Apple Amps Up Promotion for 50 Billion App Milestone
Apple today increased its promotion for the upcoming milestone of 50 billion downloads from the App Store, an event the company is marking with a contest in which the person who downloads the 50 billionth app will receives a $10,000 iTunes Store gift card while the next 50 downloaders will receive $500 gift cards each.
The milestone is now being promoted as the main feature on Apple's front page, with an animated counter being accompanied by a rotating series of iPad mini app photos with associated facts to put the "50 billion" number in perspective:
- "With 50 billion steps, you could walk around the earth more than 800 times." [Solar Walk]
- "With 50 billion bricks, you could build 12 Great Walls of China." [ProCamera HD]
- "Counting to 50 billion would take you 1600 years." [Intro to Math, by Montessorium]
Apple announced the contest one week ago, and the counter stood at slightly over 49.2 billion downloads at the time. With the counter now registering a little over 49.6 billion downloads, it should take just under another week to reach the milestone.
(Thanks, Ben!)
Popular Stories
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking!
Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27.
During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14.
iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update.
Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries.
In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....
