Apple's 25 Billion App Download Contest Winner Flown to Beijing for Award Ceremony - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple's 25 Billion App Download Contest Winner Flown to Beijing for Award Ceremony

Earlier this month, Apple announced that the winner of its 25 billion app countdown contest was Fu Chunli, a resident of Qingdao, China who was awarded an iTunes Store gift card valued at $10,000. Her milestone download was Disney's Where's My Water? Free.

fu chunli gift card
Fu Chunli shows off her $10,000 iTunes Store gift card

M.I.C. Gadget now offers profile of the winner, summarizing Chinese-language reports noting that she had only been an iPhone user for a month at the time of milestone and had been unaware of the contest until she was contacted by Apple.

Fu Chunli was not a big fan of Apple, and had only purchased her iPhone for about one month, still learning how to use the App Store. She didn’t know anything about the competition until she was contacted by Apple. When she received a call from staff at Apple (China), she thought it was a hoax. She was still confused when a friend told her that she received a prize from Apple, but did not believe her luck until she saw an email from Apple Inc.

The reports note that Chunli was invited to visit Apple's Chinese headquarters in Beijing last week, having been flown to the city at Apple's expense. Following a visit to corporate headquarters, she visited the company's Sanlitun retail store where an award ceremony was held to present her with the gift card and conduct interviews with the media. She also received training on her iPhone and the App Store and took the time to test drive some of the other Apple merchandise in the store.

Apple has been making a major push into China, with the company expanding its distribution reach there and working to build Chinese-focused features into several of its products in an effort to strengthen the appeal of the company's products there. Just today, Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted at the Xidan Joy City retail store in Beijing as he visited the country to meet with undisclosed officials.

Popular Stories

macworld iphone 18 pro colors

iPhone 18 Pro's Four Rumored Colors Revealed, Including 'Dark Cherry'

Friday April 17, 2026 3:50 am PDT by
A source said to be familiar with Apple's supply chain today revealed the color options Apple is planning for the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the upcoming foldable iPhone. Image via Macworld. The information comes from Macworld, which says the signature new color for this year's Pro models will be Dark Cherry, a deep wine-like red. While other sources had previously reported on a...
macOS 27 on MacBook Pro

macOS 27 Will Mark the End of an Era

Saturday April 18, 2026 6:45 am PDT by
During its Platforms State of the Union segment at WWDC 2025, Apple revealed that macOS 26 Tahoe is the final major macOS version for Intel-based Macs. The upcoming macOS 27 release will be compatible with Apple silicon Macs only, meaning that you will need a Mac with an M-series chip or a MacBook Neo with an A18 Pro chip in order to install the software update. macOS 27 should be available...
Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple Says CarPlay Ultra is Coming to These Vehicle Brands

Saturday April 18, 2026 5:59 am PDT by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. CarPlay Ultra...

Top Rated Comments

184 months ago
Is there a "Buy All" option in iTunes?
She could just click that. ;)
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
newyorksole Avatar
184 months ago
What a coincidence that Apple is focusing a lot of Chinese development and the winner is from China.......
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
184 months ago
How funny would it have been if the 25 billionth app was a "soft porn" app? Im sure the winner would have bee a little more hesitant to come forward if such a situation arose :D
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FSMBP Avatar
184 months ago
...but can she use that card to purchase a new iPad or Macbook Pro? If not, what use is $10,000?

No. It's an iTunes Gift card; so she can purchase apps/music/movies/books. I don't know about you, but $10,000 to buy music/movies has a lot of use for me.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
184 months ago
$3000 of that will go back to Apple.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
184 months ago
I'm glad that someone new to apple won the context.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)