App Store Revenue Shows "Long Tail"

App store revenue, at least for Apple iOS and Android app stores, now shows a clear "long tail" or "Pareto" distribution. In other words, six or so apps account for about 55 percent of total application revenue (from all sources, including app sales, in-app revenue and advertising). 

Keep in mind that the iTunes App Store and Google Play now offer more than 600,000 apps each. 

Looking at app sales and in-app revenue only, and excluding ad revenue, in 2012, Flurry estimates that the top 25 apps will earn about half of total revenue.

The rest of the top 100 apps will earn about 17 percent of revenue in 2012.