(Telecompaper) Apple has announced that the first week of January set a new record for billings from the App Store with customers globally spending nearly half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases. New Year's Day 2015 marked the single biggest day ever in App Store sales history. These milestones follow a record-breaking 2014, in which billings rose 50 percent and apps generated over USD 10 billion in revenue for developers. To date, App Store developers have earned a cumulative USD 25 billion from the sale of apps and games. The introduction of iOS 8 gave developers the ability to create new apps and offer new features which proved popular with App Store customers worldwide, Apple said.