More Videos
- Cisco Jumps; Rest of Market to Follow?
- Call It 'Microsoft Math'
- Intel in the Anti-Trust Crosshairs, but Why?
- Apple Apps—Now More Than 100K
- WoW Fights New Front in China
- Smart Phone Competition Heats Up. Again.
- A Tale of Two Smart Phone Makers
- Avatar Hype Soars Thanks to Tech
- AMD's Ruiz Gets Tripped by Idle Chit-Chat
- Amazon is to eBay What Google is to Yahoo
MOST SHARED
- Solar Market Heating Back Up?
- Realty Execs See Pain Ahead
- US Becomes Top Country Brand Under Obama: Survey
- Sweeping Health Care Overhaul Bill Passes House
- Easy Money & Stocks
- BoA Board in Civil War Over Lewis' Succesor
- Administration Rejects Plan to Buy Fannie Mae Credits
- Want the Homebuyer's Tax Credit? Here Are Some Tips
- Food Network, HGTV Drive Scripps Networks' Upside Surprise
- Tommy Lee, Medical Tourism and Nasty Santa, Your Emails
- U.S. Markets Gain 3% for the Week Despite 10.2% Unemployment
- Disney's 'Carol' Tests Widest 3-D Release Ever
- Stimulus II? Jobs Tax Credit=Cash For Clunkers
- Rockwell Automation Earnings: What Options Are Saying
- Gold Will Touch Higher Lows and Higher Highs: Analyst
- Is Misery Alive And Well in Your Office?
- Consumers Haven't Changed, They Are Just Pickier
- Sweeping Health Care Overhaul Bill Passes House
- For the Jobless, 10% is Harder Than Before
- Week Ahead: Stocks Search for Catalyst in Quiet Week
- Outlook: Dollar Likely to Ride Higher on Bleak Jobs Report
- Geithner: More Stimulus, Not a Bank Tax
- Windfall is Seen as Bank Bonuses are Paid in Stock
- Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Says Net Income Tripled
- Cramer: Earnings, IPOs Dominate Next Week
- Buying Fear: How to Own Volatility
RSS FEED
Tech Check
Text Size 
 |
] was forced to take action. The story making the rounds on the net has now been confirmed, that not just one poor shmoe, but eight of them, plunked down $999.99 to buy the "I Am Rich" application for the Apple iPhone from the company's new App Store.
What is the app? Its developer dubbed the software as the ultimate status symbol, a picture of a red gem that appears on the iPhone menu screen, meant to show anyone who looks at it that the device's owner has got enough money to drop a thousand bucks on a useless piece of software.
Sounds pretty stupid. But some would say the same about a $3,000 Louis Vuitton bag, or a $50,000 Roger Dubuis watch (though those ARE beautiful), or even the iPhone itself (blasphemous, I know.)
Meantime, Apple has apparently found nothing funny, or even status-elevating, about the 'I Am Rich' application and has removed it from the App Store. A bummer for its German creator, developer Armein Heinrich, who tells the Los Angeles Times that he doesn't understand why the app was removed, that he wasn't violating any rules, and that buyers should be given the choice to buy or not to buy, and that it shouldn't be ruled by Apple. Which, by the way, profited from this brief saga nicely. Heinrich tells the Times he netted $5,880 after Apple's standard 30 percent cut, or $2,520.
Apple removed the program, er, scam. Apple isn't commenting -- at least not yet -- on what the company plans to do with the spoils it reaped from all this.
Message seems to be: Program bad. Profit good. Oh, and be super careful with that one-click instant buying option. Those touch-screens can be sooooo sensitive.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes