Apple counts down to 25 billion apps, offers $10k App Store prize

Apple, which launched its App Store in mid-2008, is on the verge of celebrating its 25 billionth app download and is dangling a $10,000 prize to one lucky customer.

Apple, which launched its App Store in mid-2008, is on the verge of celebrating its 25 billionth app download and is dangling a $10,000 prize to one lucky customer.

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Apple trumpets its success to App Store visitors, who will see the countdown ticker (at 24.3 billion as of this writing) and these words:

As of today, nearly 25 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 25 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card.

Apple hit the 10 billion mark in January 2011, when the purchaser of the app Paper Glider got a $10,000 iTunes gift card as a bonus. Apple topped the 15 billion mark in July.

Apple recently celebrated the 100 millionth Mac App Store download, just under a year after that app store opened.

All sorts of big numbers have been getting bandied about this week related to Apple and its popular gadgets. Among them: More iOS devices were sold in 2011 than Macs have been sold ever! Given the hype and anticipation surrounding the expected iPad 3 and iPhone 5, there's no sense of iOS slowing down either.

Google said in December that more than 10 billion apps had been downloaded from the Android Market.

You can enter the Apple contest up to 25 times a day via app purchases or by filling out a form for free. More info here.

Be the 25 billionth person to follow Bob on Twitter: www.twitter.com/alphadoggs

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