June 5, 2025
TechCrunch recently published an article featuring co-authored research conducted by Andrey Fradkin, Associate Professor of Marketing.
Released ahead of Apple’s 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, the report found the App Store facilitated $1.3 trillion in global billings and sales in 2024—90% of which occurred outside Apple’s commission model. Digital goods and services drove $131 billion in sales, while physical goods, led by food delivery and grocery apps, exceeded $1 trillion. In-app ad revenue totaled $150 billion, with overall App Store-related spending more than doubling since 2019.
Fradkin and co-author Jessica Burley of the Analysis Group analyzed how the App Store supports developer-driven economic activity across digital, physical, and advertising categories. Their findings underscore the platform’s broad commercial impact, particularly in the U.S., China, and Europe.
While Apple highlighted these numbers to demonstrate the App Store’s value to developers, the report arrives amid ongoing scrutiny of Apple’s policies—especially around alternative payment options, which are now being challenged by legal decisions like the Epic Games ruling and the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
