Apple: $70 Billion Paid to App Developers to Date

Apple, ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference next week, announced that it has paid out more than $70 billion to app developers since 2008.

That indicates that Apple has raked in some $30 billion in revenue over that time period, given that it typically takes a 30% cut of App Store transactions. According to the tech giant, in the past 12 months alone downloads have increased over 70%.

Apple cited recent App Store hits like Pokémon Go and Super Mario Run as fueling its growth, as well as other “standout launches” such as CancerAid, Space by THIX, Zones for Training with Exercise Intensity, Vanido, Ace Tennis and Havenly.

Apple also said the App Store’s active paid subscriptions are up 58% year over year, citing services such as Netflix, Hulu, food network Tastemade, and photo editing apps like Over and Enlight. According to the company, it generated $2.7 billion in subscription fees for 2016, up 74% versus a year earlier.

Under the terms of subscriptions purchased through the App Store, after 12 months, the fee that Apple charges drops to 15%. The App Store now offers subscriptions through more than 20,000 apps after subscriptions became available across all 25 app categories in the fall of 2016.

Apple’s booming App Store biz highlights the increasing importance of services revenue to the company. While services accounted for 13% of total revenue over the last 12 months, it has become Apple’s fastest-growing segment. For the first quarter of calendar year 2017, its content business represented nearly $8 billion in revenue, roughly as much as 21st Century Fox and more than NBCUniversal (excluding theme parks).

Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing, called the $70 billion figure “simply mind-blowing.”

“We are amazed at all of the great new apps our developers create and can’t wait to see them again next week at our Worldwide Developers Conference,” he said in a statement.

The two top-grossing App Store categories are gaming and entertainment, Apple said. Lifestyle and health and fitness apps have experienced over 70% growth in the past year, while the photo and video category has grown nearly 90% over that time frame.

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