2017 was a great year to be an app developer, based on new data that show smartphone users spent more money than ever on apps last year.
According to a new report from Sensor Tower, customers spent $58.6 billion on apps and games in 2017 on the App Store and Google Play. And iOS developers took away the most cash.
App revenues rose about 35 percent in 2017 compared to 2018. Sensor Tower’s data shows that the App Store brought in about $38.5 billion last year. That’s nearly double Google Play made with $20.1 billion in revenue.
In terms of year-over-year growth, the App Store and Google Play were nearly tied with the App Store gaining 34.7 percent compared to Google Play’s 34.2 percent in 2017.
An increase in the number of first-time app installs definitely contributed to revenue increases. Total installs were at approximately 91.5 billion, a 13.5 percent increase from the 80.7 billion in 2016.
Games continue to be the dominant category on the App Store, bringing in 82 percent of all app revenue. Customers spent about $30 billion on games in the App Store in 2017, increasing revenues by 30% over last year.