Apple Launches '1 Billion App Countdown' Promotion

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/04/10/apple-launches-1-billion-app-countdown-promotion/)


http://images.macrumors.com/article/2009/04/10/092954-billion_app_countdown_500.jpg

Apple today launched a 1 Billion App Countdown (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/) promotion, offering the opportunity for users to enter to win a package of prizes valued at over $13,000.As of today, nearly one billion apps have been downloaded around the globe. So we just want to say thanks — a billion. Download an app and you’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.Entries are limited to users 13 years and older from participating countries. Users are limited to 25 entries per day, and the contest closes when the billionth app is downloaded.

Apple offered similar promotions to mark 100 million (http://www.macrumors.com/2004/07/01/itunes-countdown-to-100-million/) (2004) and 1 billion (http://www.macrumors.com/2006/02/07/itunes-1-billion-song-contest/) (2006) iTunes song downloads.

Article Link: Apple Launches '1 Billion App Countdown' Promotion (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/04/10/apple-launches-1-billion-app-countdown-promotion/)

[=MuLti-CeLL=]

Wow! That's one helluva prize. I wonder if free apps count.

[dazzer21]

How long will that take, do we think..?

[mogzieee]

AWESOME!! $10,000 iTunes card!! I'm in!

[DoFoT9]

How long will that take, do we think..?

4-6 months i reckon

[rorober]

better not say one darn thing about having to pay $1.29 per track!

[niuniu]

Nothing on the Apple UK site yet..

[gan6660]

hope I win!

[spazzcat]

4-6 months i reckon

I think it will be a lot faster then that...

[DivineEvil]

4-6 months i reckon

33,424537037037037037037037037037 +- a few... days :D

[mambodancer]

I'm in...

For my shot at the lottery I've been eying these apps:

Sway
Edge
Jackson Pollock

more to add to the list later.

BTW - GeoDefense has got to be the most fun I've had on my iPhone.

[twoodcc]

great! i better start downloading now!

but 1 billion downloads! that's amazing!

[mogzieee]

Hang about, so, do I win if I download the one billionth app? Or, is it lucky dip for everyone who downloads an app before then?

[chinesechikn]

Wednesday 20th May 9:43am Pacific Time

[dXTC]

I wonder if those of us without iPhones/iPod touches are allowed to download and/or purchase apps, even though we have no way of using them, just to participate in this promotion.

In any case, I don't think I'll bother, as I fit into the above category, and the chances of winning the iPod touch so I can actually use the app are extremely slim.

[thefunkymunky]

Does this apply to free apps or only paid apps?

[dalvin200]

err.. what the heck would you do with a $10,000 iTunes Gift card!??!

[hhaeschen]

I wonder, is that counting display on Apple's website real-time?

[fastbite]

Good God! That's a lot of apps.I say April 21st as D day.

[yetanotherdave]

Hang about, so, do I win if I download the one billionth app? Or, is it lucky dip for everyone who downloads an app before then?

Lucky dip, up to 25 entries per person per day, including free apps. Closes when the billionth is downloaded, it's all in the first post!

[mambodancer]

I wonder if those of us without iPhones/iPod touches are allowed to download and/or purchase apps, even though we have no way of using them, just to participate in this promotion.

In any case, I don't think I'll bother, as I fit into the above category, and the chances of winning the iPod touch so I can actually use the app are extremely slim.

Of course you can. You just won't be able to sync them until you have a device to sync them to.:cool:

[firstapple]

Wow! That's one helluva prize. I wonder if free apps count.

Since the article link from Apple links to iTunes and shows paid and free apps, I would say everything is game here...

[fracai]

From the rules
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 (“Promotion Period”). 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. Sponsor’s computer is the official time keeping device for this promotion.

So it's the billionth download OR the non-download entry occurring after the 999,999,999th download.

There's no point in submitting non-download entries until we're much closer to the contest end. And your downloads until then don't count, except to increment the count.


Also, you can pull the count from the following url. I'd guess it will update once an hour. I'm not sure what the last field is in the file though, perhaps downloads per hour?
http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt

[yetanotherdave]

From the rules


So it's the billionth download OR the non-download entry occurring after the 999,999,999th download.

There's no point in submitting non-download entries until we're much closer to the contest end. And your downloads until then don't count, except to increment the count.


Also, you can pull the count from the following url. I'd guess it will update once an hour. I'm not sure what the last field is in the file though, perhaps downloads per hour?
http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt

No, all apps downloaded between 10 April 00:01 and the billionth downloaded are entered into a lucky dip. It's not the billionth that wins, just signals the end of the competition.

[xUKHCx]

How long will that take, do we think..?

It seems to be about 40 apps per second therefore ~ 20.5 days.



The alternative entry form (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/) is broken. When I enter my details and change the country to the UK the form fails very ungracefully

166582


I believe the error is to do with this part

JINGLE"."MZ_BILLION_APP_ENTRY"."ZIP" (actual: 8, maximum: 5)

I changed my country to the UK and entered my Postcode which is 8 characters however the form is obviously trying to limit it to the US zip code 5 character limit. Still they could've made it fail in a more user friendly way.

Anyone from the UK sucessfully use this form? I have tried different browsers and computers same problem.

It is a pretty decent prize, just a shame I can't really enter via the alternative method.

[jgbhardy]

This is an incredibly clever scheme to raise the amount of apps bought to 1 billion. Clever :apple:

[Drag'nGT]

great! i better start downloading now!

but 1 billion downloads! that's amazing!

Even more proof that Apple needs an app store for the computer side as well. It would put app and game production into full swing and we'd have some good stuff on the Mac.

[Darkroom]

a billion apps downloaded, hey? that sounds a little extraordinary...

[amac4me]

This is an awesome promotion. Nice move Apple!

[JayMan8081]

I don't own an iPod Touch or iPhone but I'll download a few free apps to get a couple of entries to try my luck.

[minik]

$10,000 iTunes Gift card? I will win it and redeem the I'm rich app, oh wait.

[iMacoo7]

I would imagine that they would include free applications , since the goal is for all applications. It would be nice to win a lump of cash!

[McShizzel]

Well I can't win, I live in Quebec. :(

[chinesechikn]

I don't own an iPod Touch or iPhone but I'll download a few free apps to get a couple of entries to try my luck.

Hate to put a dampener on it, but if you download one app, you've got a 1 in 72million chance of winning. Even if you download a few, the odds are still pretty long!

[big_malk]

It seems to be about 40 apps per second therefore ~ 20.5 days.



The alternative entry form (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/) is broken. When I enter my details and change the country to the UK the form fails very ungracefully

166582


I believe the error is to do with this part



I changed my country to the UK and entered my Postcode which is 8 characters however the form is obviously trying to limit it to the US zip code 5 character limit. Still they could've made it fail in a more user friendly way.

Anyone from the UK sucessfully use this form? I have tried different browsers and computers same problem.

It is a pretty decent prize, just a shame I can't really enter via the alternative method.

I'm having the exact same problem.

Since you can enter (or should be able to) without buying apps, all you people saying your going to download some free apps to enter... there's really no need.

[dlewis23]

I gotta say that is one nice looking counter...

[Schtumple]

err.. what the heck would you do with a $10,000 iTunes Gift card!??!

Buy a bugger load of fart apps of course!

[JDee]

It seems to be about 40 apps per second therefore ~ 20.5 days.



The alternative entry form (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/) is broken. When I enter my details and change the country to the UK the form fails very ungracefully

166582


I believe the error is to do with this part



I changed my country to the UK and entered my Postcode which is 8 characters however the form is obviously trying to limit it to the US zip code 5 character limit. Still they could've made it fail in a more user friendly way.

Anyone from the UK sucessfully use this form? I have tried different browsers and computers same problem.

It is a pretty decent prize, just a shame I can't really enter via the alternative method.

I'm having the exact same problem.

Since you can enter (or should be able to) without buying apps, all you people saying your going to download some free apps to enter... there's really no need.

I'm not sure what I did - althouh I had the exact same problem, then I switched to another tab to find something out and switched back to the forum but it changed page and it said "Thank you" with a hyperlink to a frame to the Apple homepage.

Not sure- maybe try it again or leave it for a wee bit?

I wonder how long this will go on for - I will run out of apps to download. It's 25 app downloads a day, isn't it?

Developers better get a move on :P

[JoshJosh117]

So I can download 25 apps every 24 hours, or just every new day (in California time)?

About how many days are there until we reach 1 billion?

[cal6n]

How long will that take, do we think..?

Less than a month. Probably around 1 week.

4-6 months i reckon

No chance!

I think it will be a lot faster then that...

Agreed.

33,424537037037037037037037037037 +- a few... days :D

That was roughly my calculation. I timed the timer at 25 apps/sec.

And that's with all the yanks still in bed...

[big_malk]

I'm not sure what I did - althouh I had the exact same problem, then I switched to another tab to find something out and switched back to the forum but it changed page and it said "Thank you" with a hyperlink to a frame to the Apple homepage.

Not sure- maybe try it again or leave it for a wee bit?

I wonder how long this will go on for - I will run out of apps to download. It's 25 app downloads a day, isn't it?

Developers better get a move on :P

I still have the same problem, and have a similar notice to what JDee had, "MZ_BILLION_APP_ENTRY"."ZIP" (actual: 7, maximum: 5)"

[paola105]

Chances of winning are slim, but worth a shot. :D

[crisss1205]

I wonder if those of us without iPhones/iPod touches are allowed to download and/or purchase apps, even though we have no way of using them, just to participate in this promotion.

In any case, I don't think I'll bother, as I fit into the above category, and the chances of winning the iPod touch so I can actually use the app are extremely slim.

Free Apps are included and you can enter using a form if you cannot download apps.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/

[Mykbibby]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

10,000 dollar iTunes card?!? That's a FANTASTIC prize!!!

