Apple announced some huge numbers yesterday for the App Store. Crazy big numbers in fact:

– Customers spent over $10 billion in the App Store in 2013

– Over $1 billion was spent last December alone

– Almost 3 billion apps were downloaded in December, which was the most successful month in App Store history.

Jon Gruber adds some useful perspective on how striking this is:

Interesting comparison to today’s App Store announcement. Apple’s retail stores, which the company started in 2001 and which sell hardware costing thousands of dollars a pop, generate $20 billion in annual revenue. The App Store, which started in 2008 and predominantly sells apps costing a few bucks a pop, is already at $10 billion in annual revenue.

These are incredible numbers and it’s still a little amazing to see the momentum and impact of mobile apps. I know I’ve done my share to contribute to those crazy figures – to the tune of hundreds and hundreds of iOS apps purchased.

The App Store is heading for another big milestone – one million apps. And apps designed for the iPad now account for more than one third of those available in the App Store, despite the iPad being released nearly two years after the App Store opened.

The last announced numbers from Apple, back on their Q3 earnings call, were 900,000 apps total and 375,00 iPad apps.  Appsfire.com recently tweeted that the store had hit the 950,000 apps mark – and Appshopper.com shows 953,218 available apps as I type this.

One million apps will be a notable milestone for the App Store. 500,000 iPad apps will be a big one for the iPad as well – and I imagine that’s not far off. We should see a new iPads Apple event next month and I’m sure we’ll get plenty of detail on all these big numbers.