App Store Downloads Spiked 87% On Christmas Day 2012 [Report]

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Santa loves his iPhone too.
Santa loves his iPhone too.

Apple’s iOS devices have always been hot Christmas gifts, especially for young folks. This year was no exception. Mobile app analytics firm Distimo is reporting that App Store downloads spiked a staggering 87% on Christmas Day, and revenues went up 70%.

The iPad looked to be the biggest hit this year, as downloads for iPad-specific apps in the App Store rose 140%. Apple recently released the iPad mini, and there’s no doubt that the cheaper tablet ended up under more than a few Christmas trees.

According to Distimo, the most downloaded, non-Apple iOS apps on Christmas Day were Google’s YouTube app, Google Maps, ElfYourself, Where’s My Holiday, Skype, Subway Surfers, Flow Free, Furby, Instagram, and Emoji & Unicode Icons in that order.

App Store developers rush to release new apps and big updates in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Over the years, the last couple weeks in December have become super busy with new app release and announcements. The holidays are a very lucrative opportunity for developers to take advantage of a bunch of new iOS device users.

Distimo’s year in review report for 2012 noted that Apple itself is the top app publisher in the App Store with popular apps like Pages, Garageband, and iPhoto.

Source: Distimo

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