
WTF?
You can only spend it in the iTunes store. What a bunch of tight arses. They could have at least made it valid the apple store. How are you going to spend 10k$ on fart apps ?
An Apple customer nearly missed out on a $10,000 gift card from the company, after she was convinced that her daughter – who had downloaded the 10 billionth app from the iPhone maker's store – had received a "prank call". Cult of Mac reports that Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, took the call from Apple before promptly ending it …
Exactly, you can't.
They don't actually want to give anything away, you know. They just wanted the free publicity from El Reg and others -- the misunderstanding may or may not have been in some way engineered or anticipated by their marketing team, who knows?
I'd write my own fart app, set the price at $10k, then buy it. (Probably get a few idiots buying it too as a "joke" and forgetting that Apple keeps their payment details on file)
Then I'd go out and buy a dueling glove and slap Steve Jobs right in the face with it. I dare say the flesh from his cheek would probably fall off in the process and then I'd feel a bit sick and wish I hadn't done it. That's if he doesn't regenerate, liquid metal man style.
Then a dollar sign would flash up on his chest, he would shout "DIRECTIVE" in a weird robotic voice and immediately start bin raiding.
creepy motherfucker.
Try using humour next time.
For example, instead of saying """They offer an iTunes gift card as a prize in an iTunes promotion. Pretty straightforward as far as I can see (I guess being able to read helps). What exactly did you expect them to give as a prize, $10000 worth of bananas?""" which just makes you sounds like a Geography teacher after someone's pissed on your electric globe, try saying:
"""At least Apple weren't giving away $10000 worth of bananas, that shit would ripen your apples up like a motherfucker"""
Short and to the point.
Also, I would leave the "you can't read" material for the second date.
And now you know.
But in the US, a $10K iTunes "gift card" would come with a Federal Income Tax Bill as well as a State Income Tax Bill. Top Federal Income tax Rate is 35%, although the average taxpayer pays about 25%. If the unlucky sap happened to live in California, Apple's home state, you might hit the top State income tax rate of 10.55%, although the average California taxpayer pays about 9%. Most States have income tax rates that average around 5%.
I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken if you think the return on premium bonds averages out to be what you'd get in interest.
Online calculator here to show the comparison between sticking the money in a bank and sticking it on premium bonds: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds-calculator/
When betting in the UK you can pay tax on the stake, or the prize. Generally people go for the stake, which is a win-win for the exchequer and the gambler. The total tax take is higher, and the winner doesn't feel that (s)he got hit so hard, because the tax burden was spread across the losers as well.
Dunno about anyone else, but I get these kinds of calls all the time:
"Congratulations (in metallic recorded voice) you have won a prize" from a competition I didn't enter.
I'm not surprised that the lady cut them off. I've started getting abusive, at least if there is a human n the other end.
Over the pond, if they call me telling me I've won something, I act interested, and speak softly, more softly, until my voice is a whisper and the rep has turned up their phone volume all the way.
Then I blow the police whistle.
Then I carry on as if nothing has happened. Maybe I can get them twice.
I hate telemarketers. There's nothing like paying a phone bill to have someone call you when you're on the john, trying to sell you something you didn't want, or a charity scam, or get you to join some wacko cult, or give to some asswipe political party, or offer you a prize where all's you have to do is give 'em your bank account number. Then they have the 'nads to tell me it's free speech. If it's free, how the hell come I'm paying for it? Some of them you can't even hang up on -- they have an auto dialback on hangups. Fortunately, I usually get a second telemarketer to deafen. I'm just sharing the love...
Telemarketers are lower than p0rno spammers. It takes less time to get rid of them.
[/grumble][/fume]
From what I gather from the article, it's a freebie for the iTunes store (not the AppStore), which offers apps, videos, music, the lot. Honestly? For 10k bits of pressed metal, I'd vastly extend my music library, with the odd movie thrown in.
As for the tax situation, I have no idea how it is in the UK at this time; in the US it seems to depend on which state you are in and sometimes the phase of the moon and time of day. Where I live, all winnings from publicly-available lotteries and suchlike (which this falls under) are tax-free for the first year. So here, the winner would have one year to get rid of the gift value. OK... the complete works of the Beatles, to start with... then Led Zeppelin, Steeleye Span, Rush,... I don't think I'd have much of a problem getting rid of that money within one year, particularly if I also buy movies.
"From what I gather from the article, it's a freebie for the iTunes store (not the AppStore), which offers apps, videos, music, the lot. Honestly? For 10k bits of pressed metal, I'd vastly extend my music library, with the odd movie thrown in."
And then your computer/iGadget stops working, or your account gets reset, or a bunch of other things occur outside of your control that are frowned upon by Apple via some policy or other, and then you get locked out of that shiny new collection of stuff. Still, at least you didn't pay anything for it.
Yeah, this happens all the time. That's why Apple are universally hated by consumers and don't produce the most popular line of personal media devices.
