Apple's App Store to increase the number of foreign currencies it accepts

Following Apple's latest earnings report, in which its CFO Peter Oppenheimer revealed the company now had over 700,000 apps in its App Store and had set a new sales record for apps in the last quarter, the company is making further additions to the store's accepted currencies and is urging developers to focus on territory-specific apps.

According to an Apps Developers Note obtained by TechCrunch, the App Store will now accept payments in Russian Rubles, Turkish Lira, Indian Rupees, Indonesian Rupiahs, Israeli New Shekels, South African Rand, Saudi Arabian Riyals and UAE's Dirham.

The move will not only make it easier for developers to sell and users to buy apps in those regions, Apple hopes it will encourage app makers to focus on their local markets and develop apps that will directly appeal to users in those territories -- something that will help to improve sales of iPhones and iPads in countries such as India where Apple is yet to establish a strong foothold.