some people it does not exist. I guess there was no phones prior to the iPhone, so when you start high school? Take an ancient history tech course you might be amazed when where app comes from.....

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1 out of 1 M iPhones had this issue at launch. I haven't heard about it since.

Every single phone has the issue, as the issue is down to the user. If you sit on a thin aluminium phone, it will bend, bit of common sense.

 

[firewood]

Think of the more jobs that could be created if Apple weren’t hoarding its money overseas in order to not pay taxes.

Think of all the worthless (to me) added government jobs and boondoggle projects would be pork-barreled with the extra taxes Apple would pay bringing that cash (made overseas) into the U.S.

 

[Tanegashima]

A bit rich to claim to have created the Developer jobs related to Apps: Developer works, develops an App, posts it to Apple's stores, gives Apple part of proceeds. Does Apple take any risks in this "hire"? Does Apple supply benefits to these jobs?

When I left neighborhood kids remove snow from my driveway, I am not boasting job creation. I assume CragList doesn't go around and claim job creation from exchanges on their boards?

For those who still think like that...

http://mobilesyrup.com/2015/01/05/m...ays-the-android-version-has-a-95-piracy-rate/

Have a nice fact check.

 

[firewood]

Don't be ridiculous. There would be no app dev jobs without Apple. In fact, I would go so far as to say that there would be no android dev jobs without Apple because there would be NO android without the iPhone.

Oh, there probably would be Android dev jobs without Apple. But they would look more like PalmOS, Symbian and Blackberry app dev jobs. And maybe be about as profitable. So many Billions in app revenue? Probably not.

 

[iososx]

Excellent point . Happy for apple to quote how many people "they" hired.

They're just pandering to their political pals in Washington.

 

[pubwvj]

iTunes/Apple Store sales could be even greater if Apple offered better legacy support so that older hardware and software continued to operate under the new iOS/MacOS. There's hundreds of millions of Macs and iOS devices out there which Apple, developers and media companies are losing sales on because they can't run the new OSs and others that get held back to older OSs because Apple abandoned the software by making the new OSs incompatible.

Legacy Support = Money in the Bank.

 

[regular]

Valid points but I am sure selling new devices every year = more money in the bank than the cut they get from apps.

iTunes/Apple Store sales could be even greater if Apple offered better legacy support so that older hardware and software continued to operate under the new iOS/MacOS. There's hundreds of millions of Macs and iOS devices out there which Apple, developers and media companies are losing sales on because they can't run the new OSs and others that get held back to older OSs because Apple abandoned the software by making the new OSs incompatible.

Legacy Support = Money in the Bank.

 

[Poisonivy326]

Don't be ridiculous. There would be no app dev jobs without Apple. In fact, I would go so far as to say that there would be no android dev jobs without Apple because there would be NO android without the iPhone.

Are you kidding me? I think back in the stone age app developers would have been called "software developers."

 

[firewood]

iTunes/Apple Store sales could be even greater if Apple offered better legacy support so that older hardware and software continued to operate under the new iOS/MacOS. There's hundreds of millions of Macs and iOS devices out there which Apple, developers and media companies are losing sales on because they can't run the new OSs and others that get held back to older OSs because Apple abandoned the software by making the new OSs incompatible.

Legacy Support = Money in the Bank.

Money perhaps, but very very little. Developers who still support those old devices (iPhone 4 and earlier) and look at their app analytics see far smaller sales to customers with older devices. Owners who don't upgrade spend less money on apps.

At some point, it's not worth a small app developer's time to tweak sales by just a few percent. With the same amount of work, they can usually make more revenue by working on completely new features for the latest devices.

Apple probably makes the same trade-off.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

Health kit and HomeKit? You mean those two things that don't do a whole lot of anything yet?

work with my pedometer app, albeit being totally inaccurate, it regualrly claims i regularly walk 11 kilometers / day.

 

[Black Magic]

Just imagine how much they might have sold if the base phones had enough storage! Almost everyone I know with 16GB has stopped buying most apps (especially large ones) and any music/tv/movie content due to a lack of storage. Especially with the every-growing size of the OS and free space needed for automatic updates, not to mention the perpetual creep of personal photos and videos made on the phone.

It's 2015, when is 32GB going to be the base size for the flagship phone? Fine, keep 16GB for the previous year models (or 5c/6c). But the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus should be 32/64/128 (for +0/+50/+150) or frankly just 32/128 (for +0/+100).

Well if a person can't afford phones with larger storage options, which doesn't make sense these days with CONTRACT and DEVICE PAYMENT PLANS which negate the upfront cost significantly, then they at least should educate themselves on how to free up space. You know, basic things like:

1. Using iTunes to back up photos to your MAC or PC and not use your phone to as a SAN.

2. Create playlist on iTunes and only sync the music you want to listen too versus trying to sync entire albums of crap you rarely listen too.

3. Look at options like Spotify to negate the need of keeping music stored on the phone.

4. Only install Apps you use and need.

5. Install iOS Updates via iTunes and not OTA.


Simple steps like these would alleviate many problems.

