App Store spend hits US$1.1bn over Christmas

Apple recorded the biggest ever holiday season for its App Store, with users spending more than US$1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases in the two weeks ending January 3.

Apple reported “back-to-back weekly records for traffic and purchases” with January 1, 2016 marking the “biggest day in App Store history” with customers spending more than US$144 million.

“The App Store had a holiday season for the record books. We are excited that our customers downloaded and enjoyed so many incredible apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, spending over $20 billion on the App Store last year alone,” said Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller.

Apple said that the launch of the revamped Apple TV and the Apple Watch have “paved the way for entirely new app experiences”, changing how people consume content through their television and glance at information.

Since its launch in October, the new Apple TV’s most popular apps include Rayman Adventures, Beat Sports and HBO Now, according to Apple.

In total, the firm claims that the App Store has brought in nearly US$40 billion for developers since 2008, with over one-third of that generated in the last year alone.