Gregg Hilferding

Mike Lee's call to arms:

Now we’re fighting again, only this time the battle is in your pants. Every one of these little trouser Macs represents a victory in the next big wave in personal computing.

...

There’s only one answer we can afford to accept, because to lose this battle is to lose the war.

Mike has provided the best response thus far to his own critique of the App Store.

One of the intriguing products of the new iPhone economy was "I Am Rich," a program that promised nothing but bragging rights and apparently delivered a conundrum for Apple.

Many believe the only reason for pulling this product from the Applications Store was because someone might "accidentally buy it." I love Steven Frank's analysis of this problem:

You have to be dumber than a box of dried-out paintbrushes to "accidentally purchase" something, and even if you're unwilling to accept personal responsibility for your own actions, it should be an open-and-shut case of giving the unwitting user a refund and moving on.

Of course, people "accidentally buying it" isn't the reason for pulling an application like this, even with John Gruber's logical business decision for pulling a product with a high return rate. Apple's most likely reason to nip this idea in the bud? Stem the tide of copycats.

As soon as the word got out that Heinrich was able to profit $5,600 from a few hours labor, we would have been treated to the $899 "I'm Rich" application which displays a blue gem. Then, hours later, the $799 dollar "Phat Pimpin'" application which displays an jingling gold chain and flashing diamond-encrusted dollar sign. And, eventually, when the horse has been beaten to death, there will be free versions.

If there's anything we've learned on the internet, it's that a unique, interesting and utterly original idea that can actually work once will be mindlessly duplicated en masse by people who don't get it.

Apple removed "I Am Rich" only because they didn't want to add a new category for "Status Symbols."

I knocked this together after seeing the news about the new Apple iPhone coming out this June.

Scale Comparison of iPhone to RAZR and SLVR:

Scale Comparison of the thickness of the same three phones: