Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

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

In Holland, the company handing out the prize takes care of the taxes... I presume Apple makes sure the winner is not forced to pay that much taxes.

I don't know how other countries handle that...

Congrats to the winner!
 
Contest Questions

Two questions:

(1) Do app updates count towards this contest?

(2) Is this contest rigged?

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

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

Everyone should download FREE bad apps on the next contest during the final hours. :)
 
farleysmaster said:
How is it entitlement mentality? If I had to pay tax on a $10,000 gift, I couldn't.

Also if you had an olive garden gift card for $25, and your dinner cost $20, wouldn't the tax be paid for by the gift card? It's not the same as having to pay tax on a prize as income (which I believe you have to in the US, but not in the UK or Canada.)
Click to expand...

I used one of these gift cards once. They would not take the tax out of the gift card, they would not even let me put the server's tip on the gift card.
 
BobbyRond said:
In Holland, the company handing out the prize takes care of the taxes... I presume Apple makes sure the winner is not forced to pay that much taxes.

I don't know how other countries handle that...

Congrats to the winner!
Click to expand...

The official rules state winner is responsible for all taxes so that doesn't seem to be the case.
 
Revearti said:
(2) Is this contest rigged?
Click to expand...

I doubt it's legit.

The winning app was by DISNEY. That should tell you all you need to know. But like you said, there's way too much crap on the market for Apple to let it be random.
 
Even more amusing (?) is that Where's My Water is a disney app - right? Give that a though ;)
 
velocityg4 said:
I wonder if the winner will have to pay taxes on that gift card or if Apple will cover those? I doubt I would even accept that prize if I had to pay taxes on it unless I could get the gift card broken up into numerous $100 cards to sell on one of those gift card buying sites.
Click to expand...

In the US, yes. I don't know about China.

In the US, it is considered income the same as if Apple had awarded a cash prize. Note that some banks are now sending 1099s for the value of free airline miles that they award customers for opening new accounts (e.g. Citi was valuing 25000 miles at $675). Miles that you "earn" by making purchases on a credit card or a flight are not considered taxable as they are deemed to be reductions in a selling price, rather than an award or incentive.

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

By definition, because the app is "popular" it is more likely than some random app to be the "Nth" app downloaded. For instance, if the top 10 downloads represent 20% of total downloads, there is a 1 in 5 chance that the download will be one of those 10.
 
Revearti said:
Two questions:

(1) Do app updates count towards this contest?

(2) Is this contest rigged?

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

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

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

It's much more likely the app will be a popular one, seeing as those are the ones that are most downloaded...
 
bretm said:
First, yes I do believe they pay taxes. Not sales tax you ninny. Gift taxes. Probably 15%.
Click to expand...

My bad.

I was not thinking INCOME taxes, but SALES taxes instead. Man, am I screwed up. :)

Yes - you would have to pay INCOME taxes based on your income. Anywhere between 0% and 38% depending on how much you make, how many people in your family, what country you live in, etc. (In Canada, you pay 0% income taxes on winnings including million dollar lotteries)
 
Nomadski said:
Cynical, much? :p
Click to expand...


You got me :p I've been downloading apps 24/7 to try and win this.

Or just because I'm avoiding work :rolleyes:

----------
DixonMarcus said:
my co-worker's step-sister makes $85/hour on the laptop. She has been unemployed for 10 months but last month her paycheck was $7715 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more on this site... makecash16.comONLY
Click to expand...


ah sweet! EVERYONE, LET'S DO IT... :(
 
Wouldn't it be funny if Apple permitted pr0n apps and the winner would have been for downloading <Insert something sick>? :D
 
First of all, congrats to the winner.:D

Second, no there is no tax for the winner of the prize in China :D

Third, yes we can and do read MR in China with no problems :D

Fourth, Google has a music site accesible in china that is totally sponsored by advertising, it allows the user to download music legitimately, the majority of the income goes to the publishing houses. :p

Fifthly(?), not everyone in china is a Foxconn employee! :eek:

Sixthly, why wouldn't be a free popular app? Surely that is what is most likely to be downloaded at anytime. :p

Seventhly, I am slightly envious, that could have seriously expanded my iTunes movie library. :eek:

Eighthly, well done Apple nice prize :apple:
 
bbeagle said:
In the United States, yes. The winner will not pay taxes upon receipt of the gift card (because gift cards are untaxed), but only pay taxes after purchases occur with said gift card.