[JoshJosh117]

Sweepstakes. Sponsor is the sole judging organization whose decisions as to the operation of the Sweepstakes and the selection of the potential winner are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion. 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. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner. Each entrant’s chances of winning are dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.

So is the winner the billionth downloader OR the randomly chosen downloader? Or both?

[quagmire]

The application said I entered too many times( 25 per day limit) although I only downloaded an update( do those count?) and did one on the entry form. I do not know how 2=25. :confused:

[crisss1205]

From the rules


So it's the billionth download OR the non-download entry occurring after the 999,999,999th download.

There's no point in submitting non-download entries until we're much closer to the contest end. And your downloads until then don't count, except to increment the count.


Also, you can pull the count from the following url. I'd guess it will update once an hour. I'm not sure what the last field is in the file though, perhaps downloads per hour?
http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt

You don't understand, your download does count. What you are talking about before is when the contest ends. The contest ends when they reach 1 billion apps and then they randomly choose a person.

It seems to be about 40 apps per second therefore ~ 20.5 days.



The alternative entry form (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/) is broken. When I enter my details and change the country to the UK the form fails very ungracefully

166582


I believe the error is to do with this part



I changed my country to the UK and entered my Postcode which is 8 characters however the form is obviously trying to limit it to the US zip code 5 character limit. Still they could've made it fail in a more user friendly way.

Anyone from the UK sucessfully use this form? I have tried different browsers and computers same problem.

It is a pretty decent prize, just a shame I can't really enter via the alternative method.

It has nothing to do with the zip because i entered a US 5 digit zip and got the same message.

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

Time to start downloading those Apps that I've been wanting.

[joepunk]

I'm also having some trouble using the form entry. It won't recognize the characters that I enter at the bottom.

Keeps on saying

Entered characters do not match the characters displayed in the image

Even though I enter them correctly and several different ways as possible.

edit: finally I'm entered. Don't know why but it took me several times. I'll be doing this 25 times a day.

[DELLsFan]

SnapTell downloaded ...

ok ... bring on the prizes, TYVM.

:p

[BJB Productions]

Not to be Mr. Doomsday, but it's like 1 in 1 million chance...Or more..
But still, VERY COOL! Worth a try.:)

[iPhoneNYC]

But my iPhone doesn't hold a billion apps. Can I expect that on the 3rd Gen???

[nicholas761]

The countdown is around 927,000,000, that means there are 73,000,000 (1,000,000,000 - 927,000,000) apps left to be downloaded. If it keeps the average of 25 apps per second, it will take 2,920,000 (73,000,000 / 25) seconds, or 33.79 days (2,920,000 / 60 / 60 / 24) until we reach one billion apps downloaded - mark your calendars for May 13-ish :D

[steven9088]

This 1 billion counter is a fake and I can prove it. Change your computer time to around May 20, 2009. You'll see it go over 1 billion.

http://i43.tinypic.com/21b6t8n.jpg

You Try...

[fleshman03]

4-6 months i reckon

Just in time for me to download Apps for my New, New iPhone.

Maybe it'll pay for itself.

[kitch95]

what I like about this is that I do not have to do anything I just carry on downloading apps this is my kind of competition

[nimasco]

The application said I entered too many times( 25 per day limit) although I only downloaded an update( do those count?) and did one on the entry form. I do not know how 2=25. :confused:

i entered once then tried again and it also said i entered too many times. :(

[JDee]

This 1 billion counter is a fake and I can prove it. Change your computer time to around May 20, 2009. You'll see it go over 1 billion.

Nice find.

[samh004]

No, all apps downloaded between 10 April 00:01 and the billionth downloaded are entered into a lucky dip. It's not the billionth that wins, just signals the end of the competition.

At least I have a chance then, I imagine I'll try a few new free apps. I don't feel I need to buy anything new seeing as I just did a few days ago, a little early, but still.

This 1 billion counter is a fake and I can prove it. Change your computer time to around May 20, 2009. You'll see it go over 1 billion.

I believe this is the same as other promotions for iTunes.

[B2k1977]

AWESOME!! $10,000 iTunes card!! I'm in!

That would supply me with apps and music for a very very looooong time. :D

[simplymuzik3]

Does this also include things downloaded off the app store(iPhone and iPod Touch) through wifi?

[JDee]

It would be nice if a MacRumors.com member won the prize.

Apple are being generous atleast.

[BJB Productions]

Does this also include things downloaded off the app store(iPhone and iPod Touch) through wifi?

Yes

[ericinboston]

but 1 billion downloads! that's amazing!

I don't have an iPhone, nor do I use iTunes other than for my local music library... aren't the "apps" only for iPhones and iTouches?

I would have to assume that the counting process that lead up to 1 billion takes into account:

-People that download the same app more than once (for whatever reason...they deleted it, uninstalled it, got a newer version)
-Apps that come out with a new version count again (so if I download 1.0 then 1.01 and then 1.02 that counts as 3 downloads)


1 billion is a great achievement but it would be nice to know how they Apple is counting. Because we're talking about, for example, 1 million users buying an average of 1000 apps each (yea, right)...or 10 million users buying 100 apps each (still no way, jose)...or 100 million users (they don't even exist). So what's the math, Apple? :)

My question has no effect on that this is a great promotion and price package.

-Eric

[mackensteff]

It is clear who wins:

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. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner.

This means the 999,999,999 downloader is the first loser, then if

you download the next app

or submit the next non purchase form

You win!

Don't waste time filling out the form now, it is not a lucky dip (nice term, but not well known in US)

It is a mad race to be # 1B, that is the winner. It is not a random draw.

[iSamurai]

aah, the entry form crashed upon submitting. :o

[DaveTheGrey]

4-6 months i reckon

I think it will be done around May 1st.
When I check it was 25s/1000aps

[ericinboston]

This is an incredibly clever scheme to raise the amount of apps bought to 1 billion. Clever :apple:

"clever"? Come on...this is Marketing 101...

Great contest but by no means clever.

[iMacoo7]

Im downloading a ton of free apps! All of the apps that are paid apps I like I already have

[big_malk]

This 1 billion counter is a fake and I can prove it. Change your computer time to around May 20, 2009. You'll see it go over 1 billion.

http://i43.tinypic.com/21b6t8n.jpg

You Try...

Actually, that says 110,244,508 it's just that the ,'s are in the wrong place.

[JDee]

It is clear who wins:

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. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner.

This means the 999,999,999 downloader is the first loser, then if

you download the next app

or submit the next non purchase form

You win!

Don't waste time filling out the form now, it is not a lucky dip (nice term, but not well known in US)

It is a mad race to be # 1B, that is the winner. It is not a random draw.

So there is no point in us downloading apps now??

[simplymuzik3]

aah, the entry form crashed upon submitting. :o

Mine too :D But there's no point in downloading now, cause only # 1 billion actually wins. Also, remember that the counter on the apple page is fake (look few posts/pages back), so to all those people calculating when it will happen, you guess is as good as mine :)

[mackensteff]

You don't understand, your download does count. What you are talking about before is when the contest ends. The contest ends when they reach 1 billion apps and then they randomly choose a person.

You don't understand the form does not count unless you submit it after the 999,999,999 app is downloaded. The form does not increase the count, and you are wasting effort in filling out the form. It does nothing unless you submit it at the exact time. I believe this is a legal requirement that all 'games' like this have an option for user submission with a chance to win without purchase.

Read the fine print again. The winner is person #1B rather that be the downloader or form submitter after 999,999,999.

Download away to get closer to 1B, but your chances don't increase.

Anyone want to place bets on the servers crashing near 999,000,000

[big_malk]

If the counter is going at 25/s, then downloads are actually going faster, assuming the counter loads the first time at (approximately) the right number. If you leave the counter going for a bit, look at the in the 100s column, and quickly reload the page, it just quite a bit further ahead. So the time it'll take to reach 1B could be sooner than people are calculating?

[mackensteff]

From the rules


So it's the billionth download OR the non-download entry occurring after the 999,999,999th download.

There's no point in submitting non-download entries until we're much closer to the contest end. And your downloads until then don't count, except to increment the count.


Also, you can pull the count from the following url. I'd guess it will update once an hour. I'm not sure what the last field is in the file though, perhaps downloads per hour?
http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt


To all concerned about counter: of course it is fake, do you really expect it to update in real time? See the above quote.

Can any one second the idea that the counter is updated hourly. Anyway to pull info when the counter is updated by a push from apple, rather than a fixed counter. I think they did something similar for the itunes, that actually showed the variation of downloads with time and gave a good guess of when the target would be hit.

[stagi]

Nice i'll be downloading some apps soon :) could use some new tunes and a time capsule :)

[Luke1robb]

AWESOME!! $10,000 iTunes card!! I'm in!

I don't even know what I would do with $10,000 of iTunes money. That's alot of $1 apps!

[Luke1robb]

From the free entry form on Apple.com,

You have entered to many times today

Come on Apple!

[kddpop]

You don't understand the form does not count unless you submit it after the 999,999,999 app is downloaded. The form does not increase the count, and you are wasting effort in filling out the form. It does nothing unless you submit it at the exact time. I believe this is a legal requirement that all 'games' like this have an option for user submission with a chance to win without purchase.

Read the fine print again. The winner is person #1B rather that be the downloader or form submitter after 999,999,999.

Download away to get closer to 1B, but your chances don't increase.

Anyone want to place bets on the servers crashing near 999,000,000

i don't find this fine print. the rules i read on the official site say this:

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 (“Promotion Period”). 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. Sponsor’s computer is the official time keeping device for this promotion.

this seems to me to indicate that the billionth app/entry is not the winner but the marker of the end on the contest. any app downloaded or entry form submitted "in this time period will be accepted."

am i misunderstanding this?

