That’s not a typo: Apple wins big with Pokemon Go

Jul 21, 2016 08:42 GMT  ·  By

Pokemon Go is a money-making machine, and Nintendo is not the only company that’s winning big because of the shocking popularity of the game. Apple is also expected to gain billions thanks to Pokemon Go, and it’s all going to happen in the context of users’ addiction to the title.

If you’ve seen people walking around on the street holding their iPhones in hand and playing Pokemon Go, the chances are that they are the ones making Apple richer than it already is.

Laura Martin, an analyst with investment banking firm Needham & Company, has explained in a note to investors that Apple is expected to get no less than $3 billion in the next 12 to 24 months just thanks to in-app purchases made by iPhone users.

Generally, iPhone owners are considered to be wealthier than Android users, and iOS spending is most of the time higher than on rival platforms. That’s why Martin explains that Pokemon Go fans using an iPhone are very likely to spend big on in-app purchases in the App Store, generating up to $3 billion for the Cupertino-based tech giant.

iPhone users more willing to spend on IAP

Pokemon Go in-app purchases allow players to buy lots of items from the store, including Poke balls, lucky eggs, lure modules, egg incubators, and PokeCoins. Apple receives 30 percent of the price paid for each purchase made from an iOS device, so the bigger the number of Pokemon Go players buying extra stuff for the game, the more money the company makes.

“Because iOS owners are generally wealthier than Android owners, we estimate that over 80 percent of Pokemon Go's in-app spending is on iOS devices,” the analyst says, as per CNET.

According to research conducted by Slice, Pokemon Go accounted for no less than 47 percent of all mobile purchases on July 10. That means that nearly half of the in-app purchases that mobile users made that day were because of Nintendo’s smashing hit.

“Among those who made an in-app purchase with Pokémon GO, 53 percent made one or fewer mobile game purchases within past six months. However 16 percent of paying Pokémon trainers purchased over nine mobile games within the same period,” the study shows.

Certainly, Apple can only be pleased with these figures because the company makes billions of dollars without moving a single finger. And with Pokemon Go growing bigger every day, Cupertino is likely to benefit even more in the coming months.