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



Wow. Entitlement mentality at it's best.
Click to expand...

You're wrong. You have to pay taxes on the gift. I received a $30 gift card from work one time and had to fill out an I-9 form and claim it on my taxes.

Edit: I see you already admitted to being wrong. Sorry.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
The official rules state winner is responsible for all taxes so that doesn't seem to be the case.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the standard in the US. You'll see the same disclaimer at the end of all tv game shows, back of lottery tickets, etc.

And yes, some people have been awarded big prizes that they had to forfeit because they were too poor to pay the taxes. A recent example was someone winning one of those 'dream home' giveaways. They couldn't keep the house because their income wasn't sufficient to pay the income, let alone the property taxes.
 
GenesisST said:
Wouldn't it be funny if Apple permitted pr0n apps and the winner would have been for downloading <Insert something sick>? :D
Click to expand...

"Booby Patrol HD"

:)

That would by hysterical to showcase on the Apple website. "Congratulations to Fred Smith of Boston, MA for his winning download of Booby Patrol HD"
 
Ecoh said:
I used one of these gift cards once. They would not take the tax out of the gift card, they would not even let me put the server's tip on the gift card.
Click to expand...

Same here - I had like a $25 gift card to a place I knew I never wanted to go back to. We bought like $17 worth of food. Tax was put on the gift card as well, but the waiter said his tip couldn't go on there.

We just left the $25 gift card and left. If he "can't" take the $8 for himself... it's simple.... The next time someone pays with cash, he can use the remaining $8 on the gift card, and keep the $8 cash himself for a tip. No big deal.

And I'm not wasting $8 on the card, PLUS giving him a $2 tip. He should be happy to do that 30 seconds worth of work to get $6 more. If he's too lazy to do that (or figure that out), then he doesn't deserve a tip.
 
bbeagle said:
Same here - I had like a $25 gift card to a place I knew I never wanted to go back to. We bought like $17 worth of food. Tax was put on the gift card as well, but the waiter said his tip couldn't go on there.

We just left the $25 gift card and left. If he "can't" take the $8 for himself... it's simple.... The next time someone pays with cash, he can use the remaining $8 on the gift card, and keep the $8 cash himself for a tip. No big deal.

And I'm not wasting $8 on the card, PLUS giving him a $2 tip. He should be happy to do that 30 seconds worth of work to get $6 more. If he's too lazy to do that (or figure that out), then he doesn't deserve a tip.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's totally his fault that you got a gift card you didn't want, so he should commit fraud to get a tip, or use a gift card in a restaurant where he probably eats for free. Why shouldn't his life be a pain in the ass because you couldn't be bothered to pay $2 at a place you just ate for free?

It's like watching Reservoir Dogs.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Wondering if he's going to buy the full version xD Lucky man, congratulations.
 
farleysmaster said:
Yeah it's totally his fault that you got a gift card you didn't want, so he should commit fraud to get a tip, or use a gift card in a restaurant where he probably eats for free. Why shouldn't his life be a pain in the ass because you couldn't be bothered to pay $2 at a place you just ate for free?
Click to expand...

Commit fraud to get a tip? What are you smoking? It's the BOSS at the restaurant that is trying to pull the scam here. There is nothing illegal or fraudulent about putting tips on a gift card. I do it all the time. Just that one particular restaurant had a BOSS who made it his 'policy'. I don't agree with his 'policy'. My own 'policy' is that I put the tip on the gift card because it's completely legal to do so.

The waiter needs to take it up with his boss if he doesn't like this policy.

Now if it was illegal, then that's a different story, and I would pay the $2 in cash. But it's the principle here. The BOSS already got his $25 cash, and we only used $17 of it. Should the rich BOSS now get the extra $8??? No. The waiter deserved it, and he should get the extra $8. I don't think you see the big picture here. The boss could have said, 'My policy is that french fries can't be put on gift cards'. Totally legal for him to do so. But, again, if the policy is not stated up front, but told to me after I already ate my meal, I would disagree with his policy, and not pay cash for the french fries. You realize that when someone bought the gift card for $25, that $25 went right into the pocket of the boss already. He is not losing any money, just trying to pull a scam to get MORE money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back