Across the world people with iPhones and iPads are downloading apps like nothing else, and you know as well as I do these days plenty of them want a little purchase, be it up front or one of those now famous “In-app purchases”. Those purchases are making developers big money, and it’s not just the biggest developers either.

A new report called “Spotlight on Small Business Developers and App Creators on the App Store” suggests that the last two years has been a boom for Small Business developers

A little over a year ago Apple introduced a new program to help smaller developers by offering a reduced commission rate of 15% (down from 30%) for those who earn less than $1 million on the App Store in a calendar year.

The report excludes developers who’ve never had more than 1,000 downloads, but still keeps the cap at $1million in earnings for the year. That’s a pretty decent group of developers – 90% of all developers on the App Store.

And they’re doing well – Earnings from these smaller developers who were active from 2019 through to now, had growth of 113% between 2019 and 2021.

France and United States outperformed the global average with 122% and 118% growth respectively.

Australian developers didn’t do as well, but heck, who’s complaining about a 99% revenue growth from your app?

Interestingly, there’s a clear path to even more growth too – with 45% of the developers who earned $1 million or more in 2021 either not on the app store or earning less than $10,000 in the five years prior.

It just show’s how big the App Economy is, and how it’s growing – still great opportunities out there for a good idea!