Apple Hits 15 Billion App Store Downloads, Now Where's My $15,000 Gift Card?

Apple AAPL bragged proudly earlier this year as it approached a new milestone: more than 9.7 billion apps had been sold. In celebration of the 10 billionth app – which, at the time, was only days away from being acquired – Apple promised to give a $10,000 gift card to the person responsible for the milestone download. Ultimately, I walked away from this contest with nothing to show for it. Needless to say, this was a dark time in my life. But there was always hope for what tomorrow might bring. Or so I thought. Apple confirmed today that it has sold more than 15 billion apps. This announcement came rather quietly, without any pre-milestone buildup, without a download counter on Apple.com, and – most damagingly – without a contest to reward the milestone downloader with a $15,000 gift card. Without that gift card, how am I supposed to afford the thousands of apps I planned to download this year?