Apple Calls Winner of $10,000 Prize, Winner Hangs Up on Them

This weekend, Apple‘s App Store celebrated surpassing 10 billion downloads and was running a contest in which the downloader of that landmark app would win a $10,000 iTunes gift card. If it sounds too good to be true, well, tell that to the lady who agreed with you. When Apple called her to tell her about the prize, she cursed at them, insulted their mothers, and hung up on them. Okay, she only did the last one.

The lucky downloader was the daughter of one Gail Davis of the United Kingdom, who downloaded the Paper Glider app onto her iPod Touch. Ms. Davis, unaware that this contest was going on, received a phone call from the Vice President of iTunes, Eddy Cue, who informed her that she had just won 10,000 American dollars. Maybe she didn’t think that was a whole lot of money, what with the decreasing value of the American dollar, but that’s still actually more than £6,200, so she really just thought someone was joshing her, because, really, who’s got the money to just give $10,000 away? (Answer: Apple.) And with a terse “Thank you very much, I’m not interested,” she hung up the phone. A voice from the other room:

“Hey Mom, has anyone called our house about maybe winning $10,000 for downloading the 10 billionth app from the Apple App Store? Like maybe the Vice President of iTunes? Because we were just trying to download the 10 billionth app from the Apple App Store and thought we heard the phone ring. Just checking!”

So, Ms. Davis called the Apple support line, telling them that someone had just called her, “something about $10,000 — HAAAHAHHHHAAAAA!” but did not receive the help she was hoping for. Fortunately, she was contacted again by someone who correctly thought that she did want $10,000 after all, and so all was right with the world. I’m guessing that Ms. Davis’s daughters will use this experience to convince their mother to let them do everything their hearts desire as they enter their formative years.

(via TUAW)