Apple now has over 300,000 apps in the iOS App Store and over 100,000 in the Mac App Store. It’s almost impossible to fathom just how successful both App Stores have been and how much more potential it has, to become even a bigger part of our everyday lives.

Late last week, Apple introduced a new promotion in both the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store, called Free App of the Week as well as Editor’s Choice. The Free App of the Week is self explanatory based on the name and builds on Apple’s past app giveaways via retail outlets such as Starbucks which began to offer select apps and even iBooks every week via promotional codes.

This week’s Free App of the Week is the normally priced 99 cents, Cut The Rope: Experiments app which is currently posted on the front page of the iTunes App Store. Apple has also added Editor’s Choice, with certain apps gettting a separate distinction than others in the App Store and posted to the front page alongside the Free App of the Week. These apps are likely judged on their usability, development, and popularity.

For this past week, the chosen apps were Deus X Human Revolution and Cobook in the Mac App Store. The iOS App Store’s Editor’s Choice apps were Extreme Skater and as expected, Facebook Camera. Apple continues to build on its App Store for both iOS products and the Mac and gives developers all of the spotlight.

This latest promotional addition will give app developers a chance to showcase the hard work and effort that they put into developing credible and fun apps for Apple’s App Store.

{via: TUAW — Image Credit: Arstechnica}

After Sprint, the third major carrier in the United States began to offer the iPhone 4S this past October, competition between the other carriers increased. While Apple divided its own iPhone ads between the three carriers, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, each company began to release its own ad campaigns to compete. Verizon claimed that their network was the most reliable, AT&T claimed the fastest network and Sprint advertised its unlimited data plans.

Sprint is now looking to attract new customers by offering $100 off the price of a new iPhone 4S if the user switches over from another carrier and trades in their old iPhone. This new promotion is perfect for iPhone 4 users on another network looking to upgrade to the new 4S, for the same price of the 4 at $100. Any iPhone user whose phone is not eligible for the full trade-in value of $100 will receive the money by other means, such as an online credit, which can be put towards the bill or another product online.

The guidelines of the program mention that the new iPhone must be activated by the 3rd of July and trade-ins have to be completed by the 14th of August. The program is available in all Sprint stores where users can open a new two year contract or can be done online where users can reserve an iPhone.

{via TheNextWeb}

Apple is not known for use of celebrities to endorse their products. Of course, there were a few promotions a number years back, with The Black Eyed Peas and popular band U2 promoting iTunes and the iPod. However, Apple has never done a celebrity advertisement that showed faces and instead focused mostly on silhouettes.

Apple recently released two advertisements with actor Samuel L. Jackson and actress Zooey Deschanel. Samuel L. Jackson, known for his roles in movies such as Pulp Fiction and Snakes on A Plane and Zooey Deschanel, known for her role in the movie, 500 Days of Summer are both depicted as users of Siri.

Date Night iPhone 4S TV Ad

Rainy Day iPhone 4S TV Ad

Jackson and Deschanel ask Siri for a number of different things, including scheduling appointments, searching recipes, and playing music. The ad focuses on the celebrities using Siri in everyday situations, something that Apple has started to do recently, particularly with the introduction of Siri. This allows Apple to take a more personal approach to drawing in customers for the iPhone 4S and make it attractive to potential users. Siri launched last October with the iPhone 4S, and is still in beta stage, according to Apple’s website.

The ads were made by TBWA\Chiat\Day, who worked closely with Steve Jobs and other Apple executives on hundreds of Apple ads over the year. The ads feature branding for AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon at the end, as there are no brands mentioned in the ad itself. It’s interesting to see Apple begin to use celebrity endorsements for their products and reach even more customers, who are represented brilliantly by Apple’s choice of Jackson and Deschanel.

Apple’s App Store was released to the public in 2008, and started off with only a handful of apps. The App Store has since grown to become one of the largest online services in the world, suppling millions of iOS users with fun and intuitive applications. On Friday, Apple’s App Store finally hit the 25 billion downloads mark, making it the highest number of apps ever downloaded.

