It doesn't officially start until the 26th. But they are giving a away a free Rod Stewart - Let It Snow (Live) music video as a taster, if anyone is interested.

Hope they've got some decent apps and books give-aways this year.


https://itunes.apple.com/gb/music-vi...ve/id583932872

I assume I'm an anomaly because last year I didn't want any of the things they were offering. Nice of them to run the campaign for those that can benefit, though.

I'm a sucker for a freebie...even if I will never want or need it

trying to hook the 'yoof' market i see

im 41 and even id be ashamed to download that one

He was rubbish after the Small Faces in my opinion.

I'm a bit elder to you and I must admit it's not my cup of tea either.

Tiger Woods 12 was a freebie last year, good game

I remember that, i spend a lot of christmas playing it

see thats fair enough

But Rod Stewart
Sings Christmas
.... live .....

I'm waiting for the text message from O2 saying they're giving away the stuff out of the kindness of their hearts

Cheeky bar stewards, it's nothing to do with them, especially as most can't even download the apps/videos using the O2 network and have to rely upon a wireless Internet connection.

Would love somebody to throw the book at the charlatans

what o2 do that?!?

They've certainly done for the last 2 years, possibly longer

Thought it might be interesting to see what Apple have given away over the 12 Days Of Christmas promos in the past. It's sort of a Christmas tradition on DS to moan about the freebies and lament that it was better the previous years. I know I've had a good moan about some of the rubbish offered. Still - cannot please everyone I guess. Bah humbug!

Here for example is what we got for Christmas 2008. I think this was the first (as far as I remember anyway). Note no app freebies in 2008! The app store had only been introduced during the summer.

I'll post the lists for subsequent years over the next few days.

2008
Day 1: The Ting Tings, That's Not My Name (Music Video)
Day 2: Derren Brown, Mind Control (1 episode of Series 3)
Day 3: Katy Perry, Hot N Cold (Music Video)
Day 4: Jason Mraz, Video EP (Music Video EP)
Day 5: The Script, We Cry (Music Video)
Day 6: Kyle Minogue, 2 Hearts (Alan Braxe Remix) (Song)
Day 7: Lily Allen, The Fear (Music Video)
Day 8: Creature Comforts, Merry Christmas (TV Episode from Season 1)
Day 9: Dido, Don't Believe In Love (Music Video)
Day 10: Elbow, Grounds For Divorce (Live Song)
Day 11: John Legend, If You're Out There (Song)
Day 12: The Smiths, Panic (Music Video)

Am I right in saying that most of that list is available for free on Youtube ?

Seems like an odd set of 'gifts' tbh ....

but a freebie's a freebie I guess

Were they in 2008?

OK im too old to care for many music videos but im sure they've been on Youtube for a while ...... but you might be right.

is this the latest one though ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAdmdunWvsA

I shudder to think what google is now going to target my advertising as now I have googled that

There were many conventional iPods still around in 2008 hence the giveaways at the time reflect that I guess.

By 2009 iPod Touches and iPhones were probably their biggest sales. So they started giving movies, TV episodes and apps too.

2009
Day 1 - Snow Patrol - digital recording
Day 2 - Episode of BBC TV Programme "Alan Partridge"
Day 3 - Trivial Pursuit - game for iPhone/iPod touch
Day 4 - JLS Music Video
Day 5 - Live Robbie Williams Music Video
Day 6 - Lesbian Vampire Killers (Movie)
Day 7 - Episode of BBC TV programme "Outnumbered"
Day 8 - Labyrinth - iPhone/iPod touch game
Day 9 - Leona Lewis Music Video
Day 10 - Peter and the Wolf - Short Film
Day 11 - Let's Golf - iPhone/iPod touch game
Day 12 - Foo Fighters Video "Wheels"

I was using a 3rd gen iPod Nano in 2008 and didn't start using an iPod Touch until September 2009. iPhones weren't as common either.

