Apple hails superlative App Store year

Mobile app e-tail worldwide will continue to expand through 2015

New Year's Day 2015 was the "single biggest day ever" for Apple's App Store in the wake of a record-breaking 2014 which also saw the total number of jobs the vendor has created or supported in the past six years tip one million.

The Cupertino giant has been crowing about its 2014 results, adding that customers around the globe spent $500m (£331m) on apps and in-app purchases.

"This year is off to a tremendous start after a record-breaking year for the App Store and our developer community," said Eddy Cue, senior vice president of internet software and services at Apple.

"We're so proud of the creativity and innovation that developers bring to the apps they create for iOS users; the developer community has now earned [us] over $25bn."

Through 2014, App Store billings rose 50 per cent and $10bn in apps and games were sold. About 1.4m apps targeting iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users are available.

Some 627,000 jobs out of a total of 1,027,000 roles either directly or indirectly added by Apple US since the App Store launch in 2008 were related to its mobile iOS ecosystem, it said.

New App Store features unveiled last year included app previews and app bundles, TestFlight for beta testing, an apps showcase for children under 12, China UnionPay as a payment option for China-based customers, and Apple Pay for mobile payments.

Market research firm Markets and Markets' World Mobile Applications Market (2010-2015) report predicts the total market for mobile apps to be worth $25bn in 2015, up from $6.8bn in 2010, with about 20.5 per cent of that going through Apple's App Store.

The US market is the largest, but other regions are growing, including EMEA.