Apple App Developers Earned Over $400 Billion in Revenues

<p>Apple announced its App Store ecosystem in the U&period;S&period; facilitated &dollar;406 billion in developer billings and sales in 2024&comma; according to a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;apple&period;com&sol;newsroom&sol;pdfs&sol;2024-US-Apple-Ecosystem-Report&period;pdf" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">study<&sol;a> conducted by Professor Andrey Fradkin from Boston University Questrom School of Business and economist Dr&period; Jessica Burley from Analysis Group&period; Importantly&comma; for more than 90 percent of the billings and sales facilitated by the App Store&comma; developers did not pay any commission to Apple&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Over the last five years&comma; the size of the App Store ecosystem has nearly tripled from &dollar;142 billion in 2019 to &dollar;406 billion last year&comma; and earnings for U&period;S&period;-based developers also more than doubled&period; Small developers in particular have done exceptionally well as their earnings increased by 76 percent between 2021 and 2024&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;For more than 15 years&comma; the App Store has created incredible opportunity for app developers&comma; entrepreneurs&comma; and businesses of all sizes&comma;” said Tim Cook&comma; Apple’s CEO&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;That includes the many U&period;S&period; developers who are innovating&comma; building their businesses&comma; and finding exceptional success on the App Store&period; We’ll continue to invest in powerful tools&comma; technology&comma; and resources to help developers in the U&period;S&period; and around the world take their apps to new heights and create transformative experiences for users&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"pagebody-header"><strong>Strong Growth Across App Categories<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>ince its launch in 2008&comma; the App Store has been a great business opportunity for developers&period; The new study estimates that in 2024 the App Store ecosystem facilitated &dollar;277 billion in total billings and sales from physical goods and services&comma; &dollar;75 billion from in-app advertising&comma; and &dollar;53 billion from digital goods and services&period; Key drivers included growth in food and grocery delivery&comma; entertainment&comma; and enterprise apps&period; And the App Store continues to be a global launchpad for innovation&comma; with AI-powered apps increasingly shaping users’ daily lives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since 2019&comma; spending on physical goods and services has more than tripled&comma; while in-app spending on digital goods and services and in-app advertising more than doubled&period; In the physical goods and services category&comma; general retail spending and grocery delivery increased more than fourfold&period; By 2024&comma; spending on travel and food delivery and pickup both surpassed ride hailing&comma; with users increasingly turning to apps to book travel&comma; and restaurants increasingly offering delivery options through apps&period; U&period;S&period; developers also saw their earnings grow across top categories like productivity&comma; education&comma; and business&comma; with the games category seeing the highest earnings in 2024&period;<&NewLine;&NewLine;Apple offers developers a variety of online and in-person programs to support them in elevating their apps&comma; including Meet with Apple&period; The Apple Developer Center in Cupertino also serves as home to year-round activities&comma; and offers a supportive environment for developers to improve their apps through more than 250&comma;000 APIs including as part of frameworks such as HealthKit&comma; Metal&comma; Core ML&comma; MapKit&comma; and SwiftUI&period; Resources like Pathways and Apple Developer Forums are available to better connect developers within the community and help them easily access tools&comma; documentation&comma; and videos to create their best products on Apple’s platforms&period;&NewLine;&NewLine;Apple launched its first U&period;S&period;-based Apple Developer Academy in Detroit in 2021 in collaboration with Michigan State University to help students build foundational skills in coding&comma; AI&comma; design&comma; and marketing&period; Since its launch&comma; the academy has trained over 1&comma;200 students&period; Separately&comma; more than 900 students have also participated in the Apple Foundation Program&comma; an intensive four-week course that teaches students the fundamentals of app development at the academy and Henry Ford College&period;&NewLine;&NewLine;Apple says it supports more than 2&period;9 million jobs across the U&period;S&period; through direct employment&comma; work with U&period;S&period;-based suppliers and manufacturers&comma; and developer jobs in the thriving iOS app economy&period;&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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