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A customer leaves after picking up Apple’s new iPhone 5G 12 that went on sale, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, at an Apple Store in Brooklyn, New York, on October 23, 2020 .
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Apple’s App Store customers spent a record $ 540 million on New Year’s Day alone, a 40% increase from last year, the company said Wednesday in its annual services report.
On top of that, Apple announced that it generated $ 1.8 billion in digital goods sales on the App Store in the week between Christmas Eve and now has 90 million monthly active users for its Apple Books app.
But the report did not provide updates on subscribers to its suite of newer subscription products like Apple TV + (streaming video), Apple Music, and Apple Fitness + (a Peloton competitor). In the fall, Apple began bundling many of its subscription services as part of its Apple One program. The Services category is a key growth area that Apple has focused on in recent years as sales growth hardware has dropped.
Apple’s App Store update also comes as tensions over Apple’s control over its App Store policies continue to mount. Several app developers, notably Facebook and Fortnite maker Epic Games, have publicly criticized Apple for taking a 30% cut in App Store sales from developers and for enforcing a new policy designed to reveal what applications track your data for targeted advertising. Apple recently changed its policies to take a 15% cut from businesses that generate less than $ 1 million in App Store sales, which the company said was a measure to help small businesses.
Overall, Apple services generated revenue of $ 53.8 billion in the company’s last fiscal year, which ended in September 2021. Apple is expected to report its fiscal first-quarter earnings in a few weeks.
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