by Jason Snell
Apple: The App Store ecosystem generated $519 billion in 2019
Here’s an interesting Apple press release trumpeting a study from Analysis Group that claims “the App Store ecosystem supported $519 billion in billings and sales globally in 2019 alone.”
Half a trillion bucks? That’s a lot of in-app purchases. But the truth is a bit more complicated. This Apple-supplied Infographic clears it up a bit:
A full 50% of that half a trillion comes from people using App Store apps to buy physical goods from retail apps like Target, Best Buy, Etsy, and (presumably) Amazon. 11% of the total was from travel apps, including Expedia and United—my Hotels.com bookings are in that category! Eight percent were from ride-hailing apps, and food-delivery apps generated six percent of that total. Then there’s in-app advertising, which the study says accounts for nine percent of that half billion.
That leaves 12% of the total for what most of us would consider as the traditional App Store ecosystem—namely the purchase of digital goods and services. And $61 billion is nothing to sneeze at.