App Store rakes in more than a billion over holiday season

The holiday season proved a winner for Apple with new records for the App Store over Christmas and New Years.

According to Apple, New Years Day marked the biggest day in App Store history with customers spending more than US$144 million. A total of US$1.1 billion was spent on apps and in-app purchases during the holiday season.

"The App Store had a holiday season for the record books," says Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

"We are excited that our customers downloaded and enjoyed so many incredible apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, spending over US$20 billion on the App Store last year alone," he explains.

The App Store has seen developers take in nearly US$40 billion for developers since it launched in 2008. More than a third of this was generated in the last year, Apple says.

According to the tech giant, the iOS app economy has created 1.4 million jobs in the US, along with 1.2 million jobs in Europe and 1.4 million jobs in China. Nearly three-quarters of those jobs — over 1.4 million — are attributable to the community of app creators, software engineers and entrepreneurs building apps for iOS, as well as non-IT jobs supported directly and indirectly through the app economy.

"We're grateful to all the developers who have created the most innovative and exciting apps in the world for our customers," Schiller adds. "We can't wait for what's to come in 2016.

Gaming, Social Networking and Entertainment were among the year's most popular App Store categories across Apple products. Games and subscription apps dominated this year's top grossing titles.

The launch of the Apple Watch has seen fitness apps prove popular, and the launch of the all-new Apple TV in October has seen apps such as Rayman Adventures, Beat Sports and HBO NOW at the top.