Apple reported record sales past New Year: over half a billion dollars. This sum is roughly 40% higher compared to the previous New Year. If you count from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve, that amount is about two bn dollars.
Per Apple's report, its primary services' progress before FY2021 Q1 results on January 27, 2021, games dominated this year's holiday spending.
Tech giant Apple informed that developers earned $200 bn since its inception in 2008. It is possible to conclude that in 2020, developers made $45 bn as the previous year Apple reported that developers earned $146 since the App Store started to operate.
There is no robust data that may suggest how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Apple sales. The only statistic we have that previous year, between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, consumers spent $1.42 billion. A year before, about $1.22 bn.
The pandemic situation is not controllable yet. However, despite interruptions due to outlets being closed, the above report suggests that Apple is still strong in providing its services.
Experts expect that due to this earnings based on services, the Silicon Valley giant will focus more on its services like AppleCare support, the App Store, the new subscription-based Apple Fitness+ service for Apple Watch, and other digital content as well. We can also suppose that Apple Card and Apple Pay are also in focus.
There is also news related to the App Store Small Business Program. This program aims to help developers who earned less than $1 mln per year. It does so by decreasing the usual commission of 30% to 15% for in-app purchases. The first batch of developers has been added to the program, yet Apple has to disclose its number. The only statement from Apple is that a significant amount of developers will benefit from the program. One interesting point is that App Store Small Business Program launches parallel to the European Commission's antitrust regulator continuing its investigation into App Store rules.
Another Apple record is in the Apple Music category. The Cupertino based giant hasn’t disclosed any corresponding numbers, yet informed that ninety percent of the iOS 14 users tried the new features like Listen Now and personal radio stations.
Another record comes from Apple Books. It is on the path to reach 100 million monthly active users, just 10 million to go. What is more, 90% of stores in the US, 85% of stores in the UK, and 99% of stores in Australia accept Apple Pay.
Apple informs that App Pay is ready to be used in online shopping. Furthermore, customers from more than 100 hundred countries can use the Apple TV app, which available on more than 1 billion devices. The app is also available on other smart TVs.
