Last year alone, Apple’s app store revenue was somewhere in the vicinity of $2.9 billion; forecasts for this year are sitting at $4.9 billion. Increasing their previous year’s revenue by 70% can be attributed to several different factors, one of which is Apple’s new Maps application. With the terrible reviews that the new application has received worldwide, it is very likely that the necessity for third party applications will increase app purchases in the near future.
Another factor that will play into this revenue increase will be Apple’s new app, Passbook. With digital transactions taking place right on your phone with vendors such as Target and Starbucks, the increasing downloads will certainly boost revenue in the future as well. Pair this up with the Maps application, and you have a recipe for nearly $5 billion in revenue. Ian Fogg, an analyst for IHS, claims that iOS 6 puts Apple “into real-world location and financial transaction features.”
Fogg goes on to say:
This means that nearly half of the revenue generated by the App Store in its five-year history will be earned this year alone. With this strong growth, Apple this year will command about a 65 percent share of the global application store market.
Since the first iPod, Apple has truly taken the world by storm. They have managed to innovate more industries than I can recall a company ever pulling off. From the computing industry to the music industry, Apple is positioning their company to sit in a key position to tap into every consumer market. Fogg states:
Apple is preparing to become not just a computer company or just a mobile hardware provider, it seeks to be a key company in all parts of consumers’ lives – from entertainment, communication and business that is now expanding into real-world transactions for travel, entertainment events, daily deals, and even retail.
iOS 6 heralds just the start of this journey. And while Apple’s Maps solution may lag that of rivals initially, Apple still has all of the capabilities to win.
During the Keynote presentation in which the iPhone 5 was revealed, Apple’s CEO stated that Apple holds a staggering 435 million iTunes accounts with credit cards on file for quick and easy one-click shopping, and over 400 million iOS devices sold to date.
All in all, Apple is moving into a position that most companies could only dream of; increasing revenue by any means that they can. Quite frankly, they’re doing a fantastic job, and I will certainly be using Passbook every opportunity that I have. What are you more excited about? The development of the Maps application or the use of Passbook? Be sure to leave your thoughts below.