Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio, got more than he bargained for on Wednesday, when he downloaded Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, a free app from Apple’s App Store. That download was the App Store’s 50 billionth. And these are unique downloads and do not include updates or re-downloads. To commemorate this achievement, Ashmore receives a $10,000 App Store gift card.
Posts Tagged ‘app store’
$10K App Store Card awaits 50 billionth downloader
At the time of writing there have been over 49.58 billion downloads from the Apple App Store and a new milestone of 50 billion downloads is just around the corner. Once again, to thank their customers, Apple is offering up a US$10,000 App Store Card for the person who downloads the 50 billionth app.
App store downloads blast through 40 billion
These days, people certainly have a voracious appetite for Apple apps. They just keep downloading and downloading. In fact, downloads have just surpassed the 40 billion mark since the launch of the App Store in July 2008.
When Zuckerberg grills everyone listens
With the price of Facebook shares dropping to about 50% of their issue price, Mark Zuckerberg and company is likely no longer the darling of Wall Street but regardless, people are certainly still willing not only to hear what he has to say, but also about what’s on his barbecue.
On Sunday, Zuckerberg posted on his Facebook account that he was updating his grilling app iGrill and that caused the servers at iDevices, makers of the gadget, to literally get smoked.
iGrill is a nifty little device with a probe attachment, compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, that allows you to monitor the temperature of what’s cooking on your barbecue. Its accompanying app allows you to monitor the iGrill thermometer from up to 200 feet away via long-range Bluetooth.
According to Chris Allen, CEO, iDevices, the company had quietly rolled out Facebook integration so that you could share with your friends and let them see what you’re grilling right now. They were not planning a major media blitz and figured that the new feature would slowly gain traction.
But of course, Zuckerberg changed all that. They had no idea what he had done nor did they realize that the impact would be so huge it would overload their servers and shut down their site for two hours.
“We were caught totally off guard by Mark Zuckerberg’s post and the immediate influx of traffic,” said Allen.
Allen realized that a quick add-on of servers and bandwidth was needed immediately. Interestingly enough, while excited about what had transpired, Allen quickly dispelled the rumor that iGrill or iDevices had received any actual investment from Zuckerberg, although he would of course welcome the opportunity to work with him. So there’s nothing cooking there yet.
Striking while the coals are still hot, for a limited time, iGrill is offering free domestic shipping (up to $12) when using the code ZUCK during the checkout from iGrillinc.com We still need to confirm this for Canada.
It’s also available online through the Apple Store in Canada for $79.95 CDN, with free shipping included, automatically. The free app can be downloaded from the iTunes Store.
photos courtesy: iDevices, Facebook
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Greg Gazin is the Real Canadian Gadget Guy.
Follow me on Twitter @gadgetgreg or Empire Avenue (e)GADGET1.
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What you need to upgrade to Mac OS X Mountain Lion
Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Apple latest release of their OS, hit the Mac App Store today. It’s jam-packed with more than 200 new features including iCloud integration, Messages and Notifications Center, Dictation, Airplay Mirroring and a whole lot more. But before you hit the buy button, you want to make sure that your Mac is still up to snuff.