[Doctor Q]

I think the grand prize should be one billion iPhone apps for free.

It's too bad that you'd have to buy 5,555,556 iPhones to told them all, since you get only 180 apps per iPhone (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=678702), but that's a minor inconvenience.

Actually that 180 includes the built-in apps that you can't delete, so I guess you'd need more like 6,024,097 iPhones.

[edge540]

From the sweepstake 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 every submition now does not make you eligible to win, just gets us closer to the submition that will win.

[Luke Evans]

i don't find this fine print. the rules i read on the official site say this:

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 (“Promotion Period”). 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. Sponsor’s computer is the official time keeping device for this promotion.

this seems to me to indicate that the billionth app/entry is not the winner but the marker of the end on the contest. any app downloaded or entry form submitted "in this time period will be accepted."

am i misunderstanding this?

That's because you're looking at the Timing section.

Have a look at the Sweepstakes section.

[pagansoul]

I think the grand prize should be one billion iPhone apps for free.

It's too bad that you'd have to buy 5,555,556 iPhones to told them all, since you get only 180 apps per iPhone (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=678702), but that's a minor inconvenience.

Actually that 180 includes the built-in apps that you can't delete, so I guess you'd need more like 6,024,097 iPhones.

There is no correlation between what you can hold on your phone and how many apps you can buy. I have 2 hundred apps on my computer but only 4 pages on my phone.

[Kwill]

Entries are limited to users 13 years and older...
This eliminates half the readers here so that should get some negative votes. ;)

[alexbates]

Sweeet, I just entered! How amazing would it be if someone here on MR won the contest? :D

This eliminates half the readers here so that should get some negative votes. ;)

I'm older than 13, but put it in my dad's name anyways. I think thats what most people under 13 would do anyways.

[northy014]

I think it should be around the 30th of April, at the rate they're being downloaded at the moment. Of course, Apps are being downloaded at a faster and faster rate all the time, so who really knows? I'm going to be keeping an eye on it... Could certainly help pay for my gap year ;).

[Compile 'em all]

From the sweepstake 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 every submition now does not make you eligible to win, just gets us closer to the submition that will win.

Why is this so hard to understand? any app you buy or download for free now will make you eligible for winning. When 1 billion downloads have been reached, the winner will be announced.

btw, my app 2009 Awesome Facts Pro (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=311083203&mt=8) is free, in case you are looking for some free apps to download :D

[kddpop]

That's because you're looking at the Timing section.

Have a look at the Sweepstakes section.

thanks luke, i found it.

but doesn't that seem to contradict the timing section? the choice of the word "entry" is misleading, methinks.

[JoshJosh117]

I sent an email to itunesonebillion@apple.com and asked about how to win just to make sure. This contest is pretty pointless if people are just going to download a bunch of apps once it's close to a billion.

[edge540]

Why is this so hard to understand? any app you buy or download for free now will make you eligible for winning. When 1 billion downloads have been reached, the winner will be announced.


But only the 1 billionth download (or submition) will win. Thats what's being questioned. So if the ticker is anywhere near being correct right now, you are about 72 million downloads off from winning (i.e. a 0% chance of winning if you submit now).

[Luke Evans]

thanks luke, i found it.

but doesn't that seem to contradict the timing section? the choice of the word "entry" is misleading, methinks.

No problem :)

I guess the whole point of making it seem like every entry counts is that people download 25 apps per day.

I'm going to make a graph of the amount of downloads from this link http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt

That seems to be going a lot slower than the fake counter, hence me thinking that it's pretty close to being the actual number.

[Luke Evans]

http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt

The number on the right is definitely the amount of apps downloaded in the previous hour, I've kept track. That is, if that link displays the real number.

Hmm...

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I am totally going to win this. :)

[HLdan]

Lucky dip, up to 25 entries per person per day, including free apps. Closes when the billionth is downloaded, it's all in the first post!

This is taken from the rules section on Apple.com. From the way it looks you have to be the final entry or the 1billionth downloader or submitted entry.

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. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received.

[kk1ro]

Does the countdown on Apple's site really represent the number of apps downloaded or is it just to fool us? :P

[alphaod]

Somehow I'm happy there are so many free apps. Or will every developer charge 99¢.:p

I can do 25 apps a day.

[wardev]

This 1 billion counter is a fake and I can prove it. Change your computer time to around May 20, 2009. You'll see it go over 1 billion.

http://i43.tinypic.com/21b6t8n.jpg

You Try...

i cant believe apple is lying to us!:eek:

I also predict that we will hit 1 billion apps at approximately April 21, 4:02 PM Central

[chrisapoo23]

How long will that take, do we think..?

i did out the math it will end on april 24 around 4:00 if downloads remain consistent

[derryquinn]

err.. what the heck would you do with a $10,000 iTunes Gift card!??!

Buy 10 "I am Rich" apps?

[fracai]

This 1 billion counter is a fake and I can prove it. Change your computer time to around May 20, 2009. You'll see it go over 1 billion.

Did you think the counter is tied to a real time feed? It loads a file with the time, current count, and a third field which I think is the rate. The code then extrapolates these initial values into a rate at which it should run the counter. It probably uses your system time to calculate an initial offset.


No, all apps downloaded between 10 April 00:01 and the billionth downloaded are entered into a lucky dip. It's not the billionth that wins, just signals the end of the competition.

Thanks, based on the rest of the contest rules I think you're right. They're just confusingly, and contradictorily, written.


I'm going to make a graph of the amount of downloads from this link http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt

The values in the file correspond to:
Date and time in CA | current count | change in count since last report

It looks like it's updating once an hour, so the change can be used to calculate the rate at which the counter is changing, unless the counter is using an optimistic calculation.

The values I've seen:
10-APR-2009 05:00:00|927585027|155902
10-APR-2009 06:00:00|927767980|182953
10-APR-2009 07:00:00|927991954|223974
10-APR-2009 08:00:00|928257635|265681

I look forward to your chart :)

[SydneyDev]

Take that, Android!

[Barbie]

I've just worked out that the 'fake' countdown officially hits 1 billion at 10:01 P.M. and 20 secs on TUESDAY April 21st

Try it by changing your computer time.

Barbie

[rockosmodurnlif]

Just a shame that there are no apps I want to buy.

[Compile 'em all]

But only the 1 billionth download (or submition) will win. Thats what's being questioned. So if the ticker is anywhere near being correct right now, you are about 72 million downloads off from winning (i.e. a 0% chance of winning if you submit now).

Wrong. What will be the point of them making a banner now if there is still a couple of million apps to be downloaded? People will just wait till it is almost over and then start buying their apps. This promo is done in a way to make people download NOW as much apps as possible to increase their chances of winning.

Let me repeat this again, if you buy/download an app NOW you can win. The winner will be ANNOUNCED after the 1 billionth app is downloaded.

It doesn't make any sense if it is done otherwise.

[tsice19]

Wrong. What will be the point of them making a banner now if there is still a couple of million apps to be downloaded? People will just wait till it is almost over and then start buying their apps. This promo is done in a way to make people download NOW as much apps as possible to increase their chances of winning.

Let me repeat this again, if you buy/download an app NOW you can win. The winner will be ANNOUNCED after the 1 billionth app is downloaded.

It doesn't make any sense if it is done otherwise.

This contest is confusing... whatever I'll just put in a few every hour and hope I win.

[lannister80]

err.. what the heck would you do with a $10,000 iTunes Gift card!??!

Sell it? :D

[wardev]

Sell it? :D

non transferrable without written consent from :apple:. :D

[dernhelm]

Used the alternate entry form here:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/

It says you can enter 25 times / day, but I could only enter once and after that it fails with the following message [sic]:

You have entered to many times today

Weird. Especially the typo...

[Luke Evans]

The values in the file correspond to:
Date and time in CA | current count | change in count since last report

It looks like it's updating once an hour, so the change can be used to calculate the rate at which the counter is changing, unless the counter is using an optimistic calculation.

The values I've seen:
10-APR-2009 05:00:00|927585027|155902
10-APR-2009 06:00:00|927767980|182953
10-APR-2009 07:00:00|927991954|223974
10-APR-2009 08:00:00|928257635|265681

I look forward to your chart :)

Aha! Why thank you, I haven't seen the value at 05:00:00.

[wardev]

http://softwareas.com/ajaxian-guesstimate-on-download-counter

[edge540]

Wrong. What will be the point of them making a banner now if there is still a couple of million apps to be downloaded? People will just wait till it is almost over and then start buying their apps. This promo is done in a way to make people download NOW as much apps as possible to increase their chances of winning.

Let me repeat this again, if you buy/download an app NOW you can win. The winner will be ANNOUNCED after the 1 billionth app is downloaded.

It doesn't make any sense if it is done otherwise.

The following paragraph is straight from the Apple Official Rules:

"Sweepstakes. Sponsor is the sole judging organization whose decisions as to the operation of the Sweepstakes and the selection of the potential winner are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion. 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. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner. Each entrant’s chances of winning are dependent upon the number of eligible entries received."

I don't understand how you can read that differently. They have to announce the sweepstakes sometime before the one billionth right!? It makes no difference when they start it, just that they start it before they reach one billion downloads. The counter is there for YOUR enjoyment.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

So do they pick someone who entered randomly, or is it the person who downloaded the billionth app?

[edge540]

So do they pick someone who entered randomly, or is it the person who downloaded the billionth app?

Read the above post. It is NOT random unless there is a tie. It is the person who downloads the billionth app.

