Ahead of next month's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced new figures on Thursday related to the financial success of its US App Store. The company says the US app store ecosystem generated $400 billion in developer billing and sales in 2024. This has almost tripled since 2019, which generated $142 billion.
Apple also noted that developers did not pay commissions for 90% of billing and sales promoted by the App Store.
The new figures come from Apple-funded research conducted by Professor Anando Fradokin, PhD, Boston University Questrom School of Business and Economist, from the analysis group. The Analytics Group has been working with Apple for years amid growing scrutiny of antitrust laws to produce reports and research that introduces the market power of the App Store from a more advantageous perspective.
In particular, these studies highlight that only a small number of Apple developer-based slivers even pay the Apple committee, and the majority of those who do so are participating in small business plans or other programs where the committee is reduced from 30% to 15% of the standard.
However, these findings do not protect Apple from compulsory efforts to open an App Store and intensifying competition in the US.
Last month, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers held that Apple had violated a court order arising from the Fortnite Maker Epic Games lawsuit that required Apple to reform the App Store's policies regarding external payments. The ruling forced Apple to allow developers to add links to their apps. This points to web payment options that Apple is not permitted to charge fees.
Apple is currently in the process of sueing a ruling.
The longstanding battle over the App Store committee has led to an increase in hostility and disappointment from members of the iOS developer community. The iOS developer community believes their applications are part of the reason for the historic success of the iPhone. Many feel that they should be treated more gratefully for their efforts, not as a resource to withdraw money.
Meanwhile, Apple firmly believes that the App Store itself is the reason for developers' success, as it offers a marketplace where consumers can discover new apps and pay easily for developer software and services.
This also occurs in the latest Apple reports. Apple has more than doubled revenue for US-based developers over the past five years, while small business developers have grown by 76% between 2021 and 2024 (the latter is no surprise.
Apple also reminds developers that the App Store can reach global markets in 175 countries and regions, preventing billions with fraudulent transactions. Developer Investments include 250,000 APIs as part of frameworks such as HealthKit, Metal, Core ML, MapKit, and Swiftui.
Additionally, the new report highlights how much developers are developing from local app stores where they don't have to pay commissions.
For example, Apple said last year, the US App Store ecosystem promoted $277 billion in total billing and sales from physical goods and services, $75 billion from in-app ads and $53 billion from digital goods and services. We also note that since 2019, spending more than tripled on physical goods and services, and in-app spending more than doubled on digital goods and services, as well as in-app ads. General retail spending and grocery delivery have increased by more than four times.