Deciding which platform to develop for is an important choice because some platforms aren’t quite as lucrative as others. Also for smaller developers, being able to develop for multiple platforms simultaneously can be tiresome and expensive. That being said it seems that Apple’s iOS and Mac platforms appear to be making good money.During Apple’s recent earnings call, the company has announced that they’ve managed to pay out a whopping $70 billion to developers to date, and that App Store downloads have managed to increase by 70% year-on-year. Given that Apple takes more or less a 30% cut from apps sold in its App Store, it has been estimated that Apple might have made as much as $30 billion so far.
According to Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller, “People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers. Seventy billion dollars earned by developers is 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.”
Recently Apple has been trying to get developers to start selling more in-app subscriptions and services, in which the company will take a reduced cut to make it more tempting. We’ve seen services such as Spotify express their displeasure at the 30% cut that Apple takes, which prompted them to encourage users to sign up via their website instead of the iTunes App Store.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, iOS and Mac (Apple).