Apple awards one billionth app prize to…the Highlander?

“I am Connor Mulcahey of the Clan Mulcahey. I have downloaded the one billionth app from the iTunes App Store. And I am immortal.” Okay, that’s likely not how it went, but 13-year-old Connor was, indeed, the lucky fellow who download app number 1,000,000,000 from the iTunes App Store. And wouldn’t you just know that the app he used to snare “the prize” was free?

For hitting the magic number when download Bump (a contact information sharing app), Connor will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule and a MacBook Pro. It’s actually a weird collection of prizes. $10,000 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend at the iTunes store, especially for a 13-year-old from Connecticut who, before receiving the prize, likely had no idea you have to pay for anything you find on the Internet. The iPod touch…okay, except that Connor apparently already has an iPhone or iPod touch, or at least access to his parents’ while they’re out on the tennis courts. Time Capsule? I guess Apple has to do something with them. And a MacBook Pro?! Yikes! Can 13-year-olds even lift a MacBook Pro? More importantly, is there a law in Connecticut that minors can’t accept prizes until they turn 18, and that said prizes have to remain in possession of the winner’s parents until then? I’m going to start fighting for such a law in Ohio, just to be safe.

Regardless, we congratulate Connor. That’s an awesome thing, getting all that for simply downloading a free app. It’s also great to see Apple send out this “thank you” to their customers by offering such a prize to begin with. One billion apps is quite a milestone—in nine months, no less—and not many companies would be so eager to acknowledge the customers who helped them reach that. It would’ve been cool if Apple had given prizes to multiple winners, but, sticking with the Highlander theme, Apple apparently feels, “There can be only one.”

Via [Apple.com]