The winner of the promotion, who has not yet been announced, will be awarded a $10,000 gift card valid for App Store, Mac App Store, or any other iTunes Store content. Apple has conducted similar promotions in the past, for the App Store and iTunes Store and offered a range of products from iPod touch to Macbook Pro. The prize for 25 billion downloads is a $10,000 giftcard for online purchases with no hardware.

Apple has approved a total of nearly three quarters of a million apps for the App Store, with over 550,000 of them currently available in the store.

After its introduction in 2008, it took roughly two and a half years to reach 10 Billion downloads, and another six months to 15 billion downloads. With the latest 25 billion milestone, the iTunes Store acheived over 10 billion of the 25 billion mark in only 8 months, the fastest downloading period ever for the App Store.

The winner of Apple’s App Store promotion is expected to announced in the coming week once the company has verified the results and contacted the winner.

{via Mac Rumors}

Apple has posted a new page on their website, counting down to a total of 25 billion App Store downloads since its introduction in 2008 with iOS 2. The user who downloads the 25 billionth app or who submits an entry form during that time will win a $10,000 Apple Gift Card which can be applied to any of Apple’s online media, including the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store.

As of today, nearly 25 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 25 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card. Just visit the App Store and download your best app yet.

The winner must download the app after the 24,999,999,999th app download or submit the form, whichever comes first and will later be announced on the web page if they are the winner. Apple has done such promotions in the past, including ten billion App Store downloads taking place just over a year ago and another one for ten billion iTunes Music Store downloads, as well as one billion song and app marks and at the 100 million song milestone.

Apple changed the prize to a $10,000 gift card last year after giving away big time prizes including Macbook Pros, iPhones, and iPod Touches in the past. Apple’s countdowns have gained much attention over the past few years and have become a part of Apple’s massive success with their online stores and online sales. The 25 Billion App countdown is expected to end early tomorrow, with App downloads about 500,000 away from 25 Billion.

We recently reported that Apple is expected to announce its annual Back to School promo in the coming week and now BGR is reporting that this years educational deal could be announced during WWDC.

It has been rumoured that the promotion could be extended to include iPad 2 as well. The rumored details say that everyone who buys a new Mac with their educational discount would receive a free iPod touch or $200 off the cost of an iPad 2.

For the past few years, Apple has kicked off new educational promotions in late May or early June. The promo usually clears out Apple’s stock of older model iPods. However, this year poses a new dilemma for Apple since they do not carry any older models of iPod touches.

The rumors seem to make sense, since the iPad has taken its place among educational instituions and is very popular among college students.

WWDC 2011 is widely expected to include Mac OS X Lion announcements, iOS 5 announcements, as well as the new educational promotion.

Are you excited about iPad 2 discounts? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

AppleInsider reported that according to their sources Apple’s annual back to school promotion will kick off early next week. The school promotion is expected to be one of the topics during the 10th anniversary Apple Store retail meetings on May 22nd.

Apple as early as next week will once again announce its annual back-to-school promotion that has historically offered a free or discounted iOS device to customers purchasing of a new Mac, an event that may prove to be one of the main topics of discussion at the much-hyped employee meetings set to be held at the company’s retail stores this Sunday.

Apple’s Back to School promotion allows customers to receive a free iPod touch with the purchase of a MacBook. This is expected to be a part of the retail meetings which will highlight the store layout and promotional changes in the company.

The Cupertino based company will most likely be giving out the new 4th Generation iPod touch, since they currently do not have stock of any old iPods. This will be different than in the past where Apple gave older models out for free with the purchase of a Mac.

Apple’s back-to-school promotion is a great time for college or University students to purchase their new Mac through Apple’s education channel.

{via AppleInsider}

Apple has once again launched its annual ‘Back to School’ promotion. If you’re a college or University student then with your new Mac purchase through Apple’s education channel you can get a free 8GB iPod touch model.

If you’re a college student or a faculty or staff member at any grade level and you buy a new Mac with Apple education pricing from May 25 through September 7, 2010, you can get a free 8GB iPod touch.* No wonder they call these the best years of your life.

The promotion runs through September 7th, 2010, and every customer is limited to five rebates per household.

Ready to buy a Mac for college? Visit Apple.com and you could qualify for a free iPod touch!