Eight People Purchased Useless “I Am Rich” iPhone Application

On August 5, an application made its way to the iTunes App Store, created by Armin Heinrich, simply titled “I Am Rich.” The application did nothing – merely display a picture of a red ruby to serve as a reminder that the user could afford the $999.99 application. The program was approved by Apple and followed all of the store guidelines, making it fair game for the developer.

Despite the broken English in the description, and the promises of “no hidden function at all,” for some reason, eight people purchased the application to grace their home screens. The sales amassed to $5,600 in revenue for Heinrich, and $2,400 for Apple, who charges 30% of sales to manage the store. That is, until it was removed.

A flaw in the store’s design disallows applications to be placed into a cart. If the prompt for a password is not enabled for purchases, the program is downloaded and the customer is charged shortly after he or she pressed the “Buy App” button. One reviewer on the App Store said, “I saw this app with a few friends and we jokingly clicked ‘buy’ thinking it was a joke, to see what would happen. … THIS IS NO JOKE…DO NOT BUY THIS APP AND APPLE PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM THE APP STORE.”

Unfortunately for the developer, Apple has yet to contact him about the removal of the application. He says that it is unclear whether or not this will effect his payment, which Apple normally delivers at the end of each month. Some are criticizing Apple for taking down applications without notice, even if they seem to comply with the store’s rules, but others are christening Heinrich a thief.

When the iPhone first hit the market in June 2007, those who paid the $499 entry price — and signed the two-year AT&T contract — owned a status symbol. A year later, we have the iPhone 3G, Apple’s speedier, sleeker and, most important, less expensive smart phone, which introduced a section for downloading third-party applications. Now that the phone is affordable enough for a wider audience, a new status symbol has emerged: a seemingly useless application called I Am Rich.