The developers of Hike, an instant message app, have launched a brilliant promotion, offering US$100,000 in additional prizes to the winner of Apple's 50 billionth app download contest if the winning app is Hike.
Hike Screenshot
From the company's announcement, “The lucky winner will be gifted $100,000* worth of Apple products and accessories from hike! Yes, you read that right – $100,000. That’s equivalent to 10 iMacs, 10 Mac Book Pros, 25 iPads, 40 iPad minis, 15 iPhones, 30 iPod touches!”
That asterisk is a note that terms and conditions apply.
Genius, right? By offering up a rather large prize, the company gets to piggyback on the hype of Apple's promotion with a minimal chance of having to actually pay up. The developers could get possibly millions of new downloads—some of which will actually be used—and even if they do have to pay, Hike will get even more publicity for ponying up so much money.
Genius.
Here, we'll tag along, too: use this link to check out Hike (a free download). It's a TMO affiliate link. Hoorah!
Also, note that some people have complained in the reviews for Hike that the app spams your contact list with invitations to Hike. iOS currently requires permission for any app to access your contact list. We haven't tested the app out.
Apple is offering $10,000 in Apple Store Gift Cards to the winner of the contest, and the next 50 people to download an app will also get $500 gift certificates. Apple's simulator on the App Store home page currently shows 49.6 billion downloads.