I really couldn’t believe this story when I read it. For something as (relatively) cheap as the iPhone 3G is, the application called “I Am Rich” took me by surprise. It’s not very often as you see something as unnecessary as the program was. Yet, through some logic that I may never understand, “I Am Rich” was available for purchase in the Application Store. No joke. So here’s what everyone is fired up about: The application had a glowing red icon. When pushed, according to the London Times Online, it allowed its users to “ostentatiously display their wealth in cash-strapped times.” Though it might seem humorous to some, the application drew ire from a number of customers and mainstream media outlets.
The Times noted that the original description for the application read, “The red icon on your iPhone or iPod Touch always reminds you (and others when you show it to them) that you were able to afford this. It’s a work of art with no hidden function at all.” There are two aspects of this program that I question. First, anyone who purchased an iPhone 3G is not strapped for cash. Although some may be classified on a socio-economic scale that is lower than others, the word “impoverished” could never be used to describe Apple’s clientele. Instead, the company’s customers are the upper and middle class and on the edge of the technological frontier. It’s as easy as that.
Second, is this really necessary in the first place? I was surprised to learn that the going rate for this piece of self-absorption was a cool $1,000, four times the cost of the iPhone. Download the program onto your iPhone 3G or iPod and you’ll find your ability to “afford this” has shrunk by one-thousand U.S. dollars. I can just imagine someone who just forked over that cash running up to his best friend and then madly pushing the red button to brag that he has one million bucks in his bank account. It doesn’t happen. Real people do not act that way. It might happen in the movies and it might happen occasionally in real-life, but that level of vainness is far from the norm. The fact that most applications go for about $10 is even more worrisome.
What’s even worse is that the “I Am Rich” application erodes the credibility of the Application Store. Maybe I’m blowing this way out of proportion, but the presence of a completely dubious program like “I Am Rich” has to leave some people shaking their heads. The Times article quotes a Silicon Alley Insider who said, “While many of the apps in Apple’s iPhone App Store are useful, some are utter crap. And the latest is an insult to all the well-meaning developers that are still waiting to get into the iPhone developer program.”
It’s understood that the application may have just been a joke. In fact, that’s a very logical explanation. However, how did it manage to get into Apple’s Application Store and then stay there? The program was available for about a day, which meant that millions of users were able to go online, think about this purchase, and then potentially make it. Heads have to roll for this, don’t they? It isn’t something that Apple can merely shrug off. Even if the company was busy rolling out a new Macbook or fine-tuning the 3G, there’s no reason that this lack of oversight can occur.