[iMacoo7]

i cant believe apple is lying to us!:eek:

I also predict that we will hit 1 billion apps at approximately April 21, 4:02 PM Central

The way the counter is moving, there is roughly 100 apps downloaded in 30 seconds or less increments . To be honest I think it might hit the mark by the 14th of this month.
The word is out on a ton of blog sites, all that is going to do is have people rush to download applications free and paid.
The form on Apple's site can be used if you do not have an iphone or if you chose not to download content.
My wife who does not have an iphone yet, registered for the drawing... hopefully one of us will win!!!:D

[hhaeschen]

This quotes the first sentences of the official rules on the Apple website:

"NO PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD
OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING."

Here you go, don't download free crap. Don't spend money you wouldn't spend anyways.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Read the above post. It is NOT random unless there is a tie. It is the person who downloads the billionth app.

awe man that sucks. I'm going to be at outdoor school when the billionth app is downloaded.

[Doctor Q]

I wonder if Kevin Britten (who won a 10,000-song iTunes gift certificate in 2004) has paid to upgrade all of his songs to iTunes Plus? :eek:

[andrew roach]

Using a stopwatch, it is counting at a rate of 1,000 apps dl'd per 16.5 seconds, with no discernable variation that I would attribute to anything other than the imperfection of my finger hitting stop.

So at this rate, it converts to 0.004583 hours/thousand. At the time I am writing this, there are about 928,828,000 apps dl'd leaving ~71.172M left to be dl'd.

So all this factored in gives 13.59 days remaining. I predict that at 3:09 on April 24th, the Billionth app will hit.

Andrew

[3goldens]

I am not buying another single app until they release sling for iphone.
i am sick of the delays, they one a billion, they'd get there in a heartbeat if they did that!

[ULFoaf]

err.. what the heck would you do with a $10,000 iTunes Gift card!??!

Maybe you could buy a Mac Pro ...

[ULFoaf]

Read the above post. It is NOT random unless there is a tie. It is the person who downloads the billionth app.

Please post when it gets close, so we can rush to download. :D

[kironin]

err.. what the heck would you do with a $10,000 iTunes Gift card!??!

sell it on ebay for cash

[fracai]

Aha! Why thank you, I haven't seen the value at 05:00:00.

Here's the 04:00:00 value as well. I calculated what it should have been based on the 05:00:00 value and offset and did a search. Google had indexed it at that time.

10-APR-2009 04:00:00|927429125|135456

So the 03:00:00 value would be

10-APR-2009 03:00:00|927293669|???

I haven't been able to find anything else, so that may be the earliest data point.

[Stetrain]

I've just worked out that the 'fake' countdown officially hits 1 billion at 10:01 P.M. and 20 secs on TUESDAY April 21st

Try it by changing your computer time.

Barbie

That's only because the 'fake' countdown works by extrapolating out the rate of downloads from the last data it received from the server. It most likely won't really hit 1 billion at that time because the rate of change gets adjusted every hour as Apple's servers update the figures based on actual app downloads.

[dsalehipour]

did apple take "web-clipping" out of Safari beta v 4, because i've been trying to
clip out the billion app countdown to make it a cool widget on my dashboard?
Yea isn't that a cool idea?!
So if anyone can tell me how to do web-clipping on Safari beta v 4 than thank you.

[DYER]

It seems to be about 40 apps per second therefore ~ 20.5 days.



The alternative entry form (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/) is broken. When I enter my details and change the country to the UK the form fails very ungracefully

166582


I believe the error is to do with this part



I changed my country to the UK and entered my Postcode which is 8 characters however the form is obviously trying to limit it to the US zip code 5 character limit. Still they could've made it fail in a more user friendly way.

Anyone from the UK sucessfully use this form? I have tried different browsers and computers same problem.

It is a pretty decent prize, just a shame I can't really enter via the alternative method.
I jsut refreshed until it worked ^^

[mattp]

the contest should be over shortly after the clock here in the Pacific time zone hits 1:32PM on April 20, 2009.

Or at least that's what Apple thinks, based on me changing my clock around :)

[Stetrain]

did apple take "web-clipping" out of Safari beta v 4, because i've been trying to
clip out the billion app countdown to make it a cool widget on my dashboard?
Yea isn't that a cool idea?!
So if anyone can tell me how to do web-clipping on Safari beta v 4 than thank you.

Right-click in the toolbar, drag the webclip icon ("Open in Dashboard") onto the toolbar.

[casik]

i don't really care as much about the itunes card as i do the macbook pro.... although music for life would be sweet (10,00 would probably be just that hahaha)

[rhett7660]

I wonder if Kevin Britten (who won a 10,000-song iTunes gift certificate in 2004) has paid to upgrade all of his songs to iTunes Plus? :eek:

That is funny!!!!

[dsalehipour]

Right-click in the toolbar, drag the webclip icon ("Open in Dashboard") onto the toolbar.

ok awesome thanks

[tsice19]

This contest sucks. Apparently my 2 entries have equated to me entering 25 times :confused:

Come on Apple, (and please fix your typo).

[apfhex]

So what's the point in letting people enter the contest now, and having 25 entries per day? I get that they're enticing people to download more apps, but if only the 1,000,000,000th download/entry counts, they're deliberately misleading people.

"3. 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 (“Promotion Period”)."

"5. Sweepstakes. 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."

:confused:

[tsice19]

So what's the point in letting people enter the contest now, and having 25 entries per day? I get that they're enticing people to download more apps, but if only the 1,000,000,000th download/entry counts, they're deliberately misleading people.

"3. 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 (“Promotion Period”)."

"5. Sweepstakes. 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."

:confused:

Contradicting orders, Mr. Jobs. Someone needs to call and find out or something, haha. And also I want my 23 entries back.

[andrew roach]

Using a stopwatch, it is counting at a rate of 1,000 apps dl'd per 16.5 seconds, with no discernable variation that I would attribute to anything other than the imperfection of my finger hitting stop.

So at this rate, it converts to 0.004583 hours/thousand. At the time I am writing this, there are about 928,828,000 apps dl'd leaving ~71.172M left to be dl'd.

So all this factored in gives 13.59 days remaining. I predict that at 3:09 on April 24th, the Billionth app will hit.

Andrew

It now seems to be moving at a rate of 1000 apps per 13 seconds.

Revised ETA - April 21st 6:00pm

[casik]

That is funny!!!!

i bet you he still has enough of a balance to do it.... i dunno if i could spend that much on itunes!

[niblum10]

< 20 days

[iMacoo7]

It now seems to be moving at a rate of 1000 apps per 13 seconds.

Revised ETA - April 21st 6:00pm

Now its up to 1,100 per 10 seconds.... The word is out and the counter speed will only move faster than its moving now...
Would be pretty cool if someone on this forum won some of the goodies up for grabs

[Nickisgodofmacs]

I opened the the link and itunes and it appears to hold the correct information. Then again at this point we have no idea whats the right number. I wanna win so i can have all the music i want and give my friend my macbook and i get the macbook pro

[bplein]

Bad tax problem for the winner. You need to pay taxes on $13K of value, meaning quite a few thousand dollars of cash.

[mikeinternet]

Why is the "all time" top apps completely different than the top 25 apps on the mobile app store? They are only the tops apps of the week or something?

[wardev]

Bad tax problem for the winner. You need to pay taxes on $13K of value, meaning quite a few thousand dollars of cash.

I beg to differ. The 10k is in a gift card, not cash, and gift cards are not taxable.

[wardev]

Why is the "all time" top apps completely different than the top 25 apps on the mobile app store? They are only the tops apps of the week or something?

I believe "all time" is the most downloads ever. Whereas the top 25 is the currently most popular.

[AngryApple]

The winner wins the $10,000 iTunes gift card, the Macbook Pro AND all that stuff other stuff?:eek:

[casik]

The winner wins the $10,000 iTunes gift card, the Macbook Pro AND all that stuff other stuff?:eek:

tis true... and it's totally gunna be me hahaha i wish....

[fracai]

I beg to differ. The 10k is in a gift card, not cash, and gift cards are not taxable.

You sure about that? I know they aren't taxed when you buy them because you'll instead be taxed when redeeming the value, but you were still taxed on the income with which you bought the card. I'm pretty sure the winner will have to pay tax on the full value of the prize (~13 grand), that's why it's listed in the contest rules.

[Yvan256]

Well I can't win, I live in Quebec. :(

I think we can all thank Loto-Québec for being excluded of all such promotions and contests.

[tufaw]

The Billion App Countdown Promotion (the “Promotion”) is open only to entrants who are 13 years of age or older at time of entry, and a legal resident of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, if available. See the iTunes Store front page in your country for details.Great, they forgot Sweden! Just a mistake though, it appears both in the drop down list and in the official rules (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/rules.html).

[mikeinternet]

I believe "all time" is the most downloads ever. Whereas the top 25 is the currently most popular.

Huh. Not as much glory for those that make the list.
I guess it would be the same 25 useful apps forever.

[mikeinternet]

did apple take "web-clipping" out of Safari beta v 4, because i've been trying to
clip out the billion app countdown to make it a cool widget on my dashboard?
Yea isn't that a cool idea?!
So if anyone can tell me how to do web-clipping on Safari beta v 4 than thank you.

Yes it's a good idea and no it's not gone. I just right clicked and "open in dashboard" Then adjust to whatever you like.

[casik]

Here is a chart.... slow increase... (I didn't have the exact data for 9:00 but you can still see the trend)

[Mrtrick]

I'm assuming the function was linear here, but its more than likely not. I got the equation, after timing the approximate number of apps per 60 seconds and finding some slope, of 1,000,000,000=83.33333x+929,347,000. X then equals approximately 9.816843404028278 days, if I did it all right. However, its probably more of an exponential type of graph so I'd say we're looking at somewhere between now and late on the 19th as the time when it officially hits 1,000,000,000.

Feel free to dispute my findings.

The above post trumps anything I did.

