My only question is, will we hear this June that they've hit $10 billion? Or just 8?
Update: I didn't notice this, but just before I posted this (April 2013) Apple announced that they've paid out
$9 billion so far.
Update 2: January 7, 2014: Apple has paid out $15 billion. Customers spent $10 billion in 2013 and $1 billion in December alone.
Update 3: June 8, 2015: Announced at the WWDC keynote this morning, Apple has paid out $30 billion to developers. (Though we now know the gold rush is over and I'm sure the bulk of that goes to EA and a handful of other large game studios.)
Update 4: Selling out is no longer a thing. They're all sold out instantly. 2014 and 2015 used lottery systems to distribute tickets. Also, in case you didn't know, 2008 was the first year that did sell out.
I made image this as small as I could. Skipping months would have made it skinnier but not all the announcements were an even number of months apart. As for the height, it's hard to find a way to compare 2 minutes to 2 months. Didn't have time to try to remember how to make a nice logarithmic graph. I could have colored the numbers to match the lines but it's getting late.
* I just noticed that the article written in November 2011 was regarding an event in October 2011. I made my graph based on the article date. I regret the error but I'm too lazy to fix it. (I should be working right now.) The data is out there; the concept is basic. If you fix it or make it prettier, let me know.