Apple Highlights Services in 2020 as App Store Sets Single-Day Spending Record on New Year's Day
Apple has today announced that New Year's Day saw a new single-day spending record of over $540 million on the App Store, as the company celebrated a number of highlights from its various services in 2020.
Recapping 2020, Apple announced that the year's most downloaded apps were Zoom and Disney+, and games on the App Store "became more popular than ever." Apple revealed that developers around the world have now earned more than $200 billion since the App Store was launched in 2008 from digital goods and services. Apple added that App Store customers spent $1.8 billion on digital goods and services over the week between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, driven largely by games.
2020 was also a "record year" for Apple Music. More than 90 percent of iOS 14 listeners have used new features such as "Listen Now" and "Autoplay," and engagement with Apple Music's real-time lyrics feature doubled last year.
Apple claims that the Apple TV app is now available on over one billion screens in over 100 countries and regions, aided by launches on launched on select LG, Sony, and VIZIO smart TVs, as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
Apple teased its lineup for Apple TV+ in 2021, with second seasons of "Dickinson," "Servant," "For All Mankind," "The Morning Show," and "See," as well as brand new originals such as "Losing Alice," "Palmer," and "Cherry."
Other highlights include the fact that Apple Books saw "remarkable" growth of new customers in 2020 and now draws over 90 million active users every month. Apple Pay is now accepted by more than 90 percent of stores in the U.S., 85 percent of stores in the UK, and 99 percent of stores in Australia. The company also celebrated the success of the launch of Apple Fitness+ and featured the importance of delivering "curated world-class journalism" via Apple News.
Popular Stories
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development.
Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag.
Timing
Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false.
The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence.
Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476
The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick.
"We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote.
If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices.
With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...
