iTunes To Hit 50 Billion Downloads And Give Somebody $10,000

Apple is about to surprise someone with a fat check for blithely downloading the next latest of Angry Birds. With iTunes nearing its 50 billionth download, Apple plans on giving the person who reaches that milestone $10,000... basically for wasting time on an iPhone.

The only catch is that the $10,000 isn't cash. It's an App Store gift card. So as cool as it is for Apple to be giving away money, it's going to get a lot of it back after the winner spends it.

Even if you aren't the 50 billionth downloader, you still have a shot. The next 50 people who download after that will get $500 App Store gift cards.

Apple's App Store has been growing like crazy, as Geek.com points out. Apple hit 10 billion app downloads in January 2011, and 25 billion about a year later. You can watch the numbers climb at the App Store. It shouldn't be too much longer until there's a winner.