RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
NPR's business news starts in the App Store.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: Apple reports $10 billion in App sales, making 2013 a benchmark year for its mobile store. Last month, with the holiday season, iPhone and iPad users spent one billion dollars downloading virtual games and gadgets.
Apple credits their new operating system, iOS 7, for inspiring both new apps and redesigns of popular old ones. Some of the big moneymakers are games like "Minecraft" and the guessing game from Ellen DeGeneres, called "Heads Up."