Apple touts App Store ecosystem amid challenge to its clout

San Francisco

APPLE said on Wednesday that its App Store "ecosystem" surged last year, fuelled by pandemic-hit consumers seeking to stay connected for work, school and play.

Apple spotlighted an independent study by Analysis Group indicating billings and sales of digital and physical goods as well as advertising "facilitated" by the App Store worldwide last year was up 24 per cent from 2019 to US$643 billion.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said: "The apps we've relied on through the pandemic have been life-changing in so many ways - from groceries delivered to our homes, to teaching tools for parents and educators, to an imaginative and ever-expanding universe of games and entertainment. The result isn't just incredible apps for users: it's jobs, it's opportunity, it's innovation that'll power global economies for years to come."

The "Global Perspective on the Apple App Store Ecosystem" study focused on developers with under a million downloads and less than US$1 million in earnings last year. Ninety per cent of total billings and sales facilitated by the App Store ecosystem last year occurred outside of the App Store - Apple earned no commission on these sales, said the study.

The study was released as a US district court mulled evidence from a trial in which Epic Games is trying to break Apple's grip on its App Store. Epic, maker of the Fortnite video game, hopes to force Apple to open up the App Store to third parties seeking to circumvent Apple's procedures payment systems and its commission as high as 30 per cent in the process. AFP