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Since the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) App Store was launched in 2008, the company has paid a total of more than $70 billion to its developer community. That total is $20 billion more than the company had reported paying its developers through 2016.

App downloads in the past 12 months have risen 70% with top games like Pokémon GO and Super Mario Run, among the estimated 2.2 million apps available the App Store. Active paid subscriptions under the subscription business model introduced last year are up 58%. The model allows developers to tap directly into iPhone and iPad users.

If Apple has paid out more than $70 billion to apps developers, the company has likely made about $30 billion from them. The company retains 30% of app sales, although the percentage does drop to 15% for subscriptions that extend beyond one year.

Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, said:

People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers. 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.

And that’s what the announcement is all about of course. Next week’s conference is expected to attract more than 5,000 attendees, and the big announcement is expected to be a voice-controlled speaker similar to the Amazon Echo and Google Home that uses Apple’s Siri.

Apple is also expected to announce new Intel processors for its MacBooks and perhaps a long-awaited 10.5-inch iPad. The company is also expected to show off the latest improvements to iOS, MacOS, WatchOS and tvOS.