[dvkid]

You sure about that? I know they aren't taxed when you buy them because you'll instead be taxed when redeeming the value, but you were still taxed on the income with which you bought the card. I'm pretty sure the winner will have to pay tax on the full value of the prize (~13 grand), that's why it's listed in the contest rules.

Technically, Apple is taxed on it as income and it is transferred to the winner in the form of a product. You can receive up to a certain amount (at least in the US) as a gift without having to report it as income. However, because this gift is neither transferable or directly redeemable for cash, I'm not sure how the rules vary here.

[omahajim]

removed

[hhaeschen]

Technically, Apple is taxed on it as income and it is transferred to the winner in the form of a product. You can receive up to a certain amount (at least in the US) as a gift without having to report it as income. However, because this gift is neither transferable or directly redeemable for cash, I'm not sure how the rules vary here.

In case someone in Germany wins the prize, you don't have to pay any taxes. Doesn't matter whether you win € 100M in the lottery or a gift card from Apple, all profits from games of chance are completely taxfree.

[Nickisgodofmacs]

In case someone in Germany wins the prize, you don't have to pay any taxes. Doesn't matter whether you win € 100M in the lottery or a gift card from Apple, all profits from games of chance are completely taxfree.

So if a US citizen wins the contest what would the tax rate be?

[fracai]

So if a US citizen wins the contest what would the tax rate be?

Whatever tax bracket it puts you in when combined with your standard income. I don't think prizes are treated any differently.

[Appleislife]

They are excluding the Province of Quebec (in which I live), BUT WHY!? The whole world can participate but not us! srsly...

[iMacoo7]

They are excluding the Province of Quebec (in which I live), BUT WHY!? The whole world can participate but not us! srsly...

should be able to fill out the form on apples website even if you do not have an itunes account you still can register for the prizes.
My daughter does not have an itunes account (She uses my account) and she was able to register to win....

[redgaz26]

have we sorted this out yet?? is it a random entry that wins or the one billion:confused:

[chr1s60]

Wow, a $10,000 iTunes card would be amazing. That could last years if you used it wisely. I wouldn't mind getting a new MBP either.

[colinmack]

They are excluding the Province of Quebec (in which I live), BUT WHY!? The whole world can participate but not us! srsly...

Actually I don't blame them - generally many contests exclude Quebec because of the draconian language laws requiring promotion and correspondence to be in French, font sizes of text to be bigger and more prominent in French than English, etc.

Most companies just don't want to bother or risk being fined by the 'language police' (and yes, for those outside Canada, Quebec actually has a special law enforcement department that goes around and measures the size of French vs. English writing on posters, signs, or printed marketing with a ruler, and will fine thousands of dollars if the French text isn't larger).

Would be funny if it wasn't true.

[iPaf]

Would be funny if it wasn't true.

Hey man, it's the only way we can preserve our language... Don't start a political debate on this site, we all know how it'll end!

[chinesechikn]

err.. what the heck would you do with a $10,000 iTunes Gift card!??!

I'd like to see the winner buy "i am rich"- ha

[akacaj]

I wonder if us developers will see a spike in sales like those seen on xmas day.

[ethical]

have we sorted this out yet?? is it a random entry that wins or the one billion:confused:

Turns out it's whoever downloads the 1,000,000,000th app.

[Stetrain]

All downloads between the time the competition opened (today) and the time the 1,000,000,000th app is download are entered into a "lucky dip". A winner is chosen from that lucky dip.

Yet, although many people continue to repeat this because it seems like it would make sense, that's not what the rules say.

Edit: here's the direct quote from http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/rules.html

Sweepstakes. Sponsor is the sole judging organization whose decisions as to the operation of the Sweepstakes and the selection of the potential winner are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion. 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. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner. Each entrant’s chances of winning are dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.

[ethical]

Yet, although many people continue to repeat this because it seems like it would make sense, that's not what the rules say.

Edit: here's the direct quote from http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/rules.html

ohh :o. my apologies. i'll edit my original post. thank you for clearing it up though :)

[McShizzel]

They are excluding the Province of Quebec (in which I live), BUT WHY!? The whole world can participate but not us! srsly...

You can enter, but if your selected as the winner you just can't get the prize. This has something to do with Quebec's law and regulations regarding contests. http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=2&file=%2F%2FL_6%2FL6_A.htm#

Basically there are quite a few reasons why we can't win but the major one is Apple is charged duty fees and has to put down security fees for it to be eligible. So Apple may have to pay double (cost for the prize and cost for the extra duty and security fee) for the contest to be eligible in Quebec.

[godfreyhk]

I keep getting some weird exceptions... no enter for me :(

[leandromp]

Best of luck guys!!!!!!

[twoodcc]

i entered the online form way, and then tried to do it a few minutes later, and it said that i had entered the max for today! but i didn't enter 25 times

[MacFly123]

WOW, that would be awesome to win. Those are some good prizes. Honestly though, I think if I won I would just sell it all and pocket the cash because I already have those things, minus the iTunes credit of course. That would be a LOT of movies :)

[jlauve]

I wonder if those of us without iPhones/iPod touches are allowed to download and/or purchase apps, even though we have no way of using them, just to participate in this promotion.

In any case, I don't think I'll bother, as I fit into the above category, and the chances of winning the iPod touch so I can actually use the app are extremely slim.

DUDE! All you gotta do is download one free App to be entered to win. Download more (up to 25 a day), and increase your odds proportionally.

Hey -- you might even buy a cheap, used 8Gb iPod touch (1st Gen) on ebay, and find that you really, really like this new revolutionary platform (cue the Android and RIM and WM and Pre fans).

Try it -- I'll bet you'll like it.

Or something like that -- just my opinion.

[je_wallace]

Getting a current average rate of about 4,533 apps per minute. (That server processing load is a amazing - even if most apps are about 1mb.)

At that rate, we should be there in 10.5 days. But within the next 2 days there will probably be a doubling of the download rate so about 9,066. (Because of the global distribution of the iPhone, I don't think this rate will slow much.)

So, the billion download might in 6.3 days.

Anyway you slice it, 1,000,000,000 app downloads since September 2008 is amazing.

Think how long it took Apple to get to the first 1 billion songs.

[jons]

Man, it would take me years to buy $10,000 worth of content. I have a hard time spending the $100 I have now.

[HLdan]

Getting a current average rate of about 4,533 apps per minute. (That server processing load is a amazing - even if most apps are about 1mb.)



And yet they couldn't get Mobile Me working? :confused:

[mackensteff]

DUDE! All you gotta do is download one free App to be entered to win. Download more (up to 25 a day), and increase your odds proportionally.

Hey -- you might even buy a cheap, used 8Gb iPod touch (1st Gen) on ebay, and find that you really, really like this new revolutionary platform (cue the Android and RIM and WM and Pre fans).

Try it -- I'll bet you'll like it.

Or something like that -- just my opinion.

The Rules
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 (“Promotion Period”). 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.
This is a legal requirement to tell everybody when the contest is over. Nowhere does it say a drawing or the winner will be picked at random!!!

How to Enter. There are three ways to enter the Promotion:
You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by downloading an app from the App Store.
You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by downloading an app from the App Store using your iPhone or iPod touch.
Non-purchase method: Go to www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/, fully complete an online entry, including your name, complete mailing address (P.O. Boxes not acceptable), telephone number, and birth date. Once your online entry is complete, hit the “Submit” button to submit an entry. Entry via this method constitutes one (1) entry into the Promotion.
This is a legal requirement. Giveaways have to have a non-purchase method, or they become a lottery, with some state prohibit. The form is simply your way to play without purchase and make this legal in all states.

Limit: Regardless of which method of entry is used to enter the Promotion, only twenty-five (25) entries per person and/or iTunes account and/or email address, per day will be granted. The use of any automated launching or entry software or any other means that permits the entrant to automatically enter repeatedly or in excess of the entry limitations is prohibited.

This is for when it gets close to 1B. If they find out you entered 100 times on the day 1B downloads are hit, you are disqualified. Same for submitting more than 25 entry forms. I think this is to prevent the whole system crashing as it nears 1B. This will prevent people setting up a program to submit/download 1000 free apps as the time approaches

Sweepstakes. Sponsor is the sole judging organization whose decisions as to the operation of the Sweepstakes and the selection of the potential winner are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion. 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. The potential winner will be determined by the order of the entries received. In the event that more than one entrant would be a winner based on the simultaneous timing of entries, one entrant will be randomly selected from those entrants as the winner. Each entrant’s chances of winning are dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.

Please read the above bold/red/large/underlined/italicized portion. If it doesn't make sense got back to school or save us (me) the pain and just move on. It is clear:
THE WINNER IS THE PERSON WHO DOWNLOADS THE 1 BILLIONITH APP OR THE PERSON WHO SUBMITS THE FORM AFTER THE 999,999,999 APP WAS DOWNLOADED. NO LUCKY DIP!!! NO RANDOM DRAWING. NO INCREASING YOUR ODDS BY DOWNLOADING?FILLING OUT MORE FORMS. DOWNLOADING AN APP ONLY GETS THE NUMBER CLOSER TO 1B. PLEASE READ!!! IT IS FAIR AS IT IS APPLE'S CONTEST AND THEY ARE GIVING THEIR STUFF AWAY.

[iPhoneNYC]

When I was a boy iy was a really big deal when McDonalds served their billioneth burger. Then all the golden arches has a "over one billion served" sentence. Can the Apple store give away fries in celebration?

[MegaMillions]

Do free apps count?

[mackensteff]

Do free apps count?

Yes! Any APP. Just remember no more than 25 on the day 1B is hit or you are disqualified. (Read rules above if you don't believe me)

[mac88]

In case someone in Germany wins the prize, you don't have to pay any taxes. Doesn't matter whether you win € 100M in the lottery or a gift card from Apple, all profits from games of chance are completely taxfree.


