Apple's app record broken with $500m spent in a week

App icons coming out of a phone

Apple has seen its most profitable App Store week in history, after users of the company's tablets and smartphones downloaded more than $500 million (330 million) of apps in the first week of the year.

The year got off to a good start with New Year's Day the busiest single day in the service's history with more paid apps and in-app purchases bought.

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, said: "This year is off to a tremendous start after a record-breaking year for the App Store and our developer community. We're so proud of the creativity and innovation developers bring to the apps they create for iOS users and that the developer community has now earned over $25 billion."

Apple said in-app purchases rose by 50 per cent over 2014, with total sales including up front purchases amounting to $15 billion (9.9 billion). App developers have benefitted greatly from the success, allowing them to pocket around $10 billion (6.6 billion).

Some of this success may be because the company released its new Swift programming language to developers in June last year, making it easier for them to produce apps.

The news comes as Apple revealed it plans to increase app prices in the EU. The company is increasing the cost of apps to reflect changes in taxes and the exchange rate between the area and the US. Additionally, apps will now be priced according to the currency rather than the same rate across the whole of the EU as they used to be organised.

1.4 million apps are currently available to download from the App Store, which is the same number that was available in rival Google Play in November last year.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.