2010 saw the introduction of the iPad early in the year and a update later in the year saw the introduction Apple's iBook store. The iBooks app itself was initially an optional download.

The iPad release was a problem for apps as initially iPod/iPhone apps didn't look very good upscaled to iPad resolution. Slowly iPad versions of apps came out which took advantage of the extra resolution, but it meant customers having to fork out again for apps they may already have owned on iPod/iPhone. While many of the iPad specific or iPad versions of apps offered more features and made intelligent use of the extra screen space, it was a bit of pain. The Christmas 2010 app freebies loaded either an iPad or an iPod/iPhone version of the app depending which device it was loading from.

Thankfully nowadays the majority of apps are 'Universal' apps which detect what they're running on an act accordingly, no need for separate apps - in most cases. It was bound to happen as later iPod/iPhone versions saw increased resolutions. But apps do still exist which are only optimised for particular classes of devices.

The book (The Life of Pi) freebie was also a free download on the Kindle store so there must have been a big promotion from the publisher. Apple's iBook store was pretty sparse outside the US at first, presumably because they hadn't secured international rights with the publishers. But this improved in later years.

Higher definition versions (but still only 720p) of video content was also available this year, to cater for the increased resolution on the iPhone 4, and iPod Touch (4th Gen) and slowly increasing sales of AppleTV - mainly due to a significant price drop, of what was basically a Jobsian pet project.

2010
Day 1: Cheryl Cole – Promise This (Song & Video Bundle)
Day 2: Father Ted – Christmas Special (TV Episode)
Day 3: Duran Duran – From Mediterranea With Love EP (Song Bundle)
Day 4: Fishing Kings (iPhone/iPad Game)
Day 5: Life of Pi – Yann Martell (iBook)
Day 6: Michael Bublé – A Holiday Gift For You EP (Song Bundle)
Day 7: Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times (Movie)
Day 8: Broken Sword – Shadow Of The Templars (iPhone/iPad Game)
Day 9: Kings Of Leon – Radioactive/Arizona (Song & Video Bundle)
Day 10: Doctor Who – The End Of Time Pt.1 (TV Episode)
Day 11: Mirror’s Edge (iPhone/iPad Game)
Day 12: David Guetta (Music Video Bundle)

To complete the list this is what was given away last year:

2011
Day 1: Coldplay - iTunes Music Festival
Day 2: TV Episodes : Top Gear (Middle East Special) & The Trip (Hipping Hall)
Day 3: Lady Gaga - Marry the Night - Single + Video
Day 4: The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø - Novel
Day 5: Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing - Game
Day 6: David Guetta - Nothing but the beat (Party Mix) EP and extra video.
Day 7: Snapseed App - photo editing/filters etc.
Day 8 - One Direction - Gotta Be You - Single (plus video)
Day 9 - TV Episodes (Episode 1 Pilots): House & 30 Rock
Day 10: Shift 2 Unleashed - Racing Game
Day 11: Lonely Planet Best In Travel 2012 - Book
Day 12: Foo Fighters EP, includes Arlandria (Live), Everlong (Live) and Walk.

If anyone is interested in astronomy, there is an amazing iBook called 'Hubble Space Telescope Discoveries' released a couple of days ago. Worth a look if you've got an iDevice. Fairly large download though as it contains lots of high res pics and quite a bit of video. It's a great example of the interactive content iBooks can handle. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/hub...&affId=1503186

Impossible to predict what's coming this year. But presumably any TV/Movies they offer us will optionally be available as 1080p as this what Apple TV now supports, and more 'retina' display computers. Also they have more screen sizes and resolutions to deal with on iDevices. Thankfully many of the popular apps have been updated to cater for the taller iPhone 5 screen and don't display at iPhone 4 resolution with added black bars.

2012:

Day 1: Holiday Gift (EP) - Maroon 5

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/ho...le/id583887871

Maroon 5?

I'll pass...

First up a Maroon 5 album

An album?? It's 2 songs mate!!