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Apple Promises Mother Lode to Billionth App Downloader
An anonymous reader writes "Apple has posted a counter of App Store downloads as they approach one billion downloads. The lucky billionth downloader gets to walk away with a stash consisting of a MacBook Pro, 32GB iPod Touch, Time Capsule and $10,000 iTunes gift certificate. The App Store now has over 30,000 applications."
Apple Promises Motherload to Billionth App Downloader
They promise to deliver Bristol's massive storm water drain system?! But how will they deal with flooding?! I am dubious.
Well, I knew this cult would cost a lot of time and money. Fellow Apple fanboys, gather your shovels and pickaxes. There is much work to be done before morning! Steve Jobs, thine will be done.
My work here is dung.
Isn't it mother lode, not motherload?
Anyone who downloads an app today gets entered into a lottery with the chance to win. You can also submit a form to enter without purchasing anything.
me likey!
*drools some more*
*still drooling*
ok, done.
I wouldn't kick that new MBP outta bed for eating crackers.
(would we, crackers?)
Sent from your iPad.
Mod that post -1 incorrect (they really need that option). The rules say that the random selection occurs when the order is indeterminate, but they are looking for the billionth one.
Gets to suck Steve Jobs cancer infected cock. Also will be given his personal 666 core mac pro with "Lion" installed (aka Windows 7 with tweaked icons).
MotherLoad implies a very heavy workload.
Mother Lode means hitting the "main vein" of a gold or precious material mine.
Oh, and since I mentioned Naugzteez, Godwin's law and all that...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
Isnt it mother lode, not motherload?
This is Slashdot. Their is no room for corect speling or word usage. UR 1 of those gammer natzies who shud stop bein so pedantec.
Ah, let's just stop arguing about symantecs, shall we?
P.S.: I got a load for your mother...
Desert loving in your eyes all the way
If I listen to your lies would you say
Im a man without conviction
Im a man who doesnt know
How to sell a contradiction
You come and go
You come and go
Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Didnt hear your wicked words every day
And you used to be so sweet I heard you say
That my love was an addiction
When we cling our love is strong
When you go youre gone forever
You string along
You string along
Every day is like a survival
Youre my lover not my rival
Every day is like a survival
Youre my lover not my rival
Im a man without conviction
Im a man who doesnt know
How to sell a contradication
You come and go
You come and go
A big surprise in your next tax return.
...father lode.
They're currently about 60 million away. And each of those downloads gets an entry into the drawing. So if they're giving away $15,000 worth of stuff then the value of an entry is *way* less than one penny.
So... what are you going to do with your $10,000?
10,000 songs? :/
Can that iTunes gift certificate be used for a new MacBook, or am I stuck with music?
Can't use the card outside the store or other hardware, right?
Then... Legitimize my Kazaa, eDonkey, WinMX, Limewire, Uesenet, BitTorrent library.
Seems like this would be pretty easy to cheat. Just make a bunch of repeated network connections to download a small, free app.
I'm guessing you'd need to do more than just ping their servers, but it seems like spoofing a download would be possible, provided that they aren't using hardware-enforced crypto. It's similar to the DRM problem: how do you keep iPhone users from downloading apps yet still allow them to download apps?
Is apple willing to pay the taxes on all that for you? Seriously that gotta be at least 13K in prizes for which the US gov will want ~ 50%. Most companies offer people the prize or let then refuse it all together (this is what "The Price is Right" does). Most people end up turning down prizes because they can't afford to pay the taxes on them. Even if the person has the cash on hand to pay the taxes who is going to fork over 5K just to get a prize. Basically they'd be getting everything at half price. Apple knows this and is using the "prize" as just a publicity stunt..
You are the one billionth person to visit this page! Click here to collect your prize!
Something sounds awfully familiar about this ad campaign...
By the time you get to the billionth download, variable pricing will ensure the card is only worth two songs, both sung by the Chipmunks (or alternatively, the Chipettes).
I recommend "The Girls of Rock and Roll" and "Weekend In France, Italy, England, Amsterdam, Greece..."
I want to have Steve Jobs' baby.
Without Apple, my life is meaningless.
I wonder if 'download an app' applies to downloading updates for existing apps?
- James
It isn't the only error. I just tried their form for entry without purchase. They say you are "Limited to 25 entries per day", but on only my second attempt at entry it said, "You have entered to many times today".
I'm not buying 24 apps a day. I don't even own a device to use them. Which is why I'm entering to win one.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
"As of today, nearly one billion apps have been downloaded around the globe. So we just want to say thanks â" a billion. Download an app and youâ(TM)ll automatically get the chance to win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro. Just go to the iTunes Store, browse the App Store, and download your best app yet." Come on Anon, at least read what you're submitting.
Ah, let's just stop arguing about symantecs, shall we?
You're right, we can all agree Symantec isn't worth arguing about.
