The Apple App Store hit the 10-billion-app download mark overnight on Friday, marking a milestone involving an awful lot of Doodle Jump, Tap Tap Revenge and Angry Birds playing, not to mention Facebook and Pandora usage.
Apple is rewarding the downloader of the 10 billionth free or paid App Store app with a $10,000 iTunes gift card in a bit of showmanship that Willy Wonka would be proud of. As of 7AM EST, however, Apple hadn't publicly identified the winner, only saying that you'd need to come back later to find out who won.
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Apple put an iOS app countdown ticker on its Website last week to build buzz around the milestone and generated about 250 million app downloads since. It also revealed a list of all-time most downloaded free and paid iPhone and iPad apps.
The Apple App Store hit the 1 billion mark in April of 2009, after opening in July of 2008.
Apple celebrated the 10 billionth song downloaded a little less than a year ago: Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way.
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Apple's year has gotten off to a captivating start, with CEO Steve Jobs taking a medical leave, the company posting stellar financial results for Q1, Apple showing up among the top 50 patent recipients in the United States, and with buzz building for the iPhone 5 smartphone and iPad 2 tablet computer.
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This story, "Apple App Store hits 10 billion app download mark" was originally published by Network World.