Christmas Day 2013 saw a record number of app downloads, on the heels of the many smartphones and tablets given as presents this year. Overall, app downloads grew by 11% from Christmas Day 2012, according to Flurry, an analytics and advertising firm.

The firm found that games and social apps were downloaded on December 25 at twice the rate they were on an average day in December. Other categories that saw the largest surge in Christmas downloads included media (such as photo, video and music apps) and lifestyle (sports, books, magazines, entertainment).

While December 25 has been a bonanza for software developers the past couple of years, Flurry also said in its report Monday:

The size of the Christmas download spike is diminishing over time as the app market matures and globalizes. … Fewer people are coming online with mobile for the very first time. Consumers who are on second, third or fourth devices have apps that they like and trust, and while they still download new apps, there isn’t much more impetus to do so on Christmas than any other day when they have a little downtime.

On average there was a 25% year-on-year increase in app downloads in December, though that was far less than the 97% jump in December of last year. Flurry tracks more than 400,000 apps globally.

Going forward, Flurry sees the biggest growth in mobile coming from countries where Christmas is a less significant holiday or not celebrated at all. New device activations and app downloads will occur at different times of the year in such places.

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