The iPhone group provides insights into sales in its app store.
(Photo: imago images/Future Image)
Dusseldorf Apple gives a detailed insight into the economy of its store. According to this, app operators turned over more than 1.1 trillion dollars in the iOS store in 2022, an increase of 29 percent compared to the previous year. For comparison: the economic output of the whole of Switzerland was around 840 billion US dollars in the same year. In the previous two years, revenue from the App Store had also risen sharply – by 27 percent in each case.
The reason for the publication is a report commissioned by Apple from the US Consulting Analysis Group on the App Store. After that, of the total, $910 billion goes to physical goods and services, $109 billion to app advertising and $104 billion to digital goods and services.
Sales are concentrated primarily in China at $570 billion and the US at $273 billion. With 19 billion dollars, Germany is a comparatively small market for Apple, but after England with 48 billion dollars it is the second largest in Europe. In third place are France with twelve billion dollars and Italy with just under five billion dollars.
“We’ve never been more hopeful for – and more inspired by – the incredible developer communities around the world,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO, speaking of a “vibrant, innovative marketplace.”
Apple wants to downplay its fees of up to 30 percent
There has been some trouble around the Apple Store for years. App operators such as Epic Games or Spotify defend themselves against vague rules and high commissions, Apple receives 15 to 30 percent of sales. Epic sued Apple in 2020 and achieved partial success in a US appeals court a few weeks ago. After that, Apple must allow external payment options. The iPhone group announced that it would appeal the decision.
Presenting the Analysis results, Apple emphasized that 90 percent of the $1.1 trillion in revenue goes exclusively to developers and companies “of all sizes” — “with no commission from Apple.”
However, that’s a bit of eyewash. Because Apple only raises the 15 to 30 percent on digital services in the App Store, such as the game subscription for Fortnite. However, the $1.1 trillion includes all goods such as Amazon deliveries or Hellofresh meals that do not generate commissions.
650 million visitors every week
The introduction of the so-called “App Tracking Transparency” (ATT) did not harm Apple. Since 2021, Apple has been giving its customers the choice of whether or not they want to receive targeted offers from advertisers. That hit companies like Facebook company Meta, while helping Apple with its own advertising business. Analysts at Bank of America estimated sales at around five billion dollars, while according to investment bank Bernstein it was only four billion dollars in 2021.
The numbers from Apple and Analysis Group also provide insight into the immense size of the app store. There were an average of 650 million visits per week worldwide, and an average of 747 million apps were downloaded in the same period.
The sales in the individual app categories also reflect the overall economy. The end of the pandemic restrictions, for example, is showing itself strongly. In 2022, travel reported an 84 percent increase in revenue to $102 billion, while ride-hailing grew 45 percent to $48 billion.
The Apple Store has been around since 2008
The iOS store has been around for 15 years. According to Apple, companies and developers have made a total of $320 billion since then. According to Analysis, iPhone owners downloaded 370 billion apps in the same period, and there are currently almost 1.8 million apps to choose from.
With iOS, Apple has a significantly lower share worldwide than smartphones with an Android operating system. However, Apple makes up for this with higher market shares in higher average income countries and regions such as the US or Europe, while Google Play’s largest markets are in India, Southeast Asia and South America. Also, unlike Apple, it is not represented in China.
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