Wow! You win the whole amount? That's awesome. If you win the lottery here you get destroyed in taxes. Send me a lottery ticket please!

[iphone man]

has anyone else only been allowed to enter once a day when it says u can enter 25 times a day?

[iphone man]

does the countdown change for anyone else when u open it in 2 different windows?

[santybm]

This 1 billion counter is a fake and I can prove it. Change your computer time to around May 20, 2009. You'll see it go over 1 billion.

http://i43.tinypic.com/21b6t8n.jpg

You Try...

I got the same thing only 1,010,082,02. I find it out because the timer on on computer was 3...,... and on my laptop it was 2..,... . I set it to Sunday , April 12 at 14:42pm and got to one billion!

[swb1192]

i think it passed...

[Minimoose 360]

A. It is the person who downloads the next app after 999,999,999 OR the next submission.

B. FREE APPS COUNT

C. The counter is just a placeholder.

/thread?

[DoFoT9]

i think it passed...

lol no it didnt, look where the commas are based..

[swb1192]

lol no it didnt, look where the commas are based..

Ha I didn't even see that. Now that's confusing...

[DoFoT9]

Ha I didn't even see that. Now that's confusing...

very!! maybe its a coding error or somethng??

[adamgalas]

If you look at the number of downloads in the 3:00 hour you find something like 144,000.

The number of downloads/hour has consistantly gone up and last I checked was 278,000 in 1 hour.

This amounts to 77.3/second.

Looking at the counter on the apple website it certainly looks like 77/sec is about right.

Even if you have to be the 1 billionth download to win I still want to help Apple out.

I feel a loyalty to them for building my 2nd gen touch which has exceeded my wildest expectations.

For the greater glory of Apple and to be part of history I will download the 25 most popular free apps from each category, sync the ones I will actually use, delete the rest and keep downloading until I help push them over the top.

Keep this in perspective.

Apps store launches Sep 2008, in 7 months reaches 1 billion downloads:

143 million/month

35.7 million/week

4.8 million/day

198,000/hour

3307/min

55/sec every second for 7 months and the pace of downloads has been steadily increasing.

I think its safe to say Apple will see the next billion in 6 months and perhaps the 3rd billion in 5.

The Touch/Iphone is revolutionizing personal electronics.

It is essentially a tricorder, an electronic swiss army knife.

It is a self sustaining system of advancement.

The more people get the ipod touch/iphone, the more app developers will arrive, creating better and bettter apps.

The more and better apps, the greater the utility of the Touch/Iphone, the more people buy one.

So the cycle spirals upwards.

In August 2010 I will be start attending the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Navy Medical Program, (I will be a Navy Doctor) and I plan to just go with a cell phone as a primary phone instead of a landline.

Once guess as to which Phone I will choose.

Kudos Apple, for creating such a system and such a fine product. I look forward to my 64 GB 4th gen Iphone and the incredible wonders it will be able to accomplish.

[PACraddock]

OK, so I'm not a Google Spreadsheets zen master. But here's a rough sheet that calculates the hourly trend based on the last fetched data from http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt .

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=peSvgz_rUARx-RxxRCyqsVw


Here's the data I've got so far (missed one hour you didn't have):

10-APR-2009 23:00:00|932589673|206564
11-APR-2009 00:00:00|932766515|176842
11-APR-2009 01:00:00|932927615|161100
11-APR-2009 02:00:00|933077988|150373
(I'll update this post to add other bits of info)

[ziggyonice]

[LOTS OF RED TEXT]

Thank you for pointing this out. This is not a drawing. The winner will be the person who downloads app #1 billion (or submits an entry form at the correct time). I don't know why they're saying "Limit 25 per day", seeing as it doesn't really matter.

[Luke Evans]

Here's a quick look at the hourly download rate! I feel like such a geek.

P.S. Time is in GMT

[AirwingMarine]

so with 10g's for itunes does that mean you can only get 10g's worth of music and movies.....sounds WACK

[DoFoT9]

so with 10g's for itunes does that mean you can only get 10g's worth of music and movies.....sounds WACK

that would be very good, HD movies *drools*

[PACraddock]

One thing intrigues me: do application updates count? Because they are downloads, right? Apple is counting all downloads, not purchases… no?

[ThE.MeSsEnGeR]

Here's my theory,

I updated the link http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt
at about 1:40PM (my time, I live in Lebanon) which equals 3:40AM on CA's time. and it displayed: "11-APR-2009 04:00:00|933364065|142484"

so, I think that they update it 30 mins before the actual time displayed on the link... and it actually sets the countdown on the website to go with those numbers... I waited for the clock to strike 2PM at my time so 4AM CA's time and I took a screenshot at the exact time and it was at exactly 933,364,065 downloads!

so, if I set my computer's clock to some date later on this month, the countdown will utilize the current info that is provided on http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt , so that date can change every time they change the number of downloads per hour that is displayed in the third slot on the link...

I don't know about you all but I'm not gonna bother download a lot in the meanwhile... because they just want us to get eager over it and reach the 1B mark very fast.... im just gonna start downloadin' 25 apps a day after it reaches 999,000,000.....

P.S. I'm on a Cyber Cafe Computer, that's why the screenshot was shot in a Windows OS... I have a MacBook! but the connection back at home was down.... :(

[wardev]

I got the same thing only 1,010,082,02. I find it out because the timer on on computer was 3...,... and on my laptop it was 2..,... . I set it to Sunday , April 12 at 14:42pm and got to one billion!

Loo at apple's homegage in the bottom right corner, the tickets is there and the last number doesn't dissappear after 1 billion

[hhaeschen]

P.S. I'm on a Cyber Cafe Computer, that's why the screenshot was shot in a Windows OS... I have a MacBook! but the connection back at home was down.... :(

It's ok, you don't have to apologize! ;)

[ThE.MeSsEnGeR]

It's ok, you don't have to apologize! ;)

Thank you! LOL!

I'm frustrated!! I've been sitting on this computer for about an hour and a half and I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del about 500 times!!!
I've been using my MacBook for more than 8 months and not once an App crashed!!!:mad:


and BTW, what do u think 'bout what I wrote?

[ThE.MeSsEnGeR]

the link was updated about 10 mins ago!

11-APR-2009 05:00:00|933519532|155467

[ThE.MeSsEnGeR]

This Is all the Info I could Gather until now...

10-APR-2009 03:00:00|927293669|0
10-APR-2009 04:00:00|927429125|135456
10-APR-2009 05:00:00|927585027|155902
10-APR-2009 06:00:00|927767980|182953
10-APR-2009 07:00:00|927991954|223974
10-APR-2009 08:00:00|928257635|265681
10-APR-2009 09:00:00|928549826|292191
10-APR-2009 10:00:00|928856544|306718
10-APR-2009 11:00:00|929158812|302268
10-APR-2009 12:00:00|929461487|302675
10-APR-2009 13:00:00|929773255|311768
10-APR-2009 14:00:00|930108271|335016
10-APR-2009 15:00:00|930436789|328518
10-APR-2009 16:00:00|930737778|300989
10-APR-2009 17:00:00|931015519|277741
10-APR-2009 18:00:00|931286770|271251
10-APR-2009 19:00:00|931565858|279088
10-APR-2009 20:00:00|931860441|294583
10-APR-2009 21:00:00|932138754|278313
10-APR-2009 22:00:00|932383109|244355
10-APR-2009 23:00:00|932589673|206564
11-APR-2009 00:00:00|932766515|176842
11-APR-2009 01:00:00|932927615|161100
11-APR-2009 02:00:00|933077988|150373
11-APR-2009 03:00:00|933221581|143593
11-APR-2009 04:00:00|933364065|142484
11-APR-2009 05:00:00|933519532|155467

hope it helps!!

[ThE.MeSsEnGeR]

To everybody!
try to post the hourly updates from the link! so we all could stay up to date!

[iknowyourider]

If I win; Setup a new itunes library on Time Capsule via MBP. Download all my fav music, movies, games & apps. Engrave ipod maybe "999,999,999...", minus quotes, load it with best of best. Share my itunes card with family and friends. Buy an apple LED display. Post pics here :).

[latourfl]

Actually I don't blame them - generally many contests exclude Quebec because of the draconian language laws requiring promotion and correspondence to be in French, font sizes of text to be bigger and more prominent in French than English, etc.

As if people from other countries with non-English speaking populations that are part of the contest did not have similar rights to get details about it in their own language! Most of participating countries are concerned here: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

Your argument is simply flawed, and turning it into an empty political debate is just plain stupid.

[fracai]

Instead of trying to compile the results, why not use a script to log them for you?

I'm using perl but something much simpler could be:
#!/bin/bash
while [ 1 ]
do
curl www.apple.com/autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt >> countdown.txt
sort -u countdown.txt > countdown.sort.txt
sleep 2700
done

This dumps the output of the url to a file, and then sorts that file, stripping out duplicate entries, outputting to a new file. Then it sleeps for 45 minutes. You could use any sleep value less than an hour so you're guaranteed to get every update.

[ksummers]

As if people from other countries with non-English speaking populations that are part of the contest did not have similar rights to get details about it in their own language! Most of participating countries are concerned here: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

Your argument is simply flawed, and turning it into an empty political debate is just plain stupid.

I think what they were referring to here is that the laws in that province are very stringent and restrictive on such promotions and the negative effects of these rules outweigh the benefit for Apple to participate in that location. It is not a matter of the right of someone to have something presented to them in their own language, but rather a matter of the laws of Quebec imposing a detriment to Apple.

Apple could very well have produced the rules in many different languages, but the risk of how the legal terms could have been interpreted and the overall benefit of the multi-lingual presentation likely would not have been worth it to them.