Now, I'm as cynical as the next guy when it comes to the *cost* of digital distribution, but I've haven't heard any reports of lossage in a long while. FUD sensor tingling.
but the Federal Taxes don't change from State to State and all winnings are taxable as normal income. After that, state taxes are applicable as your state determines. This is simple stuff, not rocket science. Now, what I'm not sure about is whether or not gambling losses can be used to offset gambling gains. They certainly can't be used to offset normal income.Territories etc. might be different.
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I'd happily add to my music and film collection - and if its valid of the new Mac App store, could get through it in a day or 2
There is a similar compo available at Microsoft - apparently the 5,000 customer gets a free registry rebuild, a new virus checker and signed photograph of Monkey Man Bulmer, its probably still available
No offence to the Apple but here in blighty (as in poor, old, poor, poor blighty) there are so many social engineered cold calling in form of letters, phone calls, text messages, emails, ... that the genuine ones tend to get missed in the general chaff of risk associated unexpected communications.
<rant, rant, ..., rant>
Exactly how much have you spent on CDs, DVDs and software over the years? I reckon I could easily exceed $10,000 in my lifetime. I already spend plenty on books, music, films, TV and Apps from the iTunes and I expect it to outlast CD and DVD players.
And anyway... Engadget is reporting that NFC tech will be built into next gen iPhones and will use the iTunes balance and associated credit card info when used for purchases. Seeing as this technology is likely to be insanely popular in the next few years, that gift voucher won't last long.
Since, as has been pointed out, the prize is for iTunes content, rather than just apps, (funny how everyone soon forgets the original purpose of the iTunes store) she is very likely the only person on the planet who will fill her iPod with legally downloaded music. Well, nearly. Apple claim 40,000 songs on an iPod classic. So one quarter filled with legally downloaded content.
Well, I've heard she'll get about $6,000 (for the $10,000) prize.
Er ... according to S Jobs (PBUH), and his Apple TV price in the UK, she should have got £10,000.
The Apple TV in the US is $99 ... in the UK it's £99! I know we have to add US tax but it still doesn't come close. We're ripped off by Apple in the UK but not, it seems, when it comes to prizes! Or are the prizes also made in and shipped from China?
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How are we supposed to spot the scams when people like Apple use the same procedures as the scammers?
How many times have you had an email or phone call where the caller just wants to steal from you under the pretence of offering a prize?
Frankly, Apple should be prosecuted for conspiracy with the scammers especially now you can apparently buy canadian pharmacuetical drugs using an itunes account.
@Phil Endecott
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYoeoEE3ww
is funnier.
As for the people complaining because it's $10K in vouchers rather than $10K in cash, get a freaking life. To use a phrase there are people who if you gave them a suitcase full of money they would complain it was too heavy to carry. She won because her kids already use the iTunes store anyway, so it means they're probably never likely to have to pay for anything on it again for a very long time. I'm sure if you ask her or her kids they'd much rather have it than not. Talk abotu a bunch of miserbale feckers.
"Read the fine print and you'll see the laundry list."
Yeah but we all know the fine print only applies in certain cases. At the point Apple can a huge amount of money they aren't relevent. ie naked women apps. Banned .... unless Apple decide they like the look of your naked ladies in which case they will happily take the cash.
So the $10,000 price tag will probably ensure Apple will be sitting there waiting for their $3000 with no fine print in sight ...
"Raw British cynicism at its best! Someone calls to say you've won a prize; we immediately assume that it's a con"
That's because 99.9999999% of the time it is a con. That isn't being paranoid it's just common sense.
I win prizes all the time. Cars, holidays etc I give the caller 3 seconds before hanging up on them.
If Apple want to give someone a credit on iTunes why don't they just credit their account and send them a letter? Why make it difficult?
You guys are missing all the fun. I know my time is worth more than theirs but as I have already answered the phone it may as well be turned into entertainment. My record for keeping these chumps on the line is just short of 26 minutes before I got bored and announced there was something worth watching on TV and put the phone down. Even at VOIP rates this has to be more than a blip, if more people went this route it could really hurt them.
Yes I do check the bill to ensure it is not me paying for this fun and it seems the people working through the script are more gullible than the people they are trying to scam....go figure.
Perhaps it's because Apple have made enough money to buy a third world country outright from the app store. 10k is a pretty stingy prize if you ask me, especially when you consider that it will really cost Apple only 6k to give away, and the publicity they're getting from this stunt will make them hundreds of times that amount.
It's a bizarrely restrictive prize at a very stingy point in their time line - why not give out smaller prizes every 10 Million or so?
And yeah, we all get prank / sales calls like this every week so no surprise at all that the lady hung up. But when all's said and done at least someone got a load of free music for themselves and I bet they are happy with their stroke of blind luck - not least as they will never again have to pay for crap from iTunes.