I Am Rich – Wikipedia

Notably expensive iOS application

I Am Rich is a 2008 mobile app for iPhones which had minimal function and was priced at US$999.99 (equivalent to $1,259 in 2021). The app was pulled from the App Store less than 24 hours after its launch. Receiving poor reviews from critics, only eight copies were sold. In the years since, several similar applications have been released at lower prices.

I Am Rich was developed as a joke by German software developer, Armin Heinrich, after he saw iPhone users complaining about software priced above $.99.[1] The app only showed a glowing red gem and an icon that, when pressed, displayed the following mantra in large text:[2]

Heinrich told The New York Times that “I regard it as art. I did not expect many people to buy it and did not expect all the fuss about it.”[1]

The application is described as “a work of art with no hidden function at all”, with its only purpose being to show other people that they were able to afford it.[3] Vox writer Zachary Crockett called it “the ultimate Veblen good in app form”.[4]

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Heinrich released and distributed I Am Rich through the App Store[2] on August 5, 2008.[4] The app was sold for US$999.99 (equivalent to $1,259 in 2021), €799.99 (equivalent to €944 in 2021), and £599.99 (equivalent to £851.78 in 2021)—the highest prices Apple allowed for App Store content.[3][5] The application was removed from the App Store without explanation by Apple less than a day after its release.[4]

Eight people bought the application, at least one of whom claimed to have done so accidentally. Six US sales and two European sales[5] netted $5,600 for Heinrich and $2,400 for Apple (respectively equivalent to $7,048 and $3,021 in 2021).[4] In correspondence with the Los Angeles Times, Heinrich told the newspaper that Apple had refunded two purchasers of his app, and that he was happy to not have dissatisfied customers.[5][6]

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Discussing the app on the website Silicon Alley Insider, Dan Frommer described the program as a “scam”, “worthless”, and finally “a joke that smells like a scammy rip-off” on August 5, 6, and 8, respectively.[7][8][6] Without purchasing the app, Fox News’ Paul Wagenseil guessed that the secret mantra was “German for ‘Sucker!'” (Heinrich is German).[3][6] Wired‘s Brian X. Chen described I Am Rich as a waste of money to “prove you’re a jerk”, and contrasted the expenditure with donating to cancer foundations and Third World countries.[9]

Heinrich told the Los Angeles Times‘ Mark Milian that he had received correspondence from satisfied customers, “I’ve got e-mails from customers telling me that they really love the app [… and that they had] no trouble spending the money”.[5] In an interview with The New York Times, though, he told of receiving many insulting emails and telephone messages.[1]

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The next year, Heinrich released I Am Rich LE. Priced at US$9.99 (equivalent to $12.62 in 2021), the new app has several new features (including a calculator, “help system”, and the “famous mantra without the spelling mistakes”) to meet Apple’s requirement that apps have “definable content”. Some customers were disappointed by the new functionality, poorly rating the app due to its ostensible improvements.[4]

On February 23, 2009, CNET Asia reported on the “conceptually similar” app, I Am Richer, developed by Mike DG for Google’s Android. The app was released on the Android Market for US$200 (equivalent to $252.61 in 2021), a limit imposed by Google, who had no objection to the application.[10]

With the same name, the I Am Rich that was released on the Windows Phone Marketplace on December 22, 2010 was developed by DotNetNuzzi. Described by MobileCrunch as equally useless as the original, this app cost US$499.99 (equivalent to $621.31 in 2021), the price cap imposed by Microsoft.[11]

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