App Store sets cash registers ringing, rakes in $10 bn in 2013

Technology giant Apple garnered more than USD 317 per second through its software marketplace App Store in 2013, raking in excess of USD 10 billion in its best annual performance ever.
Customers spent over USD 10 billion on the App Store in 2013, including over USD one billion in December alone, Apple said in a statement.
App Store customers downloaded almost three billion apps in December, making it the most successful month in App Store history, it added.
Its developers have now earned USD 15 billion on the App Store, it said.
"We would like to thank our customers for making 2013 the best year ever for the App Store. The lineup of apps for the holiday season was astonishing and we look forward to seeing what developers create in 2014," Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue said.

The company said 2013 saw surprise hits like Ellen DeGeneres' Heads Up, ProtoGeo's Moves, Simon Filip's Afterlight and Kevin Ng's Impossible Road.

Apps like Candy Crush Saga, Puzzles & Dragons, Minecraft, QuizUp and Clumsy Ninja were international success, while Duolingo (US), Simogo (Sweden), Frogmind (UK), Plain Vanilla Corp (Iceland), Atypical Games (Romania), Lemonista (China), BASE (Japan) and Savage Interactive (Australia) emerged as developers to watch in 2014.
The App Store offers more than one million apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 500,000 native iPad apps.
Apple's iOS-based devices compete with Google Inc's Android system and phones and tablets based on Microsoft software.

These apps are available in 24 categories, including newspapers and magazines, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness, travel and kids.
The App Store opened on July 10, 2008, via an update to iTunes.