My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
The lucky billionth downloader gets to walk away with a stash consisting of:
* a MacBook Pro - Do Not Want
* 32GB iPod Touch - Do Not Want
* Time Capsule - Do Not Want
* $10,000 iTunes gift certificate - Do Not Want
How about just giving a cash prize, Apple?
Will those $10.000 in song certificates come from China?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I understand some of the prizes but why would they give someone that has an iPhone or an iPod already an iPod?
Assuming that timer is worth anything in terms of the real second-by-second rate, and that the moment I measured is representative of the daily average rate, both of which are probably ridiculous assumptions, I get ~128 seconds (suspiciously round binary number) for ~10000 counts.
Assuming that remains constant and can be linearly extrapolated (also ridiculous), I get about 10 days and 10 hours (with ~70320000 to go and 78.125/second = ~900096 seconds) from now before a billion is crossed. So, early on April 20 or so?
Someone aught to do a web page with a timer :-)
They are still a full 70 Million downloads away from a billion. It will still be a while.
My mother was impregnated, you insensitive clod!
The billionth download will be for the iFart which, after their loss in court will invalidate the sale. Since Apple will have provided some, but not all of said, "Motherlode" when this occurs, a litigation will ensue between customer 1,000,000,000 and customer 1,000,000,001 after the iFart app was remotely deleted retroactively.
Pull-my-finger will join the fray as well, suing Apple for providing so much publicity for the now gone iFart and thereby disciminating against their valiant legal efforts. By bizzare coincidence it is discovered that both of the litigating customers are deaf and, on this single issue, join forces to sue Apple under the ADA for providing thousands of hours of music to which they cannot listen. These litigations end up dividing enough of Apple's legal team that Psystar is able to win a narrow victory allowing it to produce Apple clones at a significant savings to consumers.
Since this coincides with the acknowledge of Microsoft that Windows 7 does in fact cause computers to literally, not figuratively, explode; the sudden upsurge of Windows refugees migrates to Psystar's cheaper alternative. This Golden opportunity lost, Apple tries to weather storm by moving the decimal on iTunes to the end of the 9 and hoping that no one notices.
Alas for them an astute slashdot reader notices and in a display of real time new rarely seen before, or even since, it hits the front page within minutes of being discovered. Within even their own fondest followers now disenchanted, Apple finally succumbs, and only Psystar is left to carry what is left of its iBanner.
And to think that all the millionth burger eater at McDonald's got was food poisoning.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Can you use the iTunes gift certificate for mac apps and apple hardware as $10,000 is a lot just for music and phone apps and I don't like today music.
Retail value: $0.
Lol.
Could you fill a 32GB iPOD touch with $10k worth of iTunes downloads?
Per the official rules:
The prize will be awarded for the entry (either through an app download or through the non-purchase online entry) sent immediately following the download of the 999,999,999th app.
So entering any time prior to JUST before the counter hits the magic number is completely pointless unless I'm reading this wrong or the counter is just there for show.
Timing. The Promotion shall run from 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 10, 2009 and ends with the downloading of the 1 billionth app (âoePromotion Periodâ). For purposes of the Promotion, the downloading of the 1 billionth app is considered to be either the downloading of the 1 billionth app from iTunes or the receipt of the non-purchase entry after the download of the 999,999,999th app, whichever comes first. Only entries submitted in this time period will be accepted. Sponsorâ(TM)s computer is the official time keeping device for this promotion.
"The lucky billionth downloader gets to walk away with a stash consisting of a MacBook Pro, 32GB iPod Touch, Time Capsule and $10,000 iTunes gift certificate."
But I only run FOSS and non-DRM, you insensitive clods!
On my third entry of the 25 entry limit per day, I received the following error message:
"You have entered to many times today" (sic)
Hmm.
gammer nazis
Godwin's Law only two posts down. That's fast. :)
Lets hope that our app: PicCard is the winning purchase
... and ten useful one.
source
BTW, no purchase necessary.
What about customer 999,999,999?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
iTunes has more than just "today music" it has music from way further back than today. It also has music videos, movies, and episodes of TV shows..... seasons of BSG!
It sounds like anyone who enters the contest between now and the billionth purchase could win, not just whoever buys #1,000,000,000. Headline should be changed to reflect that.
I'll substitute a fully-loaded high-end Mac Pro thank you with all the other portions of this offering. That would be more impressive.
right now it's around 932635000 and running at about 100 per second. That's 9326350 seconds or 3.8 months.
Sorry, don't know what happened there. It is closer to 13 days, not 14 hours.
Hey, guys, the promotion rules state that only residents of the US and Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom are eligible.
My question is, doesn't it infringe some EU directive as it leaves out some EU member states, hmm?
sounds like Windows....
To avoid confusion.
Some might find this interesting, and actually is a common screw up in international media.
USA en modern Britisch:
10^6 : million
10^9 : billion
10^12: trillion
Standard:
10^6 : million
10^9 : milliard
10^12 : billion
10^18 : trillion
Among others, we in the Netherlands use the latter.
FYI - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milliard
Hivemind harvest in progress..