Apple: App Store customers spent $1.1B during holidays

Apple says during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's Day, customers spent $1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases within the tech giant's App Store.

In a statement released Wednesday, Apple says the first day of 2016 was the most popular day in App Store history, with customers spending more than $144 million.

"The App Store had a holiday season for the record books," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, in a statement. Schiller says for the year, App Store customers spent more than $20 billion.

Since 2008, developers have raked in more than $40 billion, says Apple, with more than a third of that total coming in the last year.

The big holiday stretch for Apple arrives follows an executive shuffle at the tech giant, which includes naming Jeff Williams its chief operating officer and Schiller head of the App Store. Apple says Schiller will "focus on strategies" to expand the reach of the App Store, available on iPhones, iPads, Apple TV and Mac computers.

Although Apple reported a record holiday for the App Store, concerns continue to mount over the popularity of the company's latest iPhone. Shares of Apple traded lower Wednesday off a Nikkei report the company was cutting production of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus by 30% during the January-March quarter.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.