Why it matters to you
As Apple pays out more for developers, you could see higher-quality apps being released in the App Store.
Apple announced today that its global developer community has earned over $70 billion since the App Store’s launch in 2008. This brings Apple to a new record-breaking number after app developers earned over $50 billion last July.
The high earnings don’t come as a shock — after all, Apple saw $240 million in App Store sales on the first day of 2017 alone.
Developers create apps — from lighthearted games to personal finance tools — for consumers in 155 different countries for the App Store. Within the last year alone, Apple said app downloads have grown over 70 percent. The growth is attributed to the release of hits like Pokémon Go, another record-breaking milestone for the App Store.
Aside from the gaming category, lifestyle along with health and fitness apps have also grown more than 70 percent, with photo and video at 90 percent growth.
“People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, in a statement.
The App Store’s active paid subscriptions also attribute to the rise in numbers since subscription business models became available to developers. With customers binge-watching on streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, active paid subscriptions are up 58 percent.
Apple is consistently hitting higher numbers with the App Store — it has since been trying to improve the overall experience for developers to keep the influx of apps rolling in. While the 70/30 revenue model still remains, with developers receiving 70 percent and Apple taking 30 percent of App Store sales, the submission process has been simplified. Developers now, for example, only have to submit one screenshot for their app across all devices such as the iPhone and the iPad rather than multiple.
As Apple’s WWDC 2017 quickly approaches, there could be more announcements on whether or not more changes will be made for developers to help the App Store continue to exceed its current metrics.