I believe it is really a matter of weighing the pros vs. cons for them with the legal requirements in each location, not a denial of linguistic equality.

Presenting the information in such a diversity of languages and to have each version present the exact same information legally without the risk of a different interpretation may have been difficult. The rules have to hold up in the jurisdiction in which they were enacted, and in this case that would be California.

[Markov]

April 21st, 2009 at 7:20 pm. @ 28 seconds or so past the minute Eastern Standard time is right around when the counter hits 999,999,999. That is assuming they are going by that counter :p

[stuartdavenport]

Doesnt work for me?! :(

I get the following error when trying to submit my entry... Anyone else getting a similar one?


Application: MZFinance
Error: com.webobjects.eoaccess.EOGeneralAdaptorException: EvaluateExpression failed: (state), 8:100000000009159(id), 9:"United Kingdom"(country), 10:"<REMOVED>"(phoneNumber), 11:"<REMOVED>"(areaCode), 12:"<REMOVED>"(firstName), 13:"<REMOVED>"(email), 14:"<REMOVED>"(address1), 15:"<REMOVED>"(address2), 16:2009-04-11 09:41:04(lastModified)>: Next exception:SQL State:72000 -- error code: 12899 -- msg: ORA-12899: value too large for column "JINGLE"."MZ_BILLION_APP_ENTRY"."ZIP" (actual: 6, maximum: 5)
Reason: EvaluateExpression failed: <com.webobjects.jdbcadaptor.OraclePlugIn$OracleExpression: "INSERT INTO MZ_BILLION_APP_ENTRY(LAST_NAME, CREATED, CITY, BIRTH_DATE, ZIP, province, STATE, BILLION_SONG_ENTRY_ID, COUNTRY, PHONE_NUMBER, AREA_CODE, FIRST_NAME, EMAIL, ADDRESS1, ADDRESS2, LAST_MODIFIED) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)" withBindings: 1:"<REMOVED>"(lastName), 2:2009-04-11 09:41:04(created), 3:<REMOVED>"(city), 4:<REMOVED>(birthDate), 5:"<REMOVED>"(zip), 6:"<REMOVED>"(province), 7:<com.webobjects.foundation.NSKeyValueCoding$Null>(state), 8:100000000009159(id), 9:"United Kingdom"(country), 10:"<REMOVED>"(phoneNumber), 11:"<REMOVED>"(areaCode), 12:"<REMOVED>"(firstName), 13:"<REMOVED>"(email), 14:"<REMOVED>"(address1), 15:"<REMOVED>"(address2), 16:2009-04-11 09:41:04(lastModified)>: Next exception:SQL State:72000 -- error code: 12899 -- msg: ORA-12899: value too large for column "JINGLE"."MZ_BILLION_APP_ENTRY"."ZIP" (actual: 6, maximum: 5)
Stack trace:
File Line# Method Package
EODatabaseContext.java 5556 _exceptionWithDatabaseContextInformationAdded com.webobjects.eoaccess
EODatabaseContext.java 7380 performChanges com.webobjects.eoaccess
EOObjectStoreCoordinator.java 415 saveChangesInEditingContext com.webobjects.eocontrol
EOEditingContext.java 3196 saveChanges com.webobjects.eocontrol
ERXEC.java 513 saveChanges er.extensions
ITEditingContext.java 119 _saveChangesWithDelegate com.apple.itools.versioning
ITEditingContext.java 144 saveChanges com.apple.itools.versioning
MZAlternateEntryForm.java 175 recordEntry com.apple.jingle.app.finance.html
MZAlternateEntryForm.java 197 submit com.apple.jingle.app.finance.html
GeneratedMethodAccessor2696.java NA invoke sun.reflect
DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java 25 invoke sun.reflect
Method.java 597 invoke java.lang.reflect
NSKeyValueCoding.java 684 methodValue com.webobjects.foundation
NSKeyValueCoding.java 1160 valueInObject com.webobjects.foundation
NSKeyValueCoding.java 1268 valueForKey com.webobjects.foundation
WOComponent.java 1670 valueForKey com.webobjects.appserver
NSKeyValueCoding.java 498 valueForKey com.webobjects.foundation
NSKeyValueCodingAdditions.java 212 valueForKeyPath com.webobjects.foundation
WOComponent.java 1731 valueForKeyPath com.webobjects.appserver
WOKeyValueAssociation.java 46 valueInComponent com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOSubmitButton.java 59 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
ERXPatcher.java 203 invokeAction er.extensions
WODynamicGroup.java 101 invokeChildrenAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
WODynamicGroup.java 110 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
ERXWOForm.java 172 invokeAction er.extensions
WODynamicGroup.java 101 invokeChildrenAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
WODynamicGroup.java 110 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOConditional.java 55 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
WODynamicGroup.java 101 invokeChildrenAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
WODynamicGroup.java 110 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOComponent.java 1059 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver
MZFoundationComponent.java 207 invokeAction com.apple.jingle.appserver
WOSession.java 1220 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver
ITVersionAwareSession.java 115 invokeAction com.apple.itools.versioning
WOApplication.java 1523 invokeAction com.webobjects.appserver
ERXAjaxApplication.java 47 invokeAction er.extensions
ERXApplication.java 1041 invokeAction er.extensions
WOComponentRequestHandler.java 196 _dispatchWithPreparedPage com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOComponentRequestHandler.java 287 _dispatchWithPreparedSession com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOComponentRequestHandler.java 322 _dispatchWithPreparedApplication com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOComponentRequestHandler.java 358 _handleRequest com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOComponentRequestHandler.java 432 handleRequest com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOApplication.java 1454 dispatchRequest com.webobjects.appserver
ERXApplication.java 1112 dispatchRequest er.extensions
MZApplication.java 1807 dispatchRequest com.apple.jingle.appserver
Application.java 519 dispatchRequest com.apple.jingle.app.finance
WOWorkerThread.java 480 runOnce com.webobjects.appserver._private
WOWorkerThread.java 607 run com.webobjects.appserver._private
Thread.java 637 run java.lang
EOAdaptorChannel.java 1568 performAdaptorOperations com.webobjects.eoaccess
EODatabaseContext.java 7256 _performChangesWithAdaptorOps com.webobjects.eoaccess
EODatabaseContext.java 7362 performChanges com.webobjects.eoaccess
NA : Non applicable, JIT activated

[casik]

Doesnt work for me?! :(

I get the following error when trying to submit my entry... Anyone else getting a similar one....




It doesn't really matter since it is the billionth download that wins, and it is not a draw based system. Since we are not even close to the billionth download it's not really a big deal.

[tirerim]

Well, they fixed the typo on the non-download entry form; unfortunately, it's still only one entry per day. It's probably easier to just download 25 free apps in any case, though.

[seedster2]

I'd much rather a 10k gift certificate.

no one would buy a gift card from you lol:D

I entered anyhow, I could sell that MBP and time capsule and perhaps walk away with 3k

[latourfl]

I think what they were referring to here is that the laws in that province are very stringent and restrictive on such promotions and the negative effects of these rules outweigh the benefit for Apple to participate in that location. It is not a matter of the right of someone to have something presented to them in their own language, but rather a matter of the laws of Quebec imposing a detriment to Apple.
.

I did not quote the complete original post, but the author made it clear that according to him nothing but "language laws" made Apple decide to exclude Québec from the contest, while in truth, there is not a single mention of language in Québec's contest regulation act:

http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=2&file=%2F%2FL_6%2FL6_A.htm#

The laws might be stringent, but this has nothing to do with language. So I was trying to make it clear that having access to information (besides the whole list of rules) about the contest in other languages than English is a global issue, not specific to Québec, and that it is certainly not the reason why people from Québec are not eligible to the contest while residents of other states/countries are.

Here is the rest of the original post:

Most companies just don't want to bother or risk being fined by the 'language police' (and yes, for those outside Canada, Quebec actually has a special law enforcement department that goes around and measures the size of French vs. English writing on posters, signs, or printed marketing with a ruler, and will fine thousands of dollars if the French text isn't larger).

[CharlieWhisky]

I would love a $10000 voucher so badly :eek:

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Realistcally how long would $10,000 to the iTunes store last you?
I've been buying from the iTunes store for five years now and last week I went through all thirty pages of my iTunes receipts and I've only spent just under $900. I can't imagine the crap I would buy with $10,000!

[Simplicated]

One more way to see the purchase count is fake.
See the tens-digit... It is going on a loop - 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 0, 3, 4, 7, 8.

[mschap37]

if you change your computer clock to april 20th and refresh the counter you will see that it is over a billion

[TuffLuffJimmy]

if you change your computer clock to april 20th and refresh the counter you will see that it is over a billion

/facepalm

[MegaMillions]

Maybe they're just gonna give the stuff to the person who spends the most money on apps between now and the 1 billion mark.

[DoFoT9]

/facepalm

LOL! nice, thankyou

[rowanmwilliams]

In case someone in Germany wins the prize, you don't have to pay any taxes. Doesn't matter whether you win € 100M in the lottery or a gift card from Apple, all profits from games of chance are completely taxfree.

Same in Australia.

[ksummers]

I did not quote the complete original post, but the author made it clear that according to him nothing but "language laws" made Apple decide to exclude Québec from the contest, while in truth, there is not a single mention of language in Québec's contest regulation act:

http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=2&file=%2F%2FL_6%2FL6_A.htm#

The laws might be stringent, but this has nothing to do with language. So I was trying to make it clear that having access to information (besides the whole list of rules) about the contest in other languages than English is a global issue, not specific to Québec, and that it is certainly not the reason why people from Québec are not eligible to the contest while residents of other states/countries are.

