Apple’s App Store generated more than $US1.1 trillion in sales and billings in 2022

The App Store is 15 years old and thriving with more than $US1.1 trillion in sales and billings generated globally in 2022.

And more than 90 per cent of that has gone directly to developers and businesses without any commission paid to Apple.

An independent study by Analysts Group says App Store developers generated $US910 billion from the sales of physical goods and services, $US109 billion from in-app advertising and $US104 billion for digital goods and services.

“We’ve never been more hopeful about — or more inspired by — the incredible community of developers around the world,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“As this report shows, the App Store is a vibrant, innovative marketplace where opportunity thrives, and we’re as committed as ever to investing in developers’ success and the app economy’s future.”

Billings and sales increased by 27 per cent between 2019 and 2020; 27 per cent between 2020 and 2021; and 29 per cent between 2021 and 2022 with small developers growing their revenue by 71 per cent between 2020 and 2022. That’s actually outpacing larger developers.

The areas that experienced the greatest growth were food and grocery sales with iOS-based food delivery and pick-up more than doubling and grocery sales tripling.

Travel sales made on iOS apps increased by 84 per cent in 2022 as we emerged from the COVID pandemic.

Ride-hailing app sales also increased by 45 per cent.

The biggest growth in digital good and services was in the entertainment category.

The App Store will be celebrating its 15^th birthday in July.

It provides Apple developers with a global distribution platform that supports more than 195 local payment methods and 44 currencies across 175 storefronts.

In 2022, 54 per cent of downloads occurred in storefronts outside of developers’ home countries.

There were more 650 million average weekly visitors to the App Stores worldwide in 2022 and users downloaded and redownloaded apps an average of more than 747 million and 1.5 billion times each week in 2022, respectively.

Since 2008 iOS developers have earned more than $320 billion with users downloading apps more than 370 billion times to the end of 2022.

Today there are 123 times more apps than there was in 2008 – totalling almost 1.8 million.