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Study shows small App Store developers enjoy robust revenue growth

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Study shows small App Store developers enjoy robust revenue growth
Apple wants developers to know that the App Store is a good place to do business.
Image: Apple

Small developers around the world saw revenue from Apple’s App Store grow 71% between 2020 and 2022, according to researchers.

Revenue growth over that span for small devs in the United States was even higher: 83%.

Apple brags about revenue growth of small App Store devs

Worldwide Developers Conference 2023 kicks off in a few weeks, and Apple is highlighting the success of small developers — those earning less than $1 million a year and with fewer than 1 million annual downloads. That’s 90% of the total.

And economists at Analysis Group found that this group, on average, grew at a faster rate than larger developers.

Some counties saw very high rates of increase, like France. Small devs there enjoyed a a 122% increase in revenue between 2020 and 2022.

Global Entrepreneurship on the App Store 2023
Some of the highlights of the App Store in 2023.
Chart: Apple

While revenue increased across all app categories, so did exceptionally well. “Health and fitness, sports, and lifestyle apps from small developers in particular more than doubled their earnings in the last two years,” noted Apple.

The full text of the study, “Small Business Developers and App Creators on the App Store in 2022,” is available to download. It was funded by Apple but Analysis Group insists, “The conclusions and opinions expressed are exclusively those of the authors,” Juliette Caminade, Ph.D., and Jonathan Borck, Ph.D.

Source: Apple

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