Friday, August 08, 2008

iRich? iGem? iRuby? iRedundant?

If you saw that sparkle-y red gem on someone's iPhone screen, what would you think? You'd think, oh.... OK, they must like gems or something. But what you're supposed to think is... "Wow, that person must be rich, because they bought the 'I am rich' application for their iPhone for $1000".

That's right, until it got pulled by the Apple App Store, you could spend a grand on an app that did nothing but place a shiny red gem on your screen. The creator of the app, who had managed to sell the app to 8 people, doesn't understand why it got pulled. He said that buyers should be given the choice to buy or not to buy, it shouldn't be ruled by Apple. Apple's standard 30 percent cut on the 8 'I am rich' application sales amounted to $2,520.

My question is - do we really need an app that proclaims wealth or shows off a status symbol for the iPhone? I thought they were status symbol enough on their own...... especially when you factor in what the user (in Canada especially) will end up paying after their 3 year contract expires for that phone.

Thanks to Ernest for the tip....

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