Apple announced today that iOS app developers have now earned $86 billion dollars in revenue. That’s partially due to paid apps, but largely thanks to in-app purchases of game advantages and virtual in-game currencies.
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IOS App Developers
“During the week starting on Christmas Eve, a record number of customers made purchases or downloaded apps from the App Store, spending over $890 million in that seven-day period,” Apple posted today.
The almost $90 billion total that app developers have earned stretches back to July 2008, when Apple launched the App Store. But Apple paid out $26.5 billion of that sum in calendar 2017 alone.
That’s 31% of the almost decade-old App Store’s payouts in just one year.These enormous sums are actually only a portion of what app developers make — the generally 70% of revenue that comes their way when people buy apps, buy upgrades, or buy subscriptions. Advertising is a fast-growing component of mobile app revenue that Apple generally doesn’t measure … in just the United States last year, mobile app ad revenue hit $33 billion.
Global revenues should be at least double that, although iOS’s ad revenue share will be less overseas than in the U.S., as Android has significantly higher market share globally.
The week following Christmas clearly has higher revenue than other weeks: $890 million, Apple said. That compares to an average 2017 week’s revenue of $510 million. If Apple could hit that $900 million mark every week next year as it continues to add customers — and monetization opportunities — global in-app revenue for iOS apps alone could hit $46.8 billion in 2018.That’s probably unrealistic, but streaming music and streaming video apps are continuing to add customers quickly, and Apple generally gets a piece of that revenue.
