August 7th, 2008
App Store blacklist continues, next victim: I Am Rich
It appears that Apple continues to remove and blacklist applications from the App Store without warning, notice or acknowledgment. First, NullRiver’s NetShare tethering application was removed, reappeared and was removed again. Second, the extremely useful Box Office application (renamed to Now Playing) suddenly disappeared.
The third application to disappear into the Cupertino triangle is called I Am Rich, and admittedly stupid US$999.99 app that merely displays an image of a glowing red ruby that “always reminds you (and others when you show it to them) that you were rich enough to afford this.” According to the author, Armin Heinrich “it’s a work of art with no hidden function at all.” Yikes.
Maybe Apple dumped it because of Lee5279xx’s complaint in his one star review where he claims to have purchased it by “mistake” and that he “forgot my wife had “iclick” (sic) activated on my laptop.”
It’s obvious that I Am Rich was removed due to a subjective decision based on taste – I doubt that it was crashing people’s iPhones. Apple has now become the arbiter of good taste, at best and an evil censor at worst. Apple needs to establish some clear policies on App Store submissions before there’s a developer backlash from their apparent random veto power.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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