[UPDATE: And it's gone!]
Several of you have been pinging me today wondering what I think about the "I Am Rich" iPhone app that made an appearance in the Apple App Store.
What does "I Am Rich" do? Well, here's what the creator, Armin Heinrich, has to say:
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.
After pressing the (i) on the main page, a secret mantra will be shown. This may help you to to stay rich, healthy and successful.
Note: Anyone want to suggest a mantra or two??? :-)
Some seem to think that it's no more than a bit of fun, others seem deeply offended. Me, I wouldn't buy it, and I wouldn't like to click on it by accident, but I can't see anything remotely scammy about this since what the app is and does is clearly explained in the description. In fact, it strikes me as one of those "darn, I wish I'd thought of that" sort of things.
It does have one negative side effect though - it makes the App Store, which was at best a wasteland acting as home to a few nuggets of gold, an even bigger wasteland.
Expect a whole host of clones to appear in the App Store soon ... in fact, watch out for my "I Am Stupid" ($1,999.99) and "I Was Rich" ($10,000,000.00) and "I Am Poor" ($0.01) clones to appear real soon.