App Store generates almost $900 million in seven days

Apple says that its App Store made $890 million in revenue in the week beginning Christmas Eve.

The period is traditionally one of Apple's biggest weeks, with consumers receiving smartphones and tablets for Christmas. The $890 million is a new record for the company.

The firm says $300 million in purchase were made on New Year's Day alone.

Amongst the hit apps during the period was Pokémon GO, which returned to the top of the charts on December 21st. The game received additional promotional following the introduction of its new augmented reality features. Apple has been aggressive in pushing its ARKit technology, and there are already almost 2,000 ARKit-enabled apps on the Store. These include games like CSR Racing 2, King of Pool and Stack AR, alongside non-games products such as the Amazon app, Night Sky and Snapchat.

"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 App Store has generated over $86 billion since it launched in July 2008.