[Edit] – Sorry! corrected developer’s name. It’s Eliza Block, not Ericka.
When Apple announced in March that they were planning to release a standard method to download/buy and install third-party applications onto the iPhone, sure, everyone could see the potential, but the App Store’s worth, as a business, was slightly overlooked …
From Apple’s Q&A session (March 08 Event):
Q: “Isn’t the fact that Apple is the sole distributor of apps likely to cause monopoly issues?”
A: “We think this is going to be a boon for developers, there’s no other way to get an app in front of every single iPhone user.” Just to make it a little clearer — we don’t intend to make money off the app store; the split with the music companies is about the same. We give all the money to the content owners and the developers here, and the 30% that pays for the store, that will be great.
Revenue figures
Recently, Apple released the first sale figures to iPhone developers, of how well their applications had sold, daily. One developer, worth of a mention, is Eliza Block. She designed and published a simple application focusing on crosswords called ‘2 Across’ [App Store]. Priced at $5.99 (£3.49) her application flew off the shelve, and to her surprise, she found she had made US $1800 (£912) this Wednesday, alone.
To put this into perspective, her application was ranked 39th in the App Store. Meaning the application ranked 38th, TapeMeasure, priced at $0.99 (£0.59) [App Store], was making roughly $300+/day (428 x $.70) for their $0.99 application.
Apple’s Cut
From every application sold through the App Store, Apple takes 30%. In order to submit applications to the App Store, the developer must pay a $99 annual fee, in order to gain a ‘Developer License’ whether the application be sold for a price, or free. This ensures Apple receives something for the hosting and credit processing of the developers application.
Developers are paid their earnings, monthly.
You can find out more information on how to become a developer at:
The Apple Developer Connection
Now, taking Block as an example, and that figure of $1800 made from 2 Across on Wednesday, Apple’s 30% would be roughly $540 (£273). The store now has over 800+ pay-to-use applications, currently published, ranging from $0.99 to $530.00.
It is worthy of noting that, Eliza’s application has been featured in Apple’s ‘Staff Favorites’ section of the App Store for a week now, so these figures may be skewed.
There’s more …
Not only can customers buy applications through iTunes on their Mac or PC and side-load them onto their iPhone or iPod touch, but with the introduction of Firmware 2.0, users can now wirelessly buy/download applications, by the truck-load, straight onto their devices, completely over-the-air. Considering the fact that every iPhone 3G sold, comes pre-installed with v2.0, (which also includes the App Store as default), and the recent US 21-state sell out, not to mention Apple claiming 1 Million iPhone 3G sales over the opening weekend (The company notes that the original iPhone took 74 days to hit 1 million in sales), I’d say they have it pretty good, with the App Store.
In short, over the opening weekend of the App Store (July 11-14th) Apple publicly reported over 10 Million application sales. On looking at these relatively new revenue figures from Apple’s new baby, I can safely say, the App Store is going to be HUGE for both Apple, and developers.
Eliza Block is set to make 6-figures from 2 Across, if the sales continue as they are doing.
Via: Mac Rumors
R-Fly
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