Apple's Quarterly App Store Developer Payments Top $1B

At least some developers selling their wares through Apple's App Store for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are making out based on comments from CFO Peter Oppenheimer. He noted during Tuesday's second fiscal quarter earnings report that Apple is now paying out over US$1 billion a quarter to third-party developers.

"I'd like to say we're gladly paying our developers more than $1 billion every quarter," he said.

Apple pays out over $1 billion quarterly to App Store developersApple pays out over $1 billion quarterly to App Store developers

Apple currently offers the App Store in 155 countries, and in the last four quarters developer payments have totalled $4.5 billion with total app downloads now topping 45 billion.

The App Store is the only place where iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners can download apps without installing unauthorized hacks, which makes it the go-to service for iOS devices. With built-in App Store support, it's relatively easy for shoppers to know where to go to find new apps, and that, coupled with the iPhone and iPad's popularity, is clearly paying off for developers.

Mr. Oppenheimer didn't share a breakdown of how those payouts are divided between developers. Presumably, a larger percentage is going to a minority with highly popular titles such as the Angry Birds franchise from Rovio.

Apple reported sales at $43.6 billion for its second fiscal quarter of 2013, beating Wall Street's $42.49 billion estimate. Earnings for the quarter came in at $9.5 billion, down year-over-year from $11.6 billion. The company sold 37.41 million iPhones, 19.5 million iPads, and just under 4 million Macs during the quarter.

Currently, there are over 850,000 apps available through the App Store, and developers are adding more all the time. Those apps, it seems, are being downloaded at a fast rate.

"Interest in apps remained very strong in the March quarter with over 800 apps downloaded per second," Apple CEO Tim Cook said. "Year-over-year app revenue more than doubled in the quarter."

That translates a lot of money for developers, and is likely why so many target iOS instead of Android for their apps.

Apple is currently trading after hours at $405.85, down 0.28 (0.07%) after closing for the day at $406.13.

[Some image elements courtesy Shutterstock]