Apple's Steve Jobs (or just God, to many of us) told the Wall Street Journal this week that more than 60 million iPhone applications have been downloaded from the company's website so far in about the one month that they have been available.
At this pace the company stands to bank at least 360 million dollars a year in new revenue from the AppStore. Jobs expects it to be a billion dollar marketplace one day adding, "I've never seen anything like this in my career for software."
Let me back up a step for non-Apple people which, inexplicably is most of you.
You've seen or heard of the iPhone, right? Well, an Apple App is a program you download that lives on your phone's desktop. It's like having a bunch of little internets on your phone working all at the same time.
So you can have, say, the USA Today news stories delivered continuously on your phone, or a permanent Soduku game at your fingertips, or an eBook reader loaded with all seven Harry Potter books if you want.
There are hundreds of applications, some made by Apple but many offered by third parties. Some are free, some are a dollar, some quite a bit more.
So far the most notorious App is one that Apple allowed, then deleted from availability after only eight sales. Here's the curious story, edited from something called www.CRN.com (links within the story are theirs.)
"Earlier this week the I Am Rich application went up, commanding a $999.99 price tag, the most a developer can charge through Apple's App Store. The program essentially loads a screen saver onto the Apple iPhone to remind users and alert others that the user has money to throw around willy-nilly. The 'status symbol,' once downloaded, does nothing but load a ruby red icon on the home screen, with the subtext I Am Rich. When the user activates the program, a large, glowing red gem appears. That's all.
When I Am Rich first appeared in the App Store on Tuesday, the applications information page on iTunes read like this: "The red icon on your iPhone or iPod Touch always reminds you (and others when you show it to them) that you were rich enough to afford this. It's a work of art with no hidden function at all."
Apple introduced the App Store last month to coincide with the release of the Apple iPhone 3G. The App Store is designed to let iPhone users download third-party applications and lets developers sell the applications they've created.
As of Friday, the I Am Rich application was no longer available in the App Store, much to the chagrin of Armin Heinrich, I Am Rich's developer.
'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 told the Los Angeles Times in an e-mail.
The Times, however, said Apple was too slow to remove the high-dollar application. Eight people —six from the U.S., one from Germany and one from France— shelled out the dough for I Am Rich within the first 24 hours it was available.
Posts on several public forums and Web pages, however, call into question the validity of those purchases. In one instance, a screen shot of an App Store review, which has been circulating the Web, shows that one user mistakenly dropped the $1,000 for I Am Rich thinking it was a joke.
"I saw this app with a few friends and we jokingly clicked 'buy' thinking it was a joke, to see what would happen," the upset I Am Rich owner wrote. "THIS IS NO JOKE. DO NOT BUY THIS APP AND APPLE PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM THE APP STORE."
My grandpappy bought the Brooklyn Bridge from Armin's grandpappy. He regrets nothing.
Posted by: bruin | August 12, 2008 at 06:15 AM
I don't get why it was deleted either. Everyone knows that most rich people LOVE other people knowing they are rich and this would have been another way of doing it. I mean can't you imagine people that buy the ruby, "Yeah it was just $900".
It is the same as buying the $3700 pizza with gold shavings. Dumb yes, but its all about status and showing off.
Me personally I still get the free phone from T-Mobile and have downloaded 1 ringtone and was hesitant about that.
Posted by: Raul | August 12, 2008 at 06:53 AM
My computer geek brother got the iphone immediately and loaded every single FREE app when the store came up. So, if everyone did the same thing then of course millions of apps downloaded in the beginning. How many were actually purchased? I expect the shine to wear off and app store downloads to slow down. Kudos to the 'I am Rich' developer ~ genius! Why didn't I think of that?
Posted by: Your mom | August 12, 2008 at 06:58 AM
I am seriously depressed. How honked up is this world?? People willing to spend a grand just to have a reminder that they can. Pathetic, sick, disturbing.
I hate people.
Posted by: Nicole | August 12, 2008 at 07:42 AM
That 'I Am Rich' app should come with pictures of New Orleans, to remind rich people where their money could be better spent.
Posted by: Chris Kiefer | August 12, 2008 at 08:45 AM
On the other hand, I was able to download the complete works of William Shakespeare for free.
Posted by: Diane | August 12, 2008 at 08:49 AM
one word:
douchebags.
Posted by: cas | August 12, 2008 at 08:52 AM
Nicole I love and agree with you. Since I am agreeing with you about hating people, I guess I also hate you.
Moving on. The app should have a hidden feature of sending out a beacon so us that can't afford this or have the sense not to buy this can find these people and neuter them. With a spork (comedy trigger word).Then force them to live in a Dogloo(Bean's comedy trigger word).
Done
Posted by: Edmund F | August 12, 2008 at 08:54 AM
Do you think when Stevie Jobs passes the company will continue to flourish? Or is this LSD taking genius mentoring another forward thinking out of the box turtle neck wearing dork to lead the company? And if you have to tell/show people you are 'rich' you are clearly not.
Posted by: db | August 12, 2008 at 09:02 AM
No reason to remove such a program. It takes an idiot to click on 'I want to buy this $1000 product' and then relent that he shouldn't have purchased a $1000 product. If a person has that kind of money to throw around, then they have every right to.
Most of us aren't apple users because apple products tend to suck for userfriendly purposes. They truly are dumb friendly. You can figure it out in a breeze. It's just not as comfortable as a PC. --and before you ask, yes, I grew up on apple computers, and when I switched to PCs I never looked back.
Posted by: PsychoCid | August 12, 2008 at 10:05 AM
The fellow that jokingly clicked ‘buy’ deserved what he got. He’s like the people that don’t understand the relationship between bidding on an item at auction and actually having to pay for it. On the bright side, the laws of supply and demand are in his favor on this one. If the app is no longer available, then to an interested party, his should be worth much more than he paid for it.
To comment on the comments: I wonder why so many aspire to be rich yet harbor such resentment of those that have succeeded. I suppose they feel that if they were rich they would be 100% altruistic. Having spent years of blood, sweat and toil acquiring the wherewithal to employee people, pay taxes, promote the community and generally improve life for all within their sphere of influence, they would not indulge themselves in the least. Or so they believe. Bah Humbug.
Posted by: brother john | August 12, 2008 at 10:41 AM
This is the reason why I will never have kids because I would never bring a child into this world and have to deal with the pressures of having money and then feeling like a failure when he/she doesn't. This is such a ridiculous world we live in.
Posted by: Debbie | August 12, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Reading this blog from my Apple G5. At WORK. In the state where BEAN's tax money bought it for me; this and a 23" cinema screen. Now if only I could justify an Iphone for official govt. business...
Debbie? You could always go buy some rural land and homeschool your kids there without tv or internet and instill your altruistic values in them... I can think of better reasons not to have kids!
Posted by: Rochelle | August 12, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Hey Bean,
I'm working on a "Something" app. For only $10 you can download something that is most likely uselss. Let me know how many you want.
Posted by: Fred G. | August 12, 2008 at 02:12 PM
Like Raul, I still get my basic, no-frills cell phones for free from T-Mobile, and I've never even download any ringtones.
If you need your phone to do be able to do so many other things, then you obviously have too much time on your hands.
And I agree with db - if you have to show off that you're rich, then you're clearly not rich.
Posted by: stacey | August 12, 2008 at 10:08 PM