Apple just released findings from an independent study, which showed that small developer revenues on the App Store increased by 71% between 2020 and 2022. other app stores.
The tech giant defines small developers as anyone with less than $1 million in annual App Store revenue and less than 1 million downloads across all of their apps in a given year. In 2020, the company cut its fees from 30% to 15% for such developers.
According to the study, by 2022, more than 90% of App Store developers will be small developers. Many indie developers joining the ecosystem are based in Europe, as 25% of new small developers came from European countries. China accounted for 23% of developer additions and 14% of new developer signups came from the US. Other regions such as South Korea, India and Brazil contributed 35% in terms of new developers joining the App Store ecosystem.
The report highlighted the App Store’s reach available in 175 countries. It said 40% of small business app downloads came from outside their own region and 80% of them had their apps on multiple stores.
According to today’s research, some developers are growing their revenue at a rapid pace. For example, 40% of developers who used to be “small developers” — but graduated from that category because they made more than $1 million by 2022 — were not on the App Store or had less than $10,000 in revenue five years ago.
With this research, Apple wants to point out that its platform helps small businesses and developers amid regulatory scrutiny. Earlier this year, the company released a report that said it had paid $320 billion to developers since the App Store was founded in 2008.
However, various authorities around the world are looking at Apple’s (and Google’s) monopoly in distributing apps on their respective platform. In February, the Biden administration said both tech giants are stifling competition through their app stores. It said these companies have created a “sub-optimal” environment for competition and that their policies on these stores have created “unnecessary barriers and costs for app developers, ranging from access fees to functional limitations that favor some apps over others. “
The company is also reportedly preparing to allow app sideloading on iPhone, largely thanks to the EU’s Digital Market Act (DMA), which takes effect in 2024.