Developer's $34 Billion Earnings from Apple's App Store Rose 28% in 2018

Since 2008, a year when the iPhone sold a measly 10 million units of their pioneering smartphone, app developers have made a collective $120 billion in sales from the App Store, with more than a quarter of that sum coming in 2018 alone, Apple said Monday.

A year ago, Apple said that iOS developers had received a total of $86 billion, which would put the amount of money developers received in 2018 at $34 billion. That figure is 28% higher than the $26.5 billion Apple said it shared with developers in 2017, which in turn was more than 30% higher than the 2016 figure.

The announcement was made during the inauguration of a new program called Entrepreneur Camp, which brings 11 female-founded app-development startups into an immersive, two-week session that allows developers to work closely with Apple engineers and experts to tailor their apps to the iOS ecosystem.

Earlier this month, Apple said spending on the App Store topped $1.22 billion during the 2018 holiday season. On New Year’s Day alone this year, Apple set a company record for single-day App Store revenue of more than $322 million.

Since setting up the iOS App Store, Apple has charged a 30% commission on app and in-app purchases, although it lowers the fee to 15% for subscriptions after the first year. More recently, developers and others have been pressuring Apple to further lower its App Store commissions.

Apple’s services segment, which includes the App Store among other things like Apple Pay, grew 24% to $37.2 billion in 2018. Apple’s stock fell 0.9% Monday to $156.30.