The App Store has been around for nearly 4 years, and it is approaching 25 billion downloads. (That's 25,000,000,000!) To celebrate, Apple is doing a countdown and giving away a US$10,000 (or equivalent) iTunes gift card to the person who downloads the 25 billionth app.

As of today, nearly 25 billion apps have been downloaded worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. So we want to say thanks. Download the 25 billionth app, and you could win a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card.* Just visit the App Store and download your best app yet.

You can enter by downloading an app from the App Store or alternatively filling out a form on Apple's website. US and Canada residents can also enter by calling 1-866-296-5926.

The promotion will end once the 25 billionth app has been downloaded and will be announced on Apple's website.

Just like with Apple's giveaway on previous milestones, we want to ask, what would you do with US$10,000 to spend on iTunes?

Good luck, it could be you.

Source: Apple countdown, online entry form

This is the 10,000th post to appear on TiPb. Okay, well, technically it's the 10,000th post to appear on Phone Different, which merged with theiPhoneBlog.com, which became the TiPb.com you know and love. By pure post count, however, we just hit one heck of a milestone. Reviews, how tos, editorials, apps, accessories, podcasts, videos, interviews, polls, games, live events, news, rumors, contests -- we've covered it all.

So to Marcus Adolfsson who founded Smartphone Experts, to our editors emeritus, Dieter Bohn and Mike Overbow who started Phone Different for SPE, and Kent Pribbernow who started theiPhoneBlog, and to all the editors and writers and special guests, past and present, who've joined us along the way, thanks and congratulations.

We're just getting started.

Now how about a little giveaway to help us celebrate? Yeah?

Get on over to store.imore.com and...

1. Find your favorite case.
2. Paste the URL into the comments below.
3. Tell us why you chose it/want it.

We'll pick ten (10) of you and send you the case of your dreams. We'll also pick one (1) lucky poster and send you a $100.00 iTunes gift certificate.

Contest starts now and ends Tuesday, June 21 at 12pm. So what are you waiting for, get to it!

While many sites are reporting that the iPhone App Store has hit 10,000, MacRumors says it's not quite there yet, but will be soon:

While several sites have reported that 10,000 iPhone Apps have been released into the App Store, the actual number of active iPhone apps that can be downloaded is about 9,676 as of today's count. The discrepancy comes from the fact that many apps have been removed from the App Store for various reasons (trademark infringement, discontinued apps, pulled and released).

With approximately a quarter of those being games, and a tenth each for entertainment and utilities.

Want to get your App up as part of the next 10,000? Erica Sadun has some tips for you. What are they in brief?

Keep your icon consistent throughout the various sizes, don't link to web sites you haven't deployed yet, don't ever include any mention of "beta", and do not reference forbidden accessories (like a mic for the iPod Touch).

Check out the full article on App Store Lessons for much more by way of explanation and example.