App Store Tops $10 Billion in Sales in 2013

Apple announced today that its 2013 App Store sales topped a staggering $10 billion, with $1 billion coming in December alone. That number reflects the nearly 3 billion apps that iOS users downloaded over the course of the month, making it the App Store's most successful month ever.

Today's press release also noted that app developers have earned in the neighborhood of $15 billion since the App Store's inception. Unsurprisingly, some of the most popular apps of the year included Candy Crush Saga, Puzzles & Dragons, Minecraft, QuizUp and Clumsy Ninja. Some came as surprise successes - Ellen DeGeneres' Heads Up, ProtoGeo’s Moves, Simon Filip’s Afterlight and Kevin

Ng’s Impossible Road all did very well. Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, Eddie Cue, thanked App Store customers for making 2013 the success that it was, and added, "The lineup of apps for the holiday season was astonishing and we look forward to seeing what developers create in 2014.”

Apple credits the introduction of iOS 7's new interface and enhanced features as part of the reason for last years success, and praised developers such as Evernote, Yahoo!, AirBnB, OpenTable, Tumblr, Pinterest and American Airlines for especially creative content, efficiency and performance of their apps. The press release also listed Duolingo, Frogmind, Simogo, Lemonista, Atypical Games, Plain Vanilla Corp., BASE and Savage Interactive as emerging developers to keep an eye on in 2014.