# Apple Contest: Win a MacBook Pro, more



## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

No purchase necessary - just download 25 apps today (the limit).

Info: 

Apple - iTunes - 1 Billion App Countdown


M


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## acc30 (Apr 26, 2006)

people can also enter through the web
iTunes - 1 Billion App Countdown - Alternative Entry Form - Apple Canada

just to clarify, they will do a draw from all the entries once the 1billionth app is downloaded?


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## bsenka (Jan 27, 2009)

acc30 said:


> people can also enter through the web
> iTunes - 1 Billion App Countdown - Alternative Entry Form - Apple Canada
> 
> just to clarify, they will do a draw from all the entries once the 1billionth app is downloaded?


The one billionth download is the winner.


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

When I fill out the form, I get an error. Anybody else?


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

I got the error after submitting but when I did a couple refreshes it said "Thanks for the submission..."


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

The enter form is a pain in the ***. I found it much simpler to just go to the App Store and download 25 free apps (most of which I'll never use, but what the hey).


M


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## kevleviathan (Apr 9, 2008)

bsenka said:


> The one billionth download is the winner.


Wrong. They do a draw from all the people who downloaded apps up UNTIL the 1 billionth app. You can also enter on the web with that form.


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

kevleviathan said:


> Wrong. They do a draw from all the people who downloaded apps up UNTIL the 1 billionth app. You can also enter on the web with that form.


According to the rules, Rule #5 says:



> 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 first eligible 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 and the order in which they are received.


 (emphasis mine)

Looks like it's the billionth download if a billion comes after 999,999,999 

Margaret


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## kevleviathan (Apr 9, 2008)

Interesting.... I read a bunch of articles yesterday that stated otherwise. I could've sworn I read those contest rules differently.. but hey it was late at night


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2009)

heh the alternate entry form says "(Limited to 25 entries per day)" .. but only let me enter once. Trying to submit a second entry it says "You have entered too many times today"

I cry foul and Apple needs to send me a prize so I don't sue them for rigging the contest


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

It's kind of cool where if you open a webpage (I go via the Canada page; probably faster and more accurate) you can actually see the counter speeding up.


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

A warning for those who expect to watch the counter and snipe ... the counter is not real time and may not be an actual count of the apps downloaded. Open two or three windows of the same page to see what I mean. Then hit refresh on one, for more interesting results.

Although anything could be going on (including the billionth app being mere nanoseconds away, despite the counter saying 50 million to go, or whatever) it does seem like the "rate" of the spinning counter is based on the number of apps downloaded just prior to the page loading. In other words, as long as the apps are being downloaded at a faster rate over time, any counter will become progessively "slower" in comparison to the real thing (wherever that actually is).

I'm starting to wonder how this is actually being done behind the scenes, now ... there must be some carefully planned tech behind being able to count the billionth download accurately enough to run a contest based on your data.

I wonder if they just say "OK, that's past a billion" and then go back and see exactly which IP it was?


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