App Snore
Apple's Not a Services Company Yet
Phones and computers continue to overshadow internet services.
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Apple Inc. wants to convince investors it is more than a maker of expensive slabs of glass and circuits. But its own numbers belie its attempt to rebrand itself as more than a hardware company.
The company on Thursday released its annual display of vague numbers about its App Store. The disclosure is enough to estimate that people bought roughly $29 billion worth of apps, virtual lucky eggs for Pokemon Go and other digital goods from the App Store in 2016. That’s roughly a 40 percent increase from the previous year, which is on par with the rate of growth for the App Store in 2015 and slower than the 50 percent jump Apple disclosed for 2014.