Christmas spike: iOS Downloads and Revenue grew by more than 50%
Next to kisses under the mistletoe and turkeys for dinner, a new Christmas tradition has emerged over the last couple of years: a global spike in download and revenue figures in the app stores.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Christmas app-store spike is now a measurable annual pattern rather than a one-off: Flurry logged a record-breaking December with 50% growth back in 2009's App Store Christmas rush, and again reported iOS and Android shattering records on Christmas Day 2011. Distimo's new data extends that arc into 2013 with iOS downloads and revenue both up more than 50%, and the story's breadth — pickups at The Next Web, MacRumors and iPhone in Canada on the same day — shows how closely the industry now watches this single day of the year.
First-order effects
- Developers whose apps ride gift-device activations see an immediate windfall: a >50% jump in both downloads and revenue lands in a matter of days, disproportionately rewarding titles positioned for the holiday window.
Second-order effects
- Publishers and marketers respond by hard-coding Christmas into their release and promotion calendars — timing launches, price cuts, and paid-user acquisition pushes against the spike rather than treating it as noise.
Third-order effects
- Holiday-day metrics become a benchmarking ritual: firms like Distimo and Flurry institutionalize Christmas tracking the way retailers treat Black Friday, making year-over-year holiday comparisons a standing gauge of platform health.
The trend: App-store economics are developing a pronounced seasonal cadence, with Christmas consolidating as the single most important activation and monetization day of the mobile calendar.