Apple says New Year’s marked the biggest day of App Store sales ever

In a new release, Apple says that its App Store hit records sales on New Year’s Day. And in the week following that record day, Apple customers worldwide spent nearly half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases, the company reports.

“We’re so proud of the creativity and innovation developers bring to the apps they create for iOS users and that the developer community has now earned over $25 billion,” Senior VP Eddy Cue said in a statement.

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There are roughly 1.4 million apps in the App Store, and the company asserts that since 2008 the App Store has helped create more than 627,000 jobs.

In addition to the news on its bustling App Store, Apple also had a little bit of Apple Pay news to share. The company said it has increased support for the product: Banks that represent 90 percent of credit card purchase volume in the U.S. now support Apple Pay. The company also noted that a few service industry apps have incorporated Apple Pay into their apps as a payment method including OpenTable, Target, Ticketmaster, and HotelTonight.