Apple says App Store developers have earned more than $260 billion

The image is by Alex Castro.

According to a Monday press release from Apple, App Store developers have earned more than $260 billion since the store launched in 2008. In January, Apple said that developers had earned more than $200 billion since the App Store's launch, so the new figure shared Monday shows developers earned $60 billion in 2021. Spending on the App Store between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve in 2021 grew by a double-digit amount, though it didn't specify what that number was.

The App Store continues to be a big moneymaker, but developer unhappiness with the store is high at the moment. The 30 percent cut Apple takes from many transactions is something that many developers think is restrictive. Apple got off well from the ruling against it in the case of the App Store, but it won't have to allow developers to point customers to alternative payment systems.

There are more than 745 million paid subscriptions to Apple services. News Plus, Fitness Plus, and Apple TV Plus are some of the new premium services that Apple has added in recent years. The company reported a new all-time high for services revenue during its most recent earnings, and the number of subscriptions reported Monday was also a new all-time high.