I see. I admittedly did accept their argument that information had to be provided in both English and French as I believe this to be true. This may not be the only reason why Apple chose not to participate, but I could imagine it potentially being a good reason with how strict some laws can be at times, and the possibility to interpret information differently based on the language it is provided in. I do believe it important to provide information in many languages, but I didn't really think it was as simple as being lazy on their part, but rather legal implications involved. Apple produces their store in many different languages for international customers, so they could have presented this sweepstakes in each language if they so chose to. I'm not familiar first-hand with the laws of Québec, so I will take your word for it.

[MegaMillions]

I don't understand. Their "official" rules aren't very official or clear.

Is it the one billionth download that wins? If so, where does it say that?

Do free apps count?

Why can you enter daily up to 25 times if it makes no difference since it's the billionth download that wins??
:confused::confused::confused:

[Cassie]

Heh, I wouldn't mind a free MBP.

[DoFoT9]

Heh, I wouldn't mind a free MBP.

i dont think anybody would deny it tbh

[aznguyen316]

I d/l'ed pacman lite on my iTunes. so I guess I'm entered. hah is it one entry per apple ID?

[PACraddock]

Here's my theory,

I updated the link http://www.apple.com//autopush/us/itunes/includes/countdown.txt
at about 1:40PM (my time, I live in Lebanon) which equals 3:40AM on CA's time. and it displayed: "11-APR-2009 04:00:00|933364065|142484"

so, I think that they update it 30 mins before the actual time displayed on the link... and it actually sets the countdown on the website to go with those numbers... I waited for the clock to strike 2PM at my time so 4AM CA's time and I took a screenshot at the exact time and it was at exactly 933,364,065 downloads!


Interestingly, I'm noticing a different phenomenon.

The countdown.txt file was somewhere between 7.40 and 7.57 AM in Brussels (10.40-10.57PM in CA) from this:
11-APR-2009 21:00:00|938030517|275391
to this:
11-APR-2009 22:00:00|938271179|240662
At 7.57, I noticed something interesting: the counter changed somewhere between 7.57:15 and 7.57:30.

Here are the amounts I recorded:
7.40 (22.40 CA): 938477900
7.57 (22.57 CA): 938548000
7.57 (22.57 CA): 938503000
8.00 (23.00 CA): 938511900
Interestingly, 938271179 + 240662 = 938511841.

So is the countdown.txt file updated 50 minutes after the hour with the data of the hour, and the countdown then reaches the sum of the two numbers ten minutes later?

I'll try again in half an hour to see.

[PACraddock]

Okay, I've got it!

Here's the data I collected:

11-APR-2009 21:00:00|938030517|275391
11-APR-2009 22:00:00|938271179|240662
11-APR-2009 23:00:00|938477072|205893 (8.43 Brussels, 11.43 PM in CA)

7.40 (22.40 CA): 938477900
7.57 (22.57 CA): 938548000
7.57 (22.57 CA): 938503000 // => variation!
8.00 (23.00 CA): 938511841
8.40 (23.40 CA): 938673000
8.45 (23.45 CA): 938693000
8.46 (23:46 CA): 938638000 // => variation!
8.50 (23:50 CA): 938649000
9.00 (00:00 CA): 938682965

Now, as you can see, the data from 11 PM was added at around 11.43 PM, and the counter data was adjusted at 11.46 PM.

The data of the countdown.txt file can be summarised as follows:
Date - Time - Number Sold - Delta
The last number, which I call "delta", seems to represent the number of applications bought between 10 PM and 11 PM (as 938271179 + 205893 = 938477072).
The interesting thing is that the counter then uses the delta to calculate what it's supposed to be at the following hour, i.e. 12 PM in this case. Thus, at 12 PM San Francisco time, it displayed 938682965 (I have just checked).

I've written a small post on my website (http://www.arpia.be/2009/04/the-billionth-download-in-the-app-store/) to explain how to use this information.

[Eso]

I don't understand. Their "official" rules aren't very official or clear.

Is it the one billionth download that wins? If so, where does it say that?

It says it... in the official rules (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/rules.html), specifically section number 5. At the very top of the page it also says, "A PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD
OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING." That certainly wouldn't be true if every app download up to 25 per day entered you for a chance to win.

Why can you enter daily up to 25 times if it makes no difference since it's the billionth download that wins??

Simple. The average person's reading comprehension is too poor to know any better, so they will drive app downloads in the hopes of increasing their chances of winning. Instead, they are simply playing into Apple's hand of using bloated and meaningless statistics to impress these same people and promote their app store.

The App Store - now with 25,000 apps (only 94% of which are high school CS projects) and over 1 billion downloads (only 800,000,000 of which are deleted after the first day)!

[Zillicah]

I think you can only get a prize if you're in the USA. I remember reading that on the site.

When I try to enter 25 times, the second time I do it it says I've done it too many times! >;O

[marksman]

or 10 million users buying 100 apps each (still no way, jose)...or 100 million users (they don't even exist). So what's the math, Apple? :)


Way Jose. I think the installed base for iPhones and Touches is more than 10 million. The device holds 140 apps on the configuration screen. I know a lot of people are full up. I have been full since about 3 weeks after the app store opened, and I have another 30-40 apps I have used and no longer get put on my machine.

I think taking the installed user base and saying the average person has downloaded 50-75 apps is entirely reasonable.

[gkarris]

I don't see how this contest is a good thing...

The Gift/Prize Tax here in the US is 40% (last I heard), plus I *think* that the price money is added to your income which may push you into the next/higher tax backet.

So, if you have to pay 45% taxes on the prize, that's $6,300 in taxes on about $14,000 for the total prize.

How is this worth it???

It's like when AOPA or EAA has an Airplane Contest Give-Away. Most can't keep the airplane and sell it just to pay back the taxes on it... :eek:

[thisisarcadia]

Who else on here is trying to win the 17' macbook pro, the 32 gb ipod, the time capsule and the 10000$ itunes gift card? I am, i hope i win ha :p

[afireintonto]

duh!
i would loveee to have 10k in itunes cash
i would lay off the torrents for while! aahaha

[fracai]

The Gift/Prize Tax here in the US is 40% (last I heard), plus I *think* that the price money is added to your income which may push you into the next/higher tax bracket.

That's not how it works. You take the value of the prize (~$13000) and add it to your income as if it was additional income. It's not taxed any different, unless it pushes you into the next bracket. If it does push you into the next bracket, only the amount that is over the lower bracket is taxed at the higher rate. This is the same for any income, regardless of the source. It certainly isn't taxed twice as you suggested, as a gift and again as income.

[bplein]

That's not how it works. You take the value of the prize (~$13000) and add it to your income as if it was additional income. It's not taxed any different, unless it pushes you into the next bracket. If it does push you into the next bracket, only the amount that is over the lower bracket is taxed at the higher rate. This is the same for any income, regardless of the source. It certainly isn't taxed twice as you suggested, as a gift and again as income.

You are correct.

Still, when you add state and federal income taxes, it can be a pretty heavy tax. With nobody standing in line to buy $10,000 gift cards, it's going to be pretty tough on the winner.

[sammich]

It says it... in the official rules (http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/rules.html), specifically section number 5. At the very top of the page it also says, "A PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD
OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING." That certainly wouldn't be true if every app download up to 25 per day entered you for a chance to win.

Simple. The average person's reading comprehension is too poor to know any better, so they will drive app downloads in the hopes of increasing their chances of winning. Instead, they are simply playing into Apple's hand of using bloated and meaningless statistics to impress these same people and promote their app store.

The App Store - now with 25,000 apps (only 94% of which are high school CS projects) and over 1 billion downloads (only 800,000,000 of which are deleted after the first day)!

Awww, what?! So my scouring the free app's pages for my 25 entries for the day is for nothing?

Time to power up the spreadsheet and calculate me the ETA of said billionth download.

[Doctor Q]

You mean I bought 50 copies of that "I Am Rich" application for nothing? I thought it would guarantee me the grand prize! :mad: ;)

[iphonerain]

*enter
*enter
*enter
(repeat 22 more times...
every day!)

who'd turn down the giftcard? perhaps i'll make my friends do it too and if one of us wins we can all split it haha

[techfreak85]

so when is the expected billionth download set to occur?

[sammich]

EDIT:

Slowing down for the night, estimated in ~7.93 days

For anyone following the countdown, did you get the one for 14-APR-2009 22:00:00?

[techfreak85]

hehe i will be downloading like crazy that day. fortunately most apps are free, so ill have a queue of a few dozen or so. :D

[Rorikynn]

http://i41.tinypic.com/2h4ardx.png

[Bye Bye Baby]

Would be nice to win something.

[casik]

i still can't believe the amount of people that think that downloading apps everyday or entering online will help their odds of winning. YOU WIN IF YOU DOWNLOAD THE FRIGGEN 1,000,000,000 DOWNLOAD. For the love of everything would people read before posting in the forum!

[fracai]

For anyone following the countdown, did you get the one for 14-APR-2009 22:00:00?

The full list is available at the spreadsheet created by omahajim.
I've been periodically adding my captures as well.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=peSvgz_rUARx-RxxRCyqsVw

[sammich]

The full list is available at the spreadsheet created by omahajim.
I've been periodically adding my captures as well.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=peSvgz_rUARx-RxxRCyqsVw

Thanks, I've got an automator script pulling the numbers for me. Sometimes it fails for some reason. I realised I can use the following hours data to make up the previous one.

And those timestamps correspond to Cupertino time right? When are the numbers refreshed (what time in the hour?)?

[fracai]

They used to be updated pretty consistently at about quarter of each hour. Today my script missed one update and didn't update a later time until almost quarter after. Mine is written in perl, checks about every 15 minutes, and only writes out when the data differs.

Yes it's the time in Cupertino.

[sammich]

Here is my contribution so far. I used the data from omahajim gDocs for missing and older data that I didn't have.