Apple chief executive Tim Cook had a strong message on Monday when he addressed the company’s global gathering of coders and computer scientists: Apple is the best place to earn money from making apps.

Cook announced that developers have earned $100 billion through the App Store as of this week.

Apple has had to manage its reputation with app makers carefully as it tries to squeeze more money out of each phone through selling software and services. It has competition — on Monday, for example, Microsoft announced a big investment in courting developers through the acquisition of platform GitHub.

Not all app makers are happy with the status quo at the company — something Apple may have to address over the next few days at the San Jose, California, event.

A group called “The Developers Union” said earlier this month it wanted Apple to increase monetization options like free trials. Some developers said they saw prices dropping and revenue declining as free apps with “annoying” in-app purchases seemed to take off instead.

But Cook touted on Monday that there are 500 million weekly visitors to the App Store.

“The app store is clearly the best place for you to be rewarded for your hard work and creativity,” Cook said.