Analysis Group: Over the past 2 years, independent app developers have increased App Store revenue by 71%
May 12, 2023
The corporation defines small developers as those with less than $1 million in App Store revenue and fewer than 1 million downloads of all their apps per year. In 2020, Apple reduced the commission for such companies from 30% to 15%.
Analysis Group experts point out that in 2022, more than 90% of the developer companies in the App Store were small. Approximately 25% of new indie studios in Apple's app store are based in Europe, 23% in China, and 14% in the United States. Other regions such as South Korea, India and Brazil provided 35% of new developers.
According to the report, the App Store is available to users in 175 countries. About 40% of app downloads by independent developers take place outside of their home region, and 80% released their products in multiple markets.
Indie studios have been able to increase their revenue at a rapid pace, so 40% of developers have moved out of the small category as they earned more than $1 million in 2022, although five years ago they had less than $10,000 in revenue.
Researchers point out that Apple's platform is helping small businesses and developers in the face of increased regulatory scrutiny. The corporation released a report that shows Apple has paid $320 billion to developers since the App Store was created in 2008.
However, in a number of countries, the activities of Apple and Google attracted the attention of antitrust authorities. In February, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden said that both technology companies were suppressing competition with their app stores. U.S. authorities say the companies have created a "suboptimal" environment for competition, and their store policies have imposed "unnecessary barriers and costs on app developers," ranging from access fees to feature restrictions.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple plans to allow apps from third-party stores to be downloaded to the iPhone. The corporation will be forced to do this by the European Union's Digital Markets Act, which will take effect in 2024.