Most money made through the App Store does not go through Apple, company says amid questions over the 'digital marketplace'

Apple says that most of the money being "facilitated" by its App Store does not go through the company, as it unveiled new research into the scale of the digital economy. The App Store helped facilitate some $519 billion in billings and sales last year, new analysis showed. Most of that money did not go through App Store purchases or in-app payments, it said, but rather simply relied on software for Apple's platforms to make goods and services available. In its announcements about the App Store in the past, Apple has focused primarily on the amount of money it has paid to developers directly, through sales of apps and in-app purchases on its platforms. But the new report attempts to highlight the broader impact on the economy that its digital store has, by giving an account of how many sales are "facilitated" through those apps more broadly.