Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, App Store
LA Times: 'I Am Rich' author sold eight copies
Armin Heinrich, developer of the do-nothing I Am Rich application, told the Los Angeles Times yesterday he sold eight copies of the app, which is no longer available in the App Store.
If true, Heinrich pocketed $5,600 for his work, and Apple skimmed $2,400 off the top.
According to Heinrich, six people from the U.S., one from Germany, and one from France each bought a copy of the app. One App Store reviewer said that he bought the application by accident, but it's unclear if that individual is included in the final tally.
An update to the Times article noted that Heinrich said, "I've got e-mails from customers telling me that they really love the app," who had "no trouble spending the money." He also said that he had "no idea" why Apple removed his offering from the App Store.
John Gruber, in a blog post at Daring Fireball, expressed skepticism at Heinrich's honesty, suggesting that his claim of receiving emails from satisfied customers "didn't ring true."
[Via Valleywag.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Le Big Mac said 5:08PM on 8-08-2008
"No problem" spending the money, but Apple pulls it?
In other words, they also had no problem complaining to Apple to get their money back.
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Jeremy said 5:24PM on 8-08-2008
Does the 3G really have an AT&T logo up in the left corner?
My 1G iPhone doesn't...
More on topic:
I thought I was stupid when I accidentally bought Zeptopad for $9.99...
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thezonie said 6:17PM on 8-08-2008
No, the AT&T logo isn't there on the 3G. It looks the same as it does on the original iPhone.
lane said 10:22PM on 8-09-2008
If you jailbreak it there is a globe att logo replacement that you can install. I did :-)
L.
sam said 6:06PM on 8-08-2008
I bought the app, just so I could rub it in the faces of all my poor friends.
Jeremy: 3G refers to the generation of your network connectivity, while 1G refers to the generation of your iPhone. The first gen iPhone was actually 2G (ACTUALLY it was 2.5G). So:
1st Gen iPhone: 2.5G connectivity
2nd Gen iPhone: 3G connectivity
Just thought I'd point that out.
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sam said 6:06PM on 8-08-2008
By the way, I was kidding when I said I bought the app to rub it in the faces of my poor friends.
I don't have any poor friends!
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Hawkman said 6:21PM on 8-08-2008
If you did that kind of thing, you wouldn't have any friends at all...
ianlive said 7:14PM on 8-08-2008
That comment made me laugh out loud. Thanks for that :)
Seth J. said 6:17PM on 8-08-2008
Apple is still trying to figure things out with the AppStore. It's so new it's like the wild west. One of the morons who bought the i am rich app is all pissed about being called an idiot. Un freakin real!
http://www.iphonesavior.com/2008/08/i-am-rich-buyer.html
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Kai Cherry said 6:30PM on 8-08-2008
Why wouldn't he be?
It is all about perspective. For all of the people complaining about this "crap" app...none of them actually stopped to think about who in hell it was meant to serve!
Look...people buy things ALL THE TIME in a fit of conspicuous expenditure...H2's...jewel encrusted iPhones, 20K gold toothpicks, iPods, Macs...whatever.
The purpose of the app was to be able to flash it on your iPhone as a joke amongst people that could afford to deliver the punchline.
Kinda like buying a *white* 16GB iPhone instead of a Black one so people would *know* you had the cash to blow on a 16GB iPhone.
Same thing, different league of people. Seemed clear to me.
Perhaps he should have added a Cash Register sound and had it do the "I'm REEEEECH, BIOTCH!!!" Chappelle thing when ya' tapped the screen...
Seriously tho' people...every product isn't for everyone...no matter how stupid, over-priced and underperforming it is...*someone* will buy it for little more than bragging rights.
Hell, look at the MacBook Air...
*chuckle*
-K
brian said 9:20PM on 8-08-2008
Hell, you need look no farther than the original MacBook with its $150 "black" option. ($200, but included the 80 GB hard drive which was a $50 option on its own.) I mean sure, some people like black a lot more than white, but there has never been anything I've seen in my life where I said "I'd pay more for a different color." I'd pay to wrap something in paint or plastic that provides protection, or wood vs. plastic vs. metal, and if I'm given a choice of colors I'll pick the one that looks better, but I have never paid more for something that was JUST a different color. Anyone who bought a BlackBook was saying a) I like black and b) I can blow $150 strictly on appearance. Even the original graphite iBook--$200 more and 66 MHz faster--was more justifiable because there was no other way to get the 366 MHz CPU in an iBook at that time.
Leonardo Santagada said 2:45AM on 8-09-2008
car colors.
people keep complaining about the black macbook, I don't know how things are in your country but in Brazil a black car is more expensive than a white one (white being the cheapest color). And then you have the "premium" colors (metalic etc)... I for one would never pay for a black macbook(as the white one looks nice), but would gadly pay to not have a white car (they are butt ugly).
Matthew Heidenreich said 6:42PM on 8-08-2008
that app is so ridiculous... how could you 'accidentally' get it
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Seth J. said 6:43PM on 8-08-2008
There's an "I'm Rich Bitch!" wallpaper on Flicker that's a spoof on the i am rich app Chappelle style. It looks perfect on my iPhone and it's just as useless as the original. Hysterical!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14188575@N07/2741125654/
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James said 7:52PM on 8-08-2008
I love Apple's products, but I'm growing quite tired of their "my way or the highway" approach. The AppStore should be the ultimate experience for the iPhone, but not the ONLY one. They should open up the capability for anyone to offer an iPhone app on their site for download.
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crsh said 12:31AM on 8-09-2008
http://i35.tinypic.com/vfeo5.png
(yes it could be fake.. but still!)
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brian said 9:25PM on 8-08-2008
Just like cable and satellite PPV options, there should be a default "don't let me spend more than $X on an app" (and/or "don't allow one-click purchases above $X") and it should be set to a reasonable default, like $20. For every app more than that, it should say
"This app costs $99.99.
Please use the keypad to enter that amount here:
$_ _ . _ _"
I remember running a program once that wouldn't run until you typed in "I know that I might lose all my data." No kidding--it was a whole sentence like that.
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Big John said 11:45PM on 8-08-2008
Yay for Gruber and all, but can you stop quoting him so much? Just something I'm noticing.
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Rick said 12:20AM on 8-09-2008
Ok, so of course I would never buy this schmuck's app, but you gotta admit.... that was a d**m good idea and he's now got $5,600 in his pocket. Kind of makes you wanna say "God bless America."
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Rick said 12:25AM on 8-09-2008
Geeze, I still wish I would have thought of that..... Heinrich is brilliant.
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