Apple announces $8B paid out to developers

Apple's iOS App Store saw a boom in app purchases at the end of the year that propelled total developer payments to an impressive US$8 billion. This figure was relayed by CEO Tim Cook, who was speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco today (transcript available via Macworld).

This is a $1 billion increase from the $7 billion in payments Cook announced earlier this year and $1.5 billion more than the $6.5 billion that was announced in October. This significant jump is likely the result of gift-giving season when new iPad and iPhone owners loaded up their iOS devices with apps. Apple sold more than 70 million iPhone and iPads in the holiday quarter.

[Via The Next Web]