8 pay $1k to brag: "I am rich"

August 9, 2008 Before Apple yanked the $999.99 "I Am Rich" iPhone application from its iTunes App Store, eight people had purchased the functionless application. Designed by German developer Armin Heinrich, the program does a whole lot of nothing. Once downloaded and activated, the application displays a glowing, red "ruby" on the user's iPhone screen.

In its official App Store description, the developer wrote: "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."

According to tech blog Valleywag, one curious patron accidentally downloaded the application, thinking it was a joke. But seven others -- five in the United States, one in Germany and one in France -- meant to buy the ridiculously pricey program.

Who knows if those seven spendthrifts were actually rich, but they certainly made Heinrich several thousand dollars richer.

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