Apple announced that all time iOS app downloads just crossed 40 billion, with 20 billion of those coming in 2012 alone. What does this mean for you, the app developer?
Yes, that’s a lot of downloads, but part of the reason is the number of apps out there, which is now estimated at 775 000. A little math shows that is still a healthy 51613 download per app. Still pretty good, right?
However a lot of these downloads are skewed towards the most popular apps. Temple Run for example had 75 million downloads by itself last year. So even though Apple has paid out $7 billion to developers so far, most of that money has gone to top tier publishers, who are making millions, leaving less for the average developer.
So what can you do to compete, with so much competition out there?
The good news is that with so many apps out there, this also opens up many niche markets which would otherwise be too small to compete in. You could create a very targeted app to a very targeted type of consumer and still have a big enough market to make good money.
Start doing your app store research to find out which categories have hot selling apps that you can tap into. If you haven’t done so already, sign up on the right sidebar to receive your free copy of my eBook – How to come up with a killer idea for your first iPhone app.