Apple’s App Store brought in almost twice as much revenue in the first half of 2018 than the Google Play store. Apple CEO Tim Cook shared that detail during the company’s third fiscal quarter earnings conference call Tuesday afternoon.
About 30,000 apps with paid subscription options are available on the App Store. Cook said subscriptions in third-party apps hit US$300 million. He added that subscription revenue is “significant and increasing.”
Apple reported quarterly revenue at $53.3 billion, up 17% year over year, and services brought in $9.55 billion. The company sold 41.3 million iPhones during Q3 2018, 11.5 million iPads, and 3.7 million Macs.
Looking forward, Apple is guiding Q4 2018 revenue between $60 billion and $60.2 billion with gross margins between 38% and 38.5%.
Apple’s Q3 2018 earnings conference call is still under way so be sure to check in with The Mac Observer for our ongoing event coverage.
I really, really hate app subscriptions: basically you are locked into paying the developer in advance every month with no guarantee that you’ll get anything at all in return other than keeping the app working… but even that isn’t guaranteed!
The existing system for non-subscription apps just generates horrible confusion as there is no easy, standardized upgrade path (from trial/demo to full/paid or for version upgrades) and new versions of apps are often released as entirely “new” apps.
Please Apple, just make it easy for app developers to offer trial/demo versions, an initial full-price purchase, and upgrade pricing for new versions!