A customer leaves after buying the new Apple iPhone 12 5G that went on sale, while the coronavirus disease outbreak (COVID-19) continues, at an Apple store in Brooklyn, New York, October 23, 2020.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Apple’s App Store customers spent a record $ 540 million on New Year’s Day alone, marking a 40% increase from last year, the company said on Wednesday in its annual service report.
In addition, Apple announced that it generated $ 1.8 billion in sales of digital products on the App Store in the week between Christmas Eve and now has 90 million monthly active users for its Apple Books app.
But the report did not provide updates on subscribers for its latest set of subscription products, such as Apple TV + (video streaming), Apple Music and Apple Fitness + (a competitor to Peloton). In the fall, Apple began bundling many of its subscription services as part of its Apple One program. The Services category is a key growth area that Apple has focused on in recent years, as hardware sales growth has slowed .
The Apple App Store update also comes as tensions continue to rise over Apple’s control over App Store policies. Several application developers, notably Facebook and Fortnite maker Epic Games, have publicly criticized Apple for receiving 30% of App Store sales from developers and for imposing a new policy designed to disclose which apps track your data for targeted advertising. Apple recently changed its policies to get a 15% cut from companies that generate less than $ 1 million in App Store sales, which the company said was a measure to help small businesses.
Overall, Apple Services generated revenue of $ 53.8 billion in the company’s last fiscal year, which ended in September 2021. Apple is expected to report its first quarter tax earnings in a few weeks.
Sign up for CNBC on YouTube.