Apple’s App Store generated record revenues of almost $30bn in 2016 driven by the success of games such as Pokémon Go and Mario Run, according to new data.
The tech giant also said that New Year’s Day 2017 was the most successful single day sales of all-time for apps, generating $240m in total.
Overall, Apple said that the App Store made developed $20bn in 2016, a huge 40 per cent increase on 2015.
The figure also suggests Apple made around $8.55bn in revenues from app sales as it takes 30 per cent of all revenues made.
Apple also revealed that during December a huge $3bn in revenue was generated, a record for the month, helped by the release of Mario Run on 15 December.
Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, was understandably upbeat on the numbers.
“We want to thank our entire developer community for the many innovative apps they have created — which together with our products — help to truly enrich people’s lives,” he said.
Apple also confirmed that Super Mario Run broke into the top 10 most downloaded apps of the year, despite being released two weeks before the end of the year. Pokémon Go took the top spot.
In recent months, Apple has put a spotlight on revenues from online services such as the App Store, iCloud and Apple Music, in order to counterbalance concerns on Wall Street about the iPhone, which saw its first ever drop in sales last year.
Yet even as its unit sales declined, the total number of people who own and use an Apple device has continued to grow, sustaining the App Store’s momentum.
Developers, who split app revenues 70:30 with Apple in most cases, have seen their overall income rise by at least 40 per cent in each of the past three years.
App makers’ total income from the App Store is now more than $60 billion since it was launched in 2008, which analysts say exceeds industry earnings from Google Play, the Android app store.