Pokemon GO helps App Store sales climb 40% to $20bn

Pokemon GO helped Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) 's App Store generate more than $20bn (£16bn) in revenues for app developers last year - up 40% on the year before, the tech giant said.

App Store sales topped more than $3bn (£2.4bn) in December alone, partly thanks to Super Mario Run, the latest mobile game based on a popular Nintendo character.

The Super Mario game saw more than 40 million downloads in just four days after its release and was the most downloaded app globally on Christmas and New Year's Day.

But it was Pokemon GO, released earlier in the year, that was downloaded most.

Apple said New Year's Day 2017 was the highest single day for purchases ever for the App Store, with $240m (£190m) generated.

Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Apple, said: "2016 was a record-shattering year for the App Store, generating $20bn for developers, and 2017 is off to a great start."

The App Store is a platform for developers to sell their apps and is important for Apple because it is a key feature for customers when they buy one of its devices, such as an iPhone or iPad.

It offers 2.2 million apps in total and is available in 155 countries.

Top markets include the US, China, Japan and the UK - with China seeing year-on-year growth of 90%.