Apple announces record App Store revenue -- will that be enough to boost its falling share price?

Apple's stock has taken a huge hit in the past couple of months, with shares now trading close to the $100 mark. Investors seem to be overly concerned with the iPhone's performance in the last quarter of 2015, after analysts have delivered mixed sales estimates, and a so-called report of a 30 percent production cut for the first quarter of 2016 is only making things worse.

So, unsurprisingly, Apple is looking to reassure investors that it's in good financial health, revealing today a "record-breaking holiday season for the App Store". Is this the company's way of suggesting that hardware sales have actually been strong during the holiday season?

Apple says that in the two weeks ending January 3, its users have spent $1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases, $144 million of which were spent on January 1 alone. That's a record on its own, Apple claims.

"The App Store had a holiday season for the record books. We are excited that our customers downloaded and enjoyed so many incredible apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, spending over $20 billion on the App Store last year alone", says Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller.

Since 2008, Apple says that developers have received nearly $40 billion in App Store revenue, with over a third of that amount being received in 2015 alone.

"Gaming, Social Networking and Entertainment were among the year's most popular App Store categories across Apple products, with customers challenging themselves to Minecraft: Pocket Edition, Trivia Crack and Heads Up!, and staying in touch with friends and family using Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Snapchat", says Apple. "Games and subscription apps dominated this year’s top grossing titles including Clash of Clans, Monster Strike, Game of War - Fire Age and Fantasy Westward Journey, as well as Netflix, Hulu and Match".

Apple's stock started trading at $100.56 at the market's opening today, reaching a low of $100.22 and a high of $102.03. Apple's announcement doesn't seem to have any major impact on share prices, however. This is the lowest that Apple's stock has traded in the past 12 months. The company will reveal iPhone sales on January 26, so there's a good chance its stock might drop even further until then.

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