"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,'" Mark Milian reports for The Los Angeles Times.
"Its function is exactly what the name implies: to alert people that you have money in the bank. I Am Rich was available for purchase from the phone's App Store for, get this, $999.99 -- the highest amount a developer can charge through the digital retailer, said Armin Heinrich, the program's developer. Once downloaded, it doesn't do much -- a red icon sits on the iPhone home screen like any other application, with the subtext 'I Am Rich,'" Milian reports.
"Apple apparently had some problems with I Am Rich. 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 with The Times today," Milian reports.
"But Apple couldn't pull it down before curious aristocrats -- eight of them -- had purchased it. Six people from the United States, 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,'" Milian reports.
"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,'" Milian reports.
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