10 billionth app download approaching quickly

As Apple approaches its 10 billionth App Store download, the company has posted a page of top-selling paid and free apps to coincide with its 10-billionth-app contest. Apple will give away a $10,000 iTunes gift card to the person who downloads the 10 billionth app, with up to 25 app downloads counted for each user per day.

The company has created a home page on the App Store for the contest, with listings of the All-Time Top Paid iPhone apps, the All-Time Top Free iPhone apps and similar categories for iPad apps. Not surprisingly, games have a huge representation in the paid categories, taking nine of the 10 top paid iPhone app slots and headlined by the hit Angry Birds and three Tap Tap Revenge games. Many of the free apps involve entertainment or social media, like Facebook's app, Shazam, Pandora and Movies by Flixster. The iPad's top apps have a more divergent mix of games, entertainment, productivity and lifestyle apps, with iBooks, Google Earth and GoodReader for iPad among the leaders.

Each of the four categories has links to a grid-styled page of 180 additional apps, with more pages linked beyond that. The contest ends after the 10 billionth app is downloaded; the page on apple's website is currently listing the downloads in the 9.93 billion range, indicating the contest could possibly finish today or tomorrow, especially if downloads pick up speed near the end as entrants attempt to hit the magic number.

Like many giveaway promotions, Apple is also offering free entries without requiring purchase or download.

by MacNN Staff