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Pure signaling
Yesterday developer Armin Heinrich posted an iPhone app to the App Store called I Am Rich. The program displays a red gem, has no function but to display your wealth to others through ownership, and costs $1000. It has since been removed from the App Store, although no one knows whether Apple or Heinrich pulled it.
Here is more.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 7, 2008 at 01:15 PM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
.......and the status treadmill hums along.
Posted by: sa at Aug 7, 2008 1:22:13 PM
Is anyone else having trouble with this app? It seems to be crashing both on my phone and on the one I bought for my wife...Morgan Fairchild. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Posted by: Colin Fraizer at Aug 7, 2008 1:25:26 PM
http://i35.tinypic.com/vfeo5.png
Posted by: Oops at Aug 7, 2008 1:46:44 PM
It wouldn't work anyway.
Posted by: Bruno at Aug 7, 2008 2:00:58 PM
Would anybody see the red gem? Or would they have to download the free Who Is Rich app first?
Posted by: mobile at Aug 7, 2008 2:06:07 PM
Now what they should do is allow people who have the program (and only people who have the program) to have brief bios and contact each other. That way it's not only a status tool, but a networking tool for people with high net worth (who are really dumb with money).
That would be quite