Apple said developers earned more than $70 billion since the App Store launched in 2008, and overall downloads grew more than 70 per cent in the last 12 months.

It also revealed the availability of a subscription business model across all 25 app categories helped drive a 58 per cent annual increase in active paid App Store subscribers over the past year.

Subscribers can use the subscription option for streaming apps including Netflix and Hulu, Tastemade – a mobile-first cooking network – and photo editing apps including Over and Enlight.

Not surprisingly, gaming and entertainment are the store’s top grossing categories, while lifestyle, health and fitness apps experienced over 70 per cent growth in the past year.

The photo and video category is one of the fastest growing categories, with nearly 90 per cent growth.

Apple singled out Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run as being “breakout hits” and said “other standout launches” included CancerAid, Exercise Intensity and Ace Tennis.

“People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing, adding the amount earned by developers over the past nine years is “simply mind-blowing.”

The news comes ahead of the tech giant’s World Wide Developers’ Conference, which runs from 5 June to 9 June.

In May it was reported App Store revenue increased 40 per cent year-on-year to an all time quarterly high during Apple’s fiscal Q2 2017 (calendar Q1) while the number of developers publishing on the platform increased 26 per cent year-on-year.