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App Store's 25 Billionth Download Comes From China with 'Where's My Water? Free'

Monday March 5, 2012 5:11 am PST by Eric Slivka
Apple today announced the winner of its "25 Billion App Countdown" promotion that saw the company pass milestone late Friday. For the first time in one of Apple's countdown competitions, the winner, Chunli Fu, came from China.

Disney's Where's My Water? Free was the milestone download, and the winner will receive an iTunes Gift Card worth US$10,000.
“We’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve this historic milestone of 25 billion apps downloaded,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “When we launched the App Store less than four years ago, we never imagined that mobile apps would become the phenomenon they have, or that developers would create such an incredible selection of apps for iOS users.”
Apple notes that the App Store is currently available in 123 countries with over 550,000 applications available for download. Apps span 21 different categories, and the company has paid out over $4 billion to developers for their 70% share of revenue from paid downloads.

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bbeagle
93 months ago

I wonder if the winner will have to pay taxes on that gift card or if Apple will cover those?


In the United States, yes. The winner will not pay taxes upon receipt of the gift card (because gift cards are untaxed), but only pay taxes after purchases occur with said gift card.

For example, you buy an Olive Garden gift card for $25. You pay exactly $25 to get the gift card. If you use this gift card to buy something later at Olive Garden for $25.00, tax is added, making it, say, $26.25 (with 5% tax rate). You give Olive Garden your gift card, and pay an additional $1.25 in cash.

I doubt I would even accept that prize if I had to pay taxes on it unless I could get the gift card broken up into numerous $100 cards to sell on one of those gift card buying sites.


Wow. Entitlement mentality at it's best.
Rating: 15 Votes
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applefan289
93 months ago
Congratulations Chunli!

Rating: 12 Votes
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flottenheimer
93 months ago
Congrats, Chunli Fu.
(Wondering how many visits MacRumors gets from China every day? ... @Arn ?)
Rating: 11 Votes
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Gemütlichkeit
93 months ago

Congrats Chunli Fu if you read MR!


Let's hope her Government lets her view it :p
Rating: 11 Votes
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niuniu
93 months ago
Congrats Chunli Fu if you read MR!
Rating: 9 Votes
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MonkeySee....
93 months ago

$10,000 - that's a lot of music!


And TV Shows and Movies and Apps etc.

iTunes is pretty good. :cool:
Rating: 7 Votes
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Nomadski
93 months ago

Funny that.

Seems it would be a pretty nice marketing move to push sales in a massive country.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence though
:cool:


Cynical, much? :p
Rating: 6 Votes
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ericinboston
93 months ago

Wouldn't it be funny if Apple permitted pr0n apps and the winner would have been for downloading <Insert something sick>? :D


"Booby Patrol HD"

:)

That would by hysterical to showcase on the Apple website. "Congratulations to Fred Smith of Boston, MA for his winning download of Booby Patrol HD"
Rating: 6 Votes
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farleysmaster
93 months ago

Two questions:

(1) Do app updates count towards this contest?

(2) Is this contest rigged?

It's always a popular app. It's never some random app. I wonder if Apple would allow an app that is rated 1-2 stars to become "The 25 Billionth App" just because it was downloaded by coincidence by someone who was experimenting with the App Store.

It's probably a legit contest, but I'm always shocked it's apps that are popular or advertised already in a positive light. People do download bad apps, and I'm waiting to see a bad app hit the spotlight to merit some authenticity even if it would be bad publicity.

Everyone should download FREE bad apps on the next contest during the final hours. :)


It's much more likely the app will be a popular one, seeing as those are the ones that are most downloaded...
Rating: 5 Votes
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jgallant1990
93 months ago

"the thing about quotes on the internet is you cannot confirm their validity" - abraham lincoln


ha
Rating: 5 Votes

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