14 DAY TRIAL // In usual fashion, the Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. is not shy of bragging about the number of downloads registered by its App Store over the past few years. According to the latest count, the company has served up no less than 40 billion apps worldwide.
Who helped Apple get this high in the digital downloads marketplace? Why, the very same developers who got paid over seven billion dollars (about €5.3 billion, or £4.2 billion).
But amongst those developers only a handful saw skyrocketing profits. Imangi Studios is one of them. They’re the folks behind the immensely popular running game Temple Run.
Their success is comparable to Rovio’s with their Angry Birds franchise a couple of years ago.
Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios, says, “The success of our game Temple Run in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing.”
“We were simply looking to create a game that was fun and easy to play, but once it hit the App Store, the game took off. This past year, we saw more than 75 million downloads of Temple Run on iOS,” Shepherd says.
Autodesk is another company whose amazing software helped Apple’s App Store reach astonishing heights.
Samir Hanna, vice president of Consumer Products for Autodesk, says, “We set off with the modest goal of bringing SketchBook to iPhone users as a way of introducing them to Autodesk.”
“Fast forward three years, we now offer 20 apps to iOS users that have achieved more than 50 million downloads, and we continue to roll out new creativity and design tools that appeal to both professionals and consumers,” adds Hanna.
Another iOS hit, Action Movie FX by Bad Robot Interactive has been downloaded millions of times by iPhone and iPad users across the globe. The software lets you add Hollywood-style effects to the videos you’ve shot using your iPhone’s camera.
“The App Store provided us with opportunities beyond our wildest dreams,” says Bad Robot Interactive’s JJ Abrams.
“Our app Action Movie FX was designed to bring Hollywood special effects to anyone’s self-made video, whether that be on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and we’re just thrilled that millions of fans around the world were as excited as we were about the possibilities that this app brings,” Abrams adds.
Lastly, Apple cites Bottle Rocket Apps which, according to its president, now has over 100 full-time employees.
Calvin Carter says all 100 staffers are “dedicated to nothing but building great apps.”
“In my 20 plus years in technology, I have never seen such a vibrant marketplace for software like the App Store,” says Carter.