iPhone Apps Raked in $30M; iPhone App Blacklist Confirmed

Permalink: iPhone Apps Raked in $30M; iPhone App Blacklist Confirmed by Franz Bicar

It has been a month since Apple launched its App Store for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, and so far, its giving them positive results. This is attributed to the reported $30 million Apple has raked in with sales of iPhone and iPod Touch applications via the App Store. Apple CEO, Steve Jobs told Wall Street Journal and forecasts big number ahead. With its popularity and given this initial result, Apple could go up to $360 million by the first anniversary of the launch of the iPhone 3G and the App Store.

While much of the glory for that accomplishment attends to Apple, a lot of the money does not. About 70 percent of the proceeds - or roughly $21 million so far, Jobs said - are going to the creators of the software applications for the Apple smartphone, leaving 30 percent for Apple itself.

The top 10 developers have accounted for about $9 million, or just less than half of the total take for developers, Jobs told the Journal.

In connection to this, the news of an Apple app “kill switch” has been confirmed by the main man himself. Apple’s iPhones do indeed have the capability to check for, and potentially defang, software that Apple deems unfit for the iPhone. Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed the existence of the so-called “kill switch” capability. This allows Apple to remotely kill any (or all) apps they deem harmful or malicious.

“Hopefully, we never have to pull that lever,” Jobs said, “but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull.”

Source: CNET