TD Ameritrade and Apple

I got an email promotion from TD Ameritrade for Apple gift cards. If you open a new account or deposit money into an existing account, they will give you $xxx in Apple gift cards.

$50k-$100k = $100 or 0.2%
$100k-$250k = $200 or 0.2%
$250k-$1m = $400 or 0.16%
>$1m = $2000 or 0.2%

Assuming you're maximizing your returns on Apple gift cards, you would fund enough to get to each tier. Unless you have a million dollars, you would fund either $50k or $100k to get a $100 or $200 gift card, respectively. Since you have to fund the account at that level for one year, the annual return is a measly 0.2%. That's probably more than a regular bank account but you can easily get 0.8% from an online savings account.

So for $50k, I can either put it into TD Ameritrade for a year and get a $100 Apple gift card, or put it in Discover Bank (for example) and get $400 in interest (before taxes).