Mobile phone users spent $32 billion on in-app purchases in the first quarter of this year, according to an App Annie report. That amounts to the biggest quarter since records began and a 40 percent increase from the same quarter in 2020.
The new numbers show the massive impact the pandemic has had on the app market, according to the report. As lockdown orders descended and people began to grasp the reality of the virus, they found ways to seek stimulation aside from their usual social gatherings in person pre-pandemic.
Smartphones seemed to be the answer, App Annie found, with people downloading games as well as video streaming and social media apps. The market began to grow faster than it had before because of that, with smartphone users spending $9 billion more in the first quarter of 2021 as opposed to a year prior.
The Apple App Store has been seeing bountiful returns, with over $1.8 billion in sales from the last holiday season. That included a record number of $540 million in sales for New Year’s Day this year, PYMNTS reported.
Customers were spending a record amount during the holiday season, with the App Store gaining around $200 billion for developers since its 2008 debut. The numbers were around 40 percent higher than they had been in 2019. And Apple has said it has around 90 million monthly active users on the Apple Books app.
Some of the most popular and best-selling apps include ShareTheMeal, Wakeout! and FaceTime.
“Now more than ever before, customers around the world have found inspiration and value in the breadth and quality of Apple’s services, which have impacted their lives in big and small ways every day,” Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue said in a Jan. 6 statement.
Cue said the company was “incredibly optimistic” about where it was going, according to the statement.
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