Christmas is Black Friday for apps amid download record

When Walt Disney Co began considering the best time to release an iPad version of its popular online kids game "Club Penguin" this year, only one date came to mind. "It was all designed to lead up to Christmas," said Chris Heatherly, the head of Club Penguin. Disney anticipates getting about half of its yearly subscribers for the virtual-world game during the week of Christmas - and especially on the holiday itself. "It's definitely our prime time," he said. 

Disney's strategy illustrates how Christmas has become the most lucrative day of the year for makers of mobile applications, in what is now the equivalent of a Black Friday for retailers or a Cyber Monday for e-commerce companies. That's because December 25 is the day that people take the wraps off gifts of smartphones and tablets - immediately spurring many to download games, productivity tools and other apps from Apple's App Store and Google's Play store. 

This Christmas is projected to set another record for app downloads, following 328-million downloads last December 25 - the busiest day ever - and 36% above 2011, according to analytics firm Flurry. According to a Harris survey commissioned by mobile-app and website-testing company Soasta, 30% of Americans plan to download an app on December 25. 

"One of the first things you do when you get a shiny new present is you want to take it for a test run," said Marcos Sanchez, vice-president at App Annie, a company that measures app downloads. "It's the magical trifecta of something new, time to waste and wanting to fill your time with fun stuff." 

While many developers like Disney plan all year for a Christmas rush, a final blitz comes in the last few weeks. Apple's offices close between December 21 and December 27, leading app makers to rush to get their updates submitted and approved before the deadline. A plug from Apple on the front page of the App Store guarantees a flood of downloads. 

Apple said earlier this year that 2-billion apps were downloaded last December, a monthly record. Tom Neumayr, a spokesman for the Cupertino, California-based company, declined to comment further. Christopher Katsaros, a spokesman for Mountain View, California-based Google, didn't return requests for comment. 

The holiday surge has created a dogfight among developers to get noticed in an increasingly crowded market. Apple's App Store and Google Play each have more than a million apps available. 

Some developers use straightforward tactics to grab attention, such as introducing new titles, cutting prices and hunting for press. Others use digital-advertising campaigns to manipulate Apple's rankings by guaranteeing a certain number of downloads and better visibility in the App Store.