Apple launches countdown to 50B app downloads
Apple on Thursday posted a countdown to 50 billion app download from the App Store, promising to give away a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to the person who downloads the landmark app.
First spotted by Macstories, the official countdown ticker is viewable within iTunes under the App Store section.
From the countdown page:
In addition to the $10,000 gift card for the 50 billionth app download, Apple will also award a $500 App Store Gift Card to the next 50 customers following the momentous download.
The iTunes page also has an updated list of the top all-time paid and free apps, with respective number ones being Angry Birds and Facebook.
As with any sweepstakes and giveaway in the U.S., no purchase is necessary, and Apple has setup an alternate entry webpage for those who don't wish to buy an app or download a free title. At the time of this writing, the page was still under construction.
First spotted by Macstories, the official countdown ticker is viewable within iTunes under the App Store section.
From the countdown page:
The performance of the App Store has been overwhelming, steadily growing in size and revenues since its launch in 2008. As an example of the store's explosive growth, Apple launched a similar countdown to 1 billion app downloads in April 2009, which was followed by a promotion for the 10 billionth app download in January 2011. Most recently, Apple started a countdown ticker to 25 billion downloads in February 2012, meaning download rates roughly doubled over the past year.Apps have revolutionized the way we play video games, consume news, do business, education, communicate, create art, and so much more.
In addition to the $10,000 gift card for the 50 billionth app download, Apple will also award a $500 App Store Gift Card to the next 50 customers following the momentous download.
The iTunes page also has an updated list of the top all-time paid and free apps, with respective number ones being Angry Birds and Facebook.
As with any sweepstakes and giveaway in the U.S., no purchase is necessary, and Apple has setup an alternate entry webpage for those who don't wish to buy an app or download a free title. At the time of this writing, the page was still under construction.
Comments
Like the addition of the next 50 getting $500!
Wish you could use that gift card to buy Apple hardware and not just software. I can't wait for the new Mac Pro.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/01/07App-Store-Tops-40-Billion-Downloads-with-Almost-Half-in-2012.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwmac
Wish you could use that gift card to buy Apple hardware and not just software.
Seriously.
How would you ever even be able to spend $10,000 on the app store? I don't think my iPad can hold that many apps!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdq2
Seriously.
How would you ever even be able to spend $10,000 on the app store? I don't think my iPad can hold that many apps!
Same here. Some Mac apps though are expensive as are movies and TV shows. I would probably buy mostly OS X apps if I won and not so many iOS ones.
Though I have to admit I am addicted to one game I play on my iPad and iPhone called Modern War so I would probably spend $500 or so on "gold" in the game to update my base and units. I would never spend my own cash on a cell phone game but with free Apple money why not.
I suspect Apple doesn't pick [I]the[/I] [I]x[/I] billionth app but picks out of an increasing growing list of [I]x[/I] billionth apps that fit the app choice and possibly country code that best represents their product.
What do I mean by a growing list? Without even considering ever so slight variations of the [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol#Clock_strata]strata[/URL] pulled from the atomic clocks for network times I think there is a likelihood of multiple purchases at the same exact recorded time. Think about it. Apple uses transaction servers around the world for app purchases whose network times are probably only measured in 1,000th of a second (i.e.: milliseconds). This means there may be more than one app that would have registered on the year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and millisecond relative to timezones.
"redeemable in the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore"
I would load up on movies and TV shows, and my wife would spend that on iBooks before I could blink.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Speculation warning....
I suspect Apple doesn't pick the x billionth app but picks out of an increasing growing list of x billionth apps that fit the app choice and possibly country code that best represents their product.
What do I mean by a growing list? Without even considering ever so slight variations of the strata pulled from the atomic clocks for network times I think there is a likelihood of multiple purchases at the same exact recorded time. Think about it. Apple uses transaction servers around the world for app purchases whose network times are probably only measured in 1,000th of a second (i.e.: milliseconds). This means there may be more than one app that would have registered on the year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and millisecond relative to timezones.
I assume they have some sort of counter/sequence/autonumber value associated with every sale. It would be based on that, not by going back and looking at the logs. Depending on how the sequence (to use the Oracle term for this) is set up, it might not be strictly correct, but close enough for this purpose. (For example, if there is a central sequence then the servers around the world may pick up batches of to-be-used sequences every second or minute.)
That's my point.
indeed. evidenced by the fact that a purchase isn't even necessary to enter the sweepstakes. so they throw the non-purchase entries and some number of entries of those who purchased around the 50 billionth app into a pool, and that's the pool from which the winner is chosen?
The no-purchase necessary is a legal requirement, as far as I know, but but I wouldn't think the pool they pick from isn't completely random. For example, if the 50,000,000,000th app was Sex Positions Game - 18+ Free or Super Monster Bros by Adventure Time Pocket Free they might use one of the other viable candidates that all fall under the 50 billionth time stamp to better represent their store. They may even choose a country that would benefit by the advertising, like China or India.
This is just criminal and Apple really should get rid of these developers.
[VIDEO]
I hope that I don't win, as I would be required to pay Federal and State taxes on the value of the prize.
Well, they sell 800 apps per second so they could still record it by millisecond...but yeah, I get your point. And thanks for that video! Ridiculous!
Whoever won that would be millionaires!
[IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/24471/width/200/height/400[/IMG]
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
The no-purchase necessary is a legal requirement, as far as I know, but but I wouldn't think the pool they pick from isn't completely random. For example, if the 50,000,000,000th app was Sex Positions Game - 18+ Free or Super Monster Bros by Adventure Time Pocket Free they might use one of the other viable candidates that all fall under the 50 billionth time stamp to better represent their store. They may even choose a country that would benefit by the advertising, like China or India.
This is just criminal and Apple really should get rid of these developers.
I suppose trash games like the embed demonstrates should be punished with banishment based on consumer complaints. Apple cannot realistically police hundreds of thousands of apps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by robogobo
I calculate it'll hit 50 billion in 9 days. Anybody want to double check that for me?
So on the ninth day, buy $5,000 worth of apps.
Declare yourself a corporation and pay none.
Spend the lot on AIPs in Jurassic Park Builder.