Meta had the most popular app on Apple’s App Store this Christmas: the Oculus virtual reality app. That is the companion app users must download to manage the Oculus VR headset and its top ranking indicates the device was one of the most popular gifts over the holidays.
While app store rankings are not a definitive measure of an app’s popularity, it does provide a rough idea of trending applications.
Meta’s VR headset, Oculus, was one of the most popular tech gifts over the holidays
Downloads of Oculus’ companion app shot to the top of the App Store after Christmas suggestings its headsets were popular gifts. Prior to this, Oculus was a top 10 iOS app in the United States only but by December 26, it became a top-five app in 14 different countries and the number one app in the US, according to Justin Patterson, an equity research analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets. The app also topped the Google Play store on Android devices in addition to iOS.
The app was downloaded 1.3 million times globally between December 21-27 between both iOS and Android app marketplaces, as per-app analytics firm Sensor Tower. Week over week, the increase in new downloads was 363%. Sensor Tower counts 13 million lifetime installs of the app, meaning that 10% of downloads just came from this past week.
Meta has not provided any official data on how many VR headsets were sold over Christmas. The headset costs around $300 which is much cheaper than most of the competition.
This marks the first time the app has been at the top of the App Store chart on Christmas. The feat comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in October announced that the company would be rebranding from Facebook to Meta and invest $10 Billion to create the metaverse.
Shares in Meta went up 3.4% on Monday after news broke that the Oculus VR app topped the App Store chart.
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