The findings are the results of a study by Professor Andrey Fradkin from Boston University Questrom School of Business and economist Dr. Jessica Burley from Analysis Group, according to a Thursday (May 29) press release.
“Importantly, for more than 90% of the billings and sales facilitated by the App Store, developers did not pay any commission to Apple,” the release said. “Over the last five years, the size of the App Store ecosystem has nearly tripled from $142 billion in 2019 to $406 billion last year, and earnings for U.S.-based developers also more than doubled. Small developers in particular have done exceptionally well as their earnings increased by 76% between 2021 and 2024.”
The study estimated that the App Store ecosystem facilitated $277 billion in total billings and sales from physical goods and services last year, $75 billion from in-app advertising and $53 billion from digital goods and services, per the release. Among the main drivers were growth in food and grocery delivery, entertainment and enterprise apps.
“And the App Store continues to be a global launchpad for innovation, with AI-powered apps increasingly shaping users’ daily lives,” the release said.
Meanwhile, the study found that spending on travel and food delivery and pickup both surpassed ride-hailing, as users increasingly turned to apps to book travel, and restaurants increasingly offered delivery options through apps, according to the release.
U.S. developers also saw increased earnings across top categories like productivity, education and business, with game developers garnering the highest earnings last year.
The news came days after a report that Apple is planning to roll out tools that would allow third-party developers to write software using the large language models that power Apple Intelligence, the company’s artificial intelligence system.
The company is due to announce the software development kit and other resources that will open the doors to this capability June 9 at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources.
Also this week, Apple said the App Store prevented more than $2 billion in fraudulent transactions during 2024, and more than $9 billion in such transactions in the past five years.
