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May 10, 2013

Help Apple Reach Next Big Milestone, Get $10,000 Prize

By Steve Anderson, Contributing TMCnet Writer

Another major milestone is in the works for the Apple (News - Alert) App Store, as it's about to reach the 50 billion mark in terms of apps downloaded. For that one special user out there that gets Apple over the 50 billion hump, meanwhile, a special prize is in store in the form of a $10,000 gift card for the App Store.



But this isn't just a one-shot deal for that 50 billion downloader; while that user will walk away with the big price, there will be another 50 prizes given away directly after, each for $500 for the App Store. Better yet, the App Store gift cards can reportedly be used for books, movies, music, and everything else the store offers up, so even with just one of the $500 cards, that's still plenty of material readily available for users to pick up.

As with any contest, there are some rules and such to bear in mind. Only 25 entrants per day will be registered, and each must be at least 13 years old to get in on the action. Given that some apps can run as much as $999--a price slot held by the BarMax CA (News - Alert) app, the product of Harvard alumni for use as a study aid in getting through the California bar exam--having $10,000 on hand may well be useful.

Of course, reaction is mixed. Some believe that the prize is a good amount, but a bit too limited. Some believe that Apple should extend that $10,000 to include Apple hardware as well, which would have been a pretty good idea. Allowing the winners to upgrade hardware if so inclined would have been a worthwhile move on Apple's part, and probably wouldn't have been difficult to engineer as Apple has retail arms for its equipment as well. Most of us love movies and music, not to mention apps and games, but to spend $10,000 on such in a space of less than several years is hard to imagine. Even spending some of that on apps for work would be a difficult task.

Still, it's Apple's contest, and it's got the right to give away whatever prizes it likes. Including the next 50 users in the proceedings is also welcome; it would have to sting to be number 49,999,999,999 or number 50,000,000,001 in downloading from the App Store. But there's certainly something to be said for those advocating a bit more flexibility on Apple's part, even if the contest is pretty nice in its own right.




Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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