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.

apple services 2020 hero

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

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

RebeccaL Avatar
52 months ago
Awesome. Poor Epic that cannot benefit from
The AppStore. They sacrificed themselves for small businesses ?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
InGen Avatar
52 months ago





Really not a fan of this big-tech corporate art style whatever it's called. It's prominence in all advertising now and the characters exaggerated/disproportionate features is really off-putting.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DeltaSVO Avatar
52 months ago

Amazing considering i cant find many decent apps outside the core of say 12.
So much rubbish.
I have a bit more than 12 in my "core" bundle, but largely, I agree. Outside of a few I use daily and plus some more I have to download for work utilities, I simply don't understand how much downloading goes on for this number to be reached, especially non-free apps.

Over the past many years, most of the apps I do want to try, I end up deleting afterwards.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
52 months ago
Whoa! In a word, astonishing. More than a half billion dollars in one day!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
52 months ago

Awesome. Poor Epic that cannot benefit from
The AppStore. They sacrificed themselves for small businesses ?
Heartfelt thoughts and prayers. :)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)