 

[2bikes]

Well...
From the fine print:
"iOS ecosystem jobs estimate based on research by Dr. Michael Mandel and Judith Scherer of South Mountain Economics, “Geography of the App Economy,” September 2012, as well as research from VisionMobile’s “The European App Economy,” July 2014, and “European App Economy,” September 2013."
Also, it looks like App developers made up 627k of this #, not all of it. Actually that # isn't just devs either, technically it is "Jobs attributable to the iOS ecosystem".

Oh the fine print. I need to pay more attention to that.

 

[numlock]

Yes they all contribute to the economy. But the value of any one company is in proportion to how much it would be missed. If there was no Texaco station on the corner, I fill up the car at Shell. If there was no Apple and Google, I would still be developing mobile apps for PalmOS? That would be rich... not.

could be palmos could be something else.

or you would be developing for the web or desktop etc

these are nice statements that impress people that digest anything. there are probably tens of billions of jobs in the world if all these "created jobs" were added up

Don't be ridiculous. There would be no app dev jobs without Apple. In fact, I would go so far as to say that there would be no android dev jobs without Apple because there would be NO android without the iPhone.

seriously?

 

[firewood]

Hmmm... 10 Billion dollars in app revenue divided by 627k is only about $16k/annum. That's around or below minimum wage in most U.S. states. Maybe that job number includes "trickle down" from developers who make a lot more, but spend their app income at business that use the revenue to hire/pay more gardeners, grocery baggers, fast foot clerks, etc.

Or maybe the number includes a lot of part-time hobbyists who would love to put a few extra grand into their bank account, or just buy a new MacBook, strictly from app revenue over and above the $99/annum fee.

All I know is that, as a mobile app developer with over 18 years of experience, there are vastly more people working on iOS app stuff than there ever were working on PalmOS, Magic Cap or Newton apps. Not only coders, but UX designers, artists, composers, makers, marketing execs, back-end IT support, and etc.

 

[richardsonrs]

Some of the comments here are borderline insanity. Apple supports these jobs but doesn't create them any more than Home Depot creates construction jobs. Apple supplies a product that people pay for to use in making something for other people to use. Apple doesn't pay people to make apps. People pay Apple to let them make apps. That isn't creating jobs. That's called being a middle man.

And then there are the crazies who think app dev started when the iPhone launched. What is wrong with you people?? Even if Apple hadn't made the iPhone someone else would have, or similar, touchscreens have been around for a loooong time.

This is a BS chest pounding tweet.

 

[i.mac]

Think of the more jobs that could be created if Apple weren’t hoarding its money overseas in order to not pay taxes.

But what would the U.S. do with these taxes?

 

[FieldingMellish]

These are jobs that Jobs built.

 

[TallManNY]

Just imagine how much they might have sold if the base phones had enough storage! Almost everyone I know with 16GB has stopped buying most apps (especially large ones) and any music/tv/movie content due to a lack of storage. Especially with the every-growing size of the OS and free space needed for automatic updates, not to mention the perpetual creep of personal photos and videos made on the phone.

It's 2015, when is 32GB going to be the base size for the flagship phone? Fine, keep 16GB for the previous year models (or 5c/6c). But the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus should be 32/64/128 (for +0/+50/+150) or frankly just 32/128 (for +0/+100).

If you download any Apps, then you should know not to buy the 16GB version. And the person selling you the phone should take five seconds to explain this to you. 16GB is for folks who do not download apps. There are and will always be lots of those people. It isn't that big a deal. I've bought the 32gb version of iPhone 4, 5 and iPad mini. In each case it was plenty of storage. Only the iPad Mini is now stuffed and requires deletion of older Apps. My iPhone 6 with 64 currently seems like unlimited space for all intents and purposes at this point.

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Hmmm... 10 Billion dollars in app revenue divided by 627k is only about $16k/annum. That's around or below minimum wage in most U.S. states. Maybe that job number includes "trickle down" from developers who make a lot more, but spend their app income at business that use the revenue to hire/pay more gardeners, grocery baggers, fast foot clerks, etc.

Or maybe the number includes a lot of part-time hobbyists who would love to put a few extra grand into their bank account, or just buy a new MacBook, strictly from app revenue over and above the $99/annum fee.

All I know is that, as a mobile app developer with over 18 years of experience, there are vastly more people working on iOS app stuff than there ever were working on PalmOS, Magic Cap or Newton apps. Not only coders, but UX designers, artists, composers, makers, marketing execs, back-end IT support, and etc.

Right. But isn't one of the issues that Apps aren't making enough revenue for the developers? The consumer doesn't seem to want to pay for Apps and so there seem to be lots of developers chasing too few dollars.

One thing though, the Apple numbers do not include ad revenue. There are many free apps that make their money out of collecting your personal information. In fact that might be where most of the money is at this stage. Facebook is earning zero revenue through the App store sales, but it certainly seems to be earning hundreds of millions of dollars through iOS users.