Apple today announced a record-breaking holiday shopping season for the App Store. In a press release, the company said that customers spent over $890 million during the seven-day period beginning on Christmas Eve…
Somewhat surprisingly, Apple says that customers rang in the new year by spending $300 million in the App Store on New Year’s Day alone.
In a statement, Apple’s senior VP Phil Schiller said that iOS developers earned $26.5 billion during 2017, which is more than a 30 percent increase compared to 2016. That brings the total to $86 billion earned by developers since 2008. Schiller also says Apple is “thrilled” with the reaction to the new App Store design that came as part of iOS 11.
Apple’s announcement also attempts to dispel a report yesterday that claimed there are fewer than 1,000 ARKit-enabled applications in the App Store. The company touts that “customers are now enjoying” almost 2,000 ARKit applications across all categories, including Pokémon GO and other popular games.
“We want to thank all of the creative app developers who have made these great apps and helped to change people’s lives. In 2017 alone, iOS developers earned $26.5 billion — more than a 30 percent increase over 2016.”
Apple attributes much of the App Store’s success during the latter part of 2017 to the new design in iOS 11. The company says the focus on curation attracts over half a billion App Store visitors every week:
The full press release can be found below:
App Store kicks off 2018 with record-breaking holiday season
Cupertino, California — App Store customers around the world made apps and games a bigger part of their holiday season in 2017 than ever before, culminating in $300 million in purchases made on New Year’s Day 2018. During the week starting on Christmas Eve, a record number of customers made purchases or downloaded apps from the App Store, spending over $890 million in that seven-day period.
“We are thrilled with the reaction to the new App Store and to see so many customers discovering and enjoying new apps and games,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We want to thank all of the creative app developers who have made these great apps and helped to change people’s lives. In 2017 alone, iOS developers earned $26.5 billion — more than a 30 percent increase over 2016.”
The newly redesigned App Store, introduced with iOS 11 in September, has also been making app and game discovery fun and easy for the over half a billion customers that visit the App Store every week. The App Store’s new Today, Games and Apps tabs showcased breakout hits in 2017, including Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Monument Valley 2, King of Glory, Calm and Affinity Photo. Fan favorites Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, Enlight Videoleap, 1Password and Hulu also remained popular throughout the year.
Since the App Store launched in July 2008, iOS developers have earned over $86 billion.
