iOS developers may earn more than Hollywood stars!

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Apple recently announced that they paid $10 billion in revenue to developers in 2014, and according to Box Office Mojo, Hollywood's box office revenue in 2014 was also $10 billion.

While Hollywood's revenue streams extend beyond the U.S. box office, Asymco analyst Horace Dediu points out that the app economy is also more than just Apple's App Store.

"The app economy includes Android and advertising, services and custom development," he said. "When you include all the revenue, the app economy is probably bigger than Hollywood."

In comparison, the app industry is healthier than Hollywood, with more jobs (627,000 in iOS in the US vs. 374,000 in Hollywood), and it’s easier to get into, has a wider range, and has a lot of people making the median income (many actors don’t make $1,000 a year).

Horace Dediu believes that apps are now a larger digital content business than music, TV shows, and movie rentals and purchases combined. Apple pays developers 70% of app revenue—a larger share than artists in the above industries receive.

App analytics company App Annie previously released a report stating that Apple's App Store generates 85% more revenue than Google Play, even though the latter has about 45% more downloads than Apple worldwide.