Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a leader in the world of technology at the moment. The company has a market capitalization of above $670 billion, and is ever increasing day by day. The major revenue sources for Apple are the smartphone division, the personal computer division, and the software division. Clearly, Apple sells millions of iPhones and MacBooks every year. However, the app market is a big enough division of Apple, and hence entitled to some attention from the industry, being one of the major source of revenue for the business. In 2014 alone, the app industry that Apple Inc. operates earned more than $10 billion in revenue.
However, the app industry being run by Apple Inc. did not just grow in revenue, but it also grew in the number of people employed to develop apps for the Apple App Store. Current figures for those who are currently employed in the Apple App Store amounts to a grand total of 627,000 employees. According to industry experts, there are multiple reasons behind this high employee rate in the App industry.
Firstly, the market is easy to enter, as anyone with a powerful-enough computer can develop an app for Apple devices. Secondly, the market has a much wider reach with consumers compared to other app stores currently in existence, including the Google Play Store. This allows developers a greater access to the market, acting as an incentive for new people to enter the industry and aim at success on the Apple App Store. Finally, payouts that developers making apps for Apple devices receive are much greater than competitors, and also better than the median pay that actors in Hollywood receive in a given year, according to statistics.
Another huge incentive that Apple gives to its developers is that the company gives out 70% of the share in total profits generated from a single app to the developer. In other industries, workers are seldom (read: never) paid such a big share in the profit after deductions. For those who don’t even know how to develop apps for the Apple App Store, such a big share in profits acts as a huge incentive, as people see potential and immediate riches in the industry.
The App Store being run by Apple Inc. is larger than the one being operated by Google, called Google Play Store, which is the only big league competitor in the industry. Apple’s App Store is larger by 85% in revenue than the Google Play Store, even though Google Play Store receives 45% more downloads than the former. Apps available on the Apple App Store are, according to statistics, generally more expensive than the ones listed for purchase on the Google Play Store, hence the Apple App Store enjoys greater revenue figures in a given year.
Considering the instant-success factor that is a characteristic of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) App world, it is safe to assume that the market for Apple’s App Store is grand, and consumers are highly responsive to the new apps that emerge in the market. A good app developer, given the right idea, is looking at millions of dollars in profits at the Apple App Store, a fact that suggests the Apple App Store is one of the most lucrative industries in the world.