I Am Rich (and stupid too)

As an iPhone power user I have purchased many of the applications in iTunes new App Store. I have also downloaded just as many free applications. The free applications aren't always great but quite a few stand out. I was impressed by Steve Jobs' offer to developers at the keynote address for the iPhone 2.0 software update. He said that all free applications would be distributed by Apple for free. This was brave, new territory and it was exciting. I had been waiting for Apple to take the iPhone where I knew it could go.

What surpised and upset me, after Apple launched the 2.0 software update and the new iPhone 3G, were all the people complaining on the App Store that many of the applications were "too expensive" and "not worth the money". What type of person would pay $400 or more for the original iPhone or $200 and upwards for the 3G model plus a wireless package costing at least $70 a month and then have the nerve to whine about a first-of-its-kind program to run on it that costs ten dollars? What's more is that ten dollars is pretty much the high end for applications sold at the App Store where most are less than five bucks and people actually have the nerve to complain about those prices too! Further, updates are free and delivered over-the-air even without a WiFi Internet connection. To make the situation beyond ludicrous is that Apple's iPhone SDK (software development kit) is free too!

So at the end of the day what do these penny-pinching software hungry customers have to be upset about? I believe its the fact that they didn't go to school to learn how to program and make these applications for themselves for free. And, if they did, do you think they would just give them away?

Apple takes 30 percent of the revenue from the sale of applications and says that it reviews all applications before being approved for distribution at the App Store. Now, it looks like some developers are fed up with the avarice of many App Store customers and one in particular seems to have made his point with the help of Apple.

Many Fail to See the Humor in ‘I Am Rich’ for the iPhone