Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter this week to announce two records that the App Store toppled in the month of July 2016. In no particular order of importance, these are:
- July witnessed the highest ever monthly billings on the App Store; and
- The month also saw the highest gross payout made to developers in a month.
July was a record-breaker for the @AppStore! Highest-ever monthly billings and money paid to developers.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) August 3, 2016
Turns out, the Quarter of April-June 2016 was extremely profitable for Apple, with revenue increasing as much as 27% from the same quarter last year!
The fairy tale story of App Store
App Store has been rapidly move ahead in the race for the most profitable Apple product. It is fast catching up on the iPhone and soon, it will overtake Apple’s biggest cash-cow. Apple has so far paid out more than $50 billions to the developers through App Store! That’s a lot of money by any standards, but becomes even more staggering given that the App Store has only been around for 8 years.
Apple seems very excited about the growing numbers of its app platform. In fact, Cook recently announced that their “Services” alone are going to be a Fortune 100 company by 2017! Yes, yes, we know that the Services are not limited to App Store alone, but App Stores are by far the biggest contributors to the category.
A few other records
True to their … um … unmiserly selves, the iOS users also recorded the highest in-app/premium app purchases made in a single month. I am guessing a lot of it had to do with incredible success of Pokémon Go, although that’s only a speculation as Apple didn’t release any specific numbers.
Another record that would give Apple a lot of encouragement is the highest ever “per-user time spent” on the App Store this month. Apple has always maintained a high regard for community building, and the fact that they are experiencing good retention on their platforms is testimony to that.
To summarise (and paraphrase) a great many Apple interviews: “We are not here for only making money, we are here to build great products that touch the lives of everyone around us.”
Well, we certainly hope that Apple continues to make great products, and touch our lives just as it does for millions around the globe. We also hope that Apple also grants us a little reprieve from the exorbitant prices and the ridiculous service rules!
So long!!
