The State of Apps

a16z Podcast

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2023

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A few weeks ago, Apple released a stunning statistic: they’ve paid developers over $320B — yes, billion! — since the launch of the App Store in 2008, highlighting the cast opportunity in the marketplace. And around the same time, a16z Consumer Partner, Olivia Moore, compiled a list of the top apps across the US app store throughout 2022. In this episode, you’ll get to hear which apps made it to the top and what they have in common. Hint: the big winners were in social, but perhaps a new wave of social apps! We also get the scoop on what it really takes to not just hit #1, but stay there. This episode highlights numerous surprising examples ranging from a new-age Beanie Baby app, a viral talking dog, an app from 2012 that finally broke the top 10, and the Chinese app that’s been at #1 for a majority of 2023, and it’s not TIkTok! There are endless learnings about how new founders can take advantage of these opportunities.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think the opportunity maybe has never been greater to build and monetize a mobile
0:06.0	app quickly, make a few million dollars and retire if that's what you want to do.
0:11.0	Welcome back to the A16Z podcast and also welcome to what I think is one of our best
0:16.1	episodes to date.
0:17.5	Today I talk to A16Z consumer partner, Olivia Moore,
0:20.6	about what I'm calling the state of the App Store.
0:23.8	So a few weeks ago, Apple released a stunning statistic.
0:27.1	They said they feed developers over 320 billion dollars,
0:30.6	yes billion, since the launch of the App Store in 2008.
0:34.0	And around the same time, I saw Olivia post a tweet
0:37.0	where she had basically compiled a list of the top apps in the US App Store
0:40.0	throughout 2022.
0:42.0	So in this episode, you'll not only get to hear what made it to the top, but also what they have in common.
0:47.0	Hint a lot of the big winners are in social, but perhaps a new wave of social apps.
0:52.0	We also get the scoop on not just that it takes to hit number one but to stay there.
0:55.8	And we covered tons of examples many of which I had never heard of.
0:59.1	Things like a new age beanie baby app, a viral talking dog, an app for 2012 that finally hit the top 10, and a Chinese
1:06.2	app that's been number one for majority of this year.
1:09.2	And that's not Tik-Tok.
1:10.8	There are endless learnings about how founders can take advantage of these opportunities, including Olivia and I's master plans to top the charts ourselves.
1:18.0	So stick around to the end if you'd like to hear that. Let's get started.
1:22.0	As a reminder, the content here is for informational purposes only.
	...

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