Apple’s App Store made $1.1 billion over the holidays

As per the company’s press release, customers racked up a $1.1-billion bill in apps and in-app purchases during the two weeks ended January 3. New Year’s Day set records for the company with customers spending over $144 million.

January 1st marked the day with the highest sales figure ever for the App store.

In a news release on Wednesday, Apple said total billings from paid apps and purchases made within apps from iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV customers was “over $20 billion” in 2015.

The App Store not only provides Apple with a distinguishing selling point, but also helps to retain consumers and, in some cases, gets them to buy more devices within the Apple ecosystem. Over one-third of it was generated in the a year ago alone, it added.

Still, those payouts mean the world’s biggest company feels comfortable enough to make the claim that it’s responsible for creating and supporting 1.9-million jobs in the US. For comparison’s sake, Apple said this past August that it had paid out $33 billion to developers to date, with $8 billion so far in 2015. Apple says that more than 1.4 million of those jobs are attributable to the community of app creators, software engineers and entrepreneurs building apps for iOS, as well as non-IT jobs supported directly and indirectly through the “app economy”. The top game apps included Minecraft, Clash of Clans, Game of War and Monster Strike.

The experts predict that the sales for the iPhones are going to decrease in 2016, which was until now the biggest source of the company’s profits, has the people from Apple anxious.

Considering that the recently-launched fourth generation Apple TV comes with its own App Store – giving devs and customers more options than ever – it seems that 2016 may turn out to be a better year than ever for app makers and users alike.