Takeaways From Apple’s New App Store Study, Apple's Ongoing Fight Against App Store Fraud, App Durability
Hello everyone. Instead of sending this update late last night, I decided to hold on to it until Friday morning.
Ahead of this year’s WWDC, Apple released a new study regarding App Store billings and sales. Earlier in the week, new data points regarding Apple’s efforts to protect developers and customers from fraud in the App Store were also released. We will talk about both topics in today’s update.
A quick update on where things stand with my new podcast, AVALON.
The first episode goes live on Tuesday. Instead of chasing sponsorships and ads, AVALON will be 100% supported by its listeners. A standalone subscription, not connected to Above Avalon membership, will be just $10 per month (or $100 per year). If you know someone who would be interested in the podcast, especially if they are new to Above Avalon, word of mouth is greatly appreciated. AVALON price discounts are available for Above Avalon members. If you have the Podcasts add-on, AVALON will be free. If you don’t have the Podcasts add-on, AVALON will be just $6 per month (or $60 per year) - you can use this form to sign up.
All members with the Podcasts add-on attached to their membership prior to Wednesday were sent a welcome email from “Neil Cybart (via Transistor)” on Thursday. To listen to AVALON, open that welcome email and select your preferred podcast player. One way of knowing that everything is up and running is you will see a short sneak peek episode appear in your podcast player. For members who recently filled out forms to either attach the Podcasts add-on to their membership (form available here) or subscribe to AVALON (form available here), those requests will continue to be fulfilled today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday). Thank you for your patience during this initial rush period.
With that, let’s jump into today’s update.
Takeaways From Apple’s New App Store Study
Yesterday, Apple released a new App Store study. Similar reports have been published over the years. Like the prior reports, this latest report was funded by Apple.
Two points that Apple wanted to draw attention to:
Most billings and sales facilitated by the App Store involve no commission being paid to Apple. Instead of this being a new disclosure or development, it’s a fact that continues to fly under the radar. Likely due to the news flow revolving around high-profile App Store courtroom battles, consensus likely assumes most developers pay Apple via in-app purchases (IAP) to have their apps available in the App Store. The courts and regulators have focused primarily on IAP (App Store “billings”) as large companies try their best to wrestle power away from Apple to earn more money – it’s always been about the money with these companies despite PR campaigns that say otherwise. The numbers suggest less than 10% of U.S. billings and sales facilitated by the App Store involve a commission being paid to Apple. The report defines billings as payments tied to app monetization (paid downloads, IAP etc.) while sales, a much larger total, refers to payments spent on buying goods and services.
U.S. developers saw earnings double over the last five years.
Become a member to continue reading today’s update. Already a member? Read the full update here.
An audio version of this update is available to members who have the podcast add-on attached to their membership.
Member Privileges and Benefits
Become an Above Avalon member and receive the following privileges and benefits:
Exclusive Analysis. Receive the Above Avalon Daily newsletter, widely-recognized as the leading daily newsletter dedicated to Apple. Now in its tenth year.
Archive Access. Access previous newsletters sent to members.
Member Forum Access. Access all channels in the Above Avalon forum in Discord.
Email Access. Receive timely responses from Neil to email inquiries.
Access to Add-ons. Customize a membership with the Podcast, Inside Orchard, and Financial Models add-ons.
Above Avalon Support. Play an active role in supporting Above Avalon as an independent voice and resource.