Apple says its App Store welcomed 2017 with its busiest single day ever on New Year’s Day, capping a record-breaking holiday season. There were nearly US$240 million in purchases.
In 2016 alone, developers earned over $20 billion, up over 40% from 2015. Since the App Store launched in 2008, developers have earned over $60 billion, creating “amazing” app experiences for App Store customers across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac, according to Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. Customers broke all-time records this holiday season with purchases from the App Store topping $3 billion in December.
In the same month, Nintendo’s Super Mario Run made history with more than 40 million downloads in just four days after its release, and was the most downloaded app globally on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Super Mario Run is also among last year’s top 10 most downloaded apps worldwide, with Pokémon Go taking the top spot.
Schiller says Prisma, Reigns, Procreate, Lumino City, Sweat With Kayla and djay Pro, from some of Apple’s independent developers, were among the most successful apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch and Mac, respectively. The App Store offers 2.2 million apps in total, up over 20% from last year. The App Store is available in 155 countries.