Apple is giving away popular apps to celebrate the App Store’s anniversary. Five years ago, Apple revolutionized the smartphone industry by introducing their App Store, which gave the equally revolutionary iPhone an ecosystem that took the usability of the device to another level. This ended up being the standard for the smartphone industry and Apple is now giving back to celebrate after 5 years and some 50 billion downloads later. And they’re not just giving away any old applications, they’re giving away some of the most popular and expensive, ranging in price from $0.99 to $19.99. As reported by cnn.com:
“Popular apps for the iPhone and iPad, some of which usually go for up to $20, were being offered for free in Apple’s online App Store on Monday, possibly in conjunction with the store’s 5th anniversary. Popular games were in abundance on the list, with ‘Infinity Blade II,’ ‘Where’s My Water?’ and ‘Tiny Wings’ among them. The steepest discount appeared to be Traktor DJ, a suite of tools for mixing and recording music that usually goes for $19.99. MapMyRide+, photo-text app Over and recipe app How to Cook Everything also were among the apps being offered for free Monday.”
Apple is typically quite secretive when it comes to press releases and originally offered no comment on the reason for the free apps, but they eventually confirmed the promotion was in relation to the 5th year anniversary of the store. According to cnet.com:
“ Apple is now officially advertising its app promo celebrating the App Store’s 5th birthday with a link on the Apple.com homepage and a new section in iTunes. You can access the new section featuring 5 apps and 5 games free for a limited time from iTunes on your Mac or the App Store on your iOS device.”
Well, all iOS users should help themselves to these popular applications. While Apple may constantly get backlash for being expensive at times, it’s pretty hard to argue against free. So let’s celebrate free. I have already downloaded them all, and you should too.
