Developers are making money from Apple’s App Store, and one is sharing just how much success it has had developing for the iPhone — a success story that provides a clear indication of how Apple is bearing fruits from its own labor and the labor of the developers behind its more than 100,000 apps.
Developer Tapulous has raked in more than $12 million from some of its most popular applications, including Tap Tap Revenge (the first gaming franchise on the iPhone), Collage, and the music-based Weezer, according to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company.
Tapulous has more than 17 million users, and it has been number one on the App Store three times with its Tap Tap Revenge 3. At one point the application was number one for 20 consecutive days.
Other iPhone developers, including Marina del Ray, Calif.-based Gogii, are also benefiting from their acceptance into the App Store. Gogii’s app, TextPlus, has been downloaded more than three million times to date, according to Margaret Bensfield, Gogii’s spokesperson. TextPlus allows several users to jump on to one texting session and communicate with one another in a chat room-like environment. The application has also maintained a Top 50 or Top 100 chart position for six months.
“Based on the metrics we’ve seen, it’s safe to say our TextPlus app has achieved an exceptionally high degree of success compared with other apps,” said Scott Lahman, CEO of Gogii. “Consider the fact that only the top five percent of apps in the Apple App Store reach 100,000 unique monthly visitors.”
The privately held, angel-funded Tapulous may be generating $1 million a month in sales, but it may not be a fair example of how the rest of the iPhone developers are doing. Analysts say without Apple coming forward with more information on the…