Apple CEO, Tim Cook, has revealed that Apple paid out $8 billion to developers, up $1 billion in just one month. The $8 billion payout will net Apple around $3.5 billion in revenue, a substantial figure from a service that is just 5 years old.
Back in October 2012, Apple paid out $6.5 billion to developers, showing an increase of $1.5 billion over 3 months, likely due to high numbers of iPods, iPhones and iPads being sold during the Christmas period.
The numbers are especially poignant as they represent paid downloads, not free ones, showing iOS users are willing to splash their cash in the direction of developers. Apple will also be seeking to show they are still the place to go when releasing an app, rather than Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry's new BB10 mobile OS.
The App Store reached 775,000 apps back in September, with some apps becoming multi-billion dollar businesses. Cook couldn't resist pointing out the lack of tablet-optimised apps in rival's stores, saying: "We have over 300,000 apps custom designed for the tablet. The other guys have a few hundred." This taunt is not dissimilar to one that Steve Jobs used during one of his WWDC keynotes a few years ago.
With iTunes bringing in a sizeable amount of money, too, Apple's online services are definitely paying off.
Source: The Next Web
38 Comments - Add comment