In June 2010, Apple announced it had paid $1 billion to developers to date. Twelve months later, that number more than doubled to $2.5 billion. And today, Apple says it has now paid in excess of $4 billion to its dedicated army of developers.Along with the growth of sales receipts is the growth of the App Store’s offerings. As of this writing, more than 18 billion downloads have been initiated through the App Store. And that number stands to compound exponentially in the months ahead as refreshed iOS-powered devices roll out.
Industry analysts believe the iPad 3 will arrive within 60 days, bringing with it a likely surge in app purchases.
Although Google Chairman Eric Schmidt predicted last month that mobile developers will soon make Android apps a higher priority than iOS apps, it’s doubtful that Android will wholly trump Apple as iOS continues to be the most lucrative and high profile operating system to develop for in the entire mobile space.
