Just how much money have developers made publishing apps to Apple’s App Store?

A mind blowing amount, indeed.

According to the Cupertino, California-based iDevice maker, Apple’s vast global developer community has earned over $70 billion in less than a decade after the App Store first opened for business in 2008.

And it would seem that this may only be the tip of the ice berg of what’s to come. After all, Apple confirms, just in the past 12 months, downloads have exploded over 70 percent.

“People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Seventy billion dollars earned by developers is simply mind-blowing. We are amazed at all of the great new apps our developers create and can’t wait to see them again next week at our Worldwide Developers Conference.”

To read Apple’s full announcement on developer earnings, click here.