Half Of All Mobile App Revenue Went To Just 25 Developers Last Month

Both Apple's iTunes App Store and Google's Play store for Android collectively have over 1.4 million apps to choose from, and surprisingly, more than 50% of the revenue made by these stores in the United States goes to just 25 app developers, according to analytics firm Canalys, which performed a daily survey over a 20-day period in November.

These 25 iOS and Android app developers made a total of $60 million from paid app downloads and in-app purchases during the month of November, and all of the top-grossing developers are games developers. The exception is Pandora, but overall, game developers such as Zynga, Electronic Arts, Disney, Rovio, Glu, and Gameloft lead the way.

This only proves that it's an uphill battle to get noticed and monetize apps for most developers, especially those who don't make games. Canalys Senior Analyst Tim Shepherd notes that "discoverability is a particular issue in the Apple App Store and in Google Play given the huge inventories they boast." He continued by saying that "with top game developers' content so prevalent in the stores, it can be hard for other good quality apps to get the attention they deserve."

It'll only get harder for independent developers to get their apps and games noticed, though, especially over the holidays. Canalys expects many of these top 25 developers to strengthen their dominance over Christmas time by providing discounts and special offers on their wide range of apps and games.