iWork for iPad worth over $40 million a year to Apple?
updated 03:45 pm EDT, Mon May 10, 2010
Suite still amongst most popular iPad titles
The iPad version of iWork could generate over $40 million a year for Apple, one projection suggests. The figure is based on Silicon Alley Insider talks with several top 10 iPad developers, and a subsequent estimate that paid apps sell about 2,500 copies per weekday, and another 7,500 per Saturday or Sunday. This translates into 27,500 downloads per app, per week, and at a cost of $10 per app, $825,000 in weekly revenue.
Constant sales would amount to roughly $43 million per year. The real revenue is expected to differ substantially however, partly because Pages sells more than Numbers and Keynote, and sales may also vary based on factors like seasonality and competition. Strict revenue is likely to be hurt or improved by discounts, foreign pricing and exchange rates.
iWork's potential is also being determined by expansion plans, both for the iPad hardware and the availability of apps. Even if Apple only takes $40 million from the first year of iWork, though, the company is still poised to become the most financially successful iPad developer. All three iWork titles have been consistently popular, SAI observes.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Really?
That's 4 million iWork apps within the first year, and each year after. Which is like 1 in 8 new iPad owners getting all three apps, or 1 in 3 iPad owners getting one app (unless Apple expects to sell more than their estimated number of iPads the first year). That's a lot of people buying an iPad for use as a 'productivity' tool.
Hmm, and I wonder if $3 for each app sold goes to the app store like other developers...