Apple announced that it has paid out a record $320 billion to app developers on the App Store since 2008, and now has more than 900 million paid subscriptions across its services, which make up a significant portion of this total.
In 2022, Apple's App Store faced significant legal challenges, including lawsuits and antitrust actions aimed at limiting its market power.
The U.S. Department of Justice is reported to be in the early stages of filing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, and also made a statement in an Apple-Epic Games antitrust appeal to argue that the original ruling which cleared Apple of being a monopolist had misinterpreted antitrust law.
Additionally, U.K. authorities are investigating the duopoly of Android and iOS, with a specific focus on browsers and cloud gaming services.
Apple has had to make concessions in certain areas of its App Store business. For instance, in Netherlands, it was required to comply with an antitrust ruling that allowed dating apps to use third-party payments.
Multiple European countries are investigating the company for possible antitrust issues related to its App Tracking Transparency framework.
Additionally, last month, Apple relaxed its App Store pricing rules by introducing 700 new price points and allowing developers to set prices that do not end in $0.99 as a response to complaints that the company does not allow developers to run their businesses as they see fit, in response to a class action lawsuit with US app developers that was settled in 2021.
Despite these challenges, the App Store business is still growing for the company.
Apple stated that the App Store continues to attract 650 million visitors from 175 countries around the world each week and new experiences are still being offered.
Highlighted events were the release of Apex Legends on mobile earlier in the year, and the increasing popularity of a new form of social networking, BeReal, which was named Apple's "App of the Year".
In 2022, Apple's gaming subscription service, Apple Arcade, expanded by adding over 50 new titles to its collection, including Warped Kart Racers, Jetpack Joyride 2, Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, Wylde Flowers and Cooking Mama: Cuisine.
The service now features a total of more than 200 games.
Apple TV+ became the first streaming service to win an Academy Award for Best Picture with "CODA." and announced that starting February, Apple TV app will start streaming Major League Soccer games as a result of a 10-year partnership between Apple and the league.
