Sorry, startup app developers: Your chances of becoming rich overnight are pretty low. Research firm Canalys has come out with a new report showing that the top 25 mobile app developers account for half of all mobile app revenues generated, or roughly “$60 million from paid-for downloads and in-app purchases.” And with the exception of Pandora (P), all the top-grossing app developers were gaming companies such as Zynga (ZNGA), Rovio and EA (EA). Canalys analyst Chris Jones says that these companies are particularly successful because they don’t put all their eggs in one basket and try to generate multiple revenue-generating mobile games.
“Part of the story here is that successful game developers almost invariably have multiple titles generating revenue,” he says. “Zynga, for example, had 15 titles in the list of top 300 grossing iPhone apps on average in Apple’s (AAPL) App Store every day, and nine titles in the equivalent list in the Google (GOOG) Play store. Even with its singular focus on its Angry Birds franchise, Rovio has multiple game variants in the list.”
