iOS app developers surge, profits elusive

The number of Chinese application developers for Apple Inc's iOS mobile platform has surged by more than eight times over the past three years, but analysts warned that being too dependent on a single system is risky.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Monday that Apple has more than 6 million registered developers globally, with 1.5 million added in just the last year. He made the remarks during the company's annual World Developers conference, which is being held in San Francisco from June 10 to 14.

"We have now paid developers $10 billion, and the momentum is incredible. We paid $5 billion of that just in the last year," Cook said.

For Apple, China is a vital market that presents the fastest revenue growth in recent years. The country's iOS developer community has also experienced a rapid expansion.

According to UMeng, a Beijing-based startup focusing on serving app developers with detailed apps-usage data, the total number of Chinese iOS developers has increased 9.3 times from 2011 to 2013.

Last year the company released a Chinese version of Start Developing iOS Apps Today, an online guide to creating iOS apps. It includes a feedback resource so that Chinese developers can submit their questions and comments in Chinese. From 2011 to 2013, the amount of Apple-shared profits with its developers quadrupled from $2.5 billion to $10 billion.

Zhang Zhijian, an iOS developer, said the rewards are not large enough for Chinese developers. "In addition to Apple's App Storeplatform, Chinese developers also need tolook for more opportunities in order to cash in and be profitable," he said.

Eight out of every 10 Chinese mobile application developers are losing money, or can barely make ends meet, according to a report by iResearch. Hao Peiqiang, an electronic publisher, said many app developers in China are game developers who intend to make money with iOS.

According to research firm App Annie, gaming accounted for 90 percent of first-quarter revenue this year in China for apps downloaded to devices running some version of Apple's iOS operating system for gadgets. That's the highest percentage of any country served by Apple's App Store.

The Apple developer conference has so far given participants a sneak peek at the next versions of its iOS and Mac OS X operating systems, new MacBook Air models, the redesigned Mac Pro desktop, and the planned ad-supported iTunes Radio service.

"Compared with its predecessors, the iOS 7 has indeed made major changes, but it is still far away from 'subversion'," said Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of Mobile China Alliance.

Luo Yonghao, a Chinese cellphone-platform developer who enjoyed fame as an English teacher but turned to the cellphone industry in 2012, said it seems Apple is doomed and he find the road ahead for his company is much easier.