According to a new report from App Store analytics firm Distimo (via The Next Web), Apple's App Store once again experienced a great spike in interest on Christmas day, with revenue increasing by 56 percent and the number of total downloads rising by 53 percent.

The firm tied the increase in downloads and revenue to interest from Western countries on Christmas day, and also credits developers such as Rovio Entertainment and ZeptoLab strategically releasing their titles just before Christmas to maximize product interest and profit potential.

appstore_christmasday13

Main contributors to this year’s Christmas spike were Western countries. For example: download volume in the United Kingdom increased by 161 percent on Christmas day. In addition, revenues in United States almost doubled with a plus of 97 percent in the Apple App Store. In the large Asian app markets like Japan and Korea this trend was hardly visible.

However, while the figures show strong App Store numbers on Christmas day this year, the report also notes that the percentages in 2013 are lower compared to the past two years. On Christmas day 2011, Distimo stated that there was a threefold growth in download volume compared to an average day in December, which was followed by near double download growth a year later.

Other notable Christmas 2013 findings from the firm include data showing that the increase in paid downloads was greater than that of free downloads, and that the growth of revenue from in-app purchases was less than that of the growth in revenue from apps charging a one-time fee.

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
146 months ago
Yeah, but it looks like the scariest part of a roller coaster…

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djtech42 Avatar
146 months ago
I love this statement because I really hate IAPs:

Hopefully developers who have been ripping people off with IAPs will learn their lesson.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArtOfWarfare Avatar
146 months ago
Damn what sort of animation is that, HTML5 based? Because I can see it on my iphone :P
Ha - no, it's a gif. WebKit's implementation of CSS-3 allows you to animate pngs, and Firefox supports apngs... AFAIK, there's no newer way of doing sprite animations on IE, and I don't know of any HTML5 technologies that let you do sprite animations (granted, nearly all of my web programming experience is with JS/JQ, not HTML or CSS.)

I'd actually consider an iTunes gift card a lame Christmas present. Too sterile. A sweater or something would be nicer.
I disagree. Gift cards are very nice. I'm $20K in debt right now. I need money more than anything else. But asking for money is no fun. Your thank you card would look something like, "Thank you for the $100. I'm now only $19.9K in debt." With gift cards though, you can say, "I used the $100 Cheesecake Factory gift card to take my fiancé out on our anniversary - without you, we would have had ramen noodles for dinner."

I also got $100 towards Macy's. We used it to buy stuff off our registry. $25 towards iTunes - we'll buy music for the reception.

A sweater? I have a relative who knits things for everyone ever year. Don't get me wrong - I wear the mittens all the time, but I definitely prefer my North Face to any sweater she could knit.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Michael Scrip Avatar
146 months ago


The good news: Apple China pre-sold 100,000 iPhone's in 2 days since being available.

The bad news: This Chinese carrier has over 763 millon subscribers.

It's a long play. It's not like Apple will be selling iPhones on China Mobile for a couple weeks and then disappear.

No... Apple will be selling iPhones on China Mobile for the foreseeable future.

People seem to forget that the iPhone has been available on 2 major Chinese carriers for the last 4 years. Why would adding the 3rd major carrier ever be considered a bad thing?

I also remember hearing "if someone hasn't gotten an iPhone already... being on China Mobile won't persuade them"

Well with 100,000 pre-orders in the first 2 days on China Mobile... clearly there were some people who were interested. Do you think those are the only people EVER who will buy an iPhone on China Mobile? Of course not. Again... it's a long play.

Besides... these were pre-orders that you could only reserve online or by calling a hotline.

Let's see what happens when the iPhone is officially available on China Mobile January 17th.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lionel Messi Avatar
146 months ago
I love this statement because I really hate IAPs:
Other notable Christmas 2013 findings from the firm include data showing that the increase in paid downloads was greater than that of free downloads, and that the growth of revenue from in-app purchases was less than that of the growth in revenue from apps charging a one-time fee.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
146 months ago
I'd actually consider an iTunes gift card a lame Christmas present. Too sterile. A sweater or something would be nicer.

Excuse me, but I prefer to buy my own clothing. When I get an iTunes gift card, I can use it to get exactly what I want. For the right person, it is the perfect gift.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Include These New Features for Your iPhone

Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update. Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far. Redesigned Camera App A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19. On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...