I Am Rich No More
Blogger extraordinaire (and novelist) Alan Vanneman alerts us to the case of the disappearing iPhone application: I Am Rich, a silly and extravagant program that costs $1,000 and simply showed a glowing red jewel on the must-have comm device. Writes Vanneman:
You could have gotten it from Apple's App Store, for a mere $999.99, but apparently Steve [Job]'s gang decided that dropping a grand on a meaningless excrescence didn't really fit with Apple's jeans, black tee, and brushed titanium ethos. Bad news for "Heinrich," the dude who came up with the app, but, probably, good news for the rest of humanity.
The LA Times writes:
After initially approving it for distribution, the company has since removed it from the store.
Heinrich, a German software developer, has yet to hear back from Apple concerning the removal. "I have no idea why they did it and am not aware of any violation of the rules to sell software on the App Store," Heinrich said in an e-mail to The Times on Thursday.
But Apple couldn't pull it down before curious aristocrats had purchased it—eight times. Six people from the U.S., one from Germany and one from France dropped a grand for the gem in the first 24 hours it was available, Heinrich said. That's $5,600 in revenue for Heinrich and $2,400 for Apple, which collects 30% of each sale for "store upkeep."
In the e-mail, Heinrich said there seemed to be a market for the program. "I am sure a lot more people would like to buy it—but currently can't do so," Heinrich said. "The App is a work of Art and included a 'secret mantra'—that's all."
Does this sort of policing of apps by Apple worry you? Should it? Does this sort of spending by eight people worldwide bother you? And should it?