Apple Users Spend £750m On App Store Over Christmas

Apple says more than $1.1bn (£750m) was spent by its customers on software and in-app purchases over the festive period, with the single day sales record broken twice.

The two weeks leading up to January 3 were the biggest in the App Store’s history, something which can be attributed to strong sales of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus as well as wider availability of the Apple Watch and the new Apple TV.

App Store records

New Year’s Day saw a record $114m (£77.9m) spent, more than the previous best set a week earlier on Christmas Day. Apple claims developers have so far made $40bn (£27.32bn) for developers since the App Store launched in 2008.

“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 $20bn (£13.7bn) on the App Store last year alone,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

“We’re grateful to all the developers who have created the most innovative and exciting apps in the world for our customers. We can’t wait for what’s to come in 2016.”

As the self-proclaimed manufacturer of the “best products on Earth,” Apple is no stranger to self-promotion and now says it directly and indirectly supports 1.9 million jobs in the US. It says nearly three quarter of these are thanks to the app economy, while it also says 1.2 million jobs in Europe and 1.4 million in China are the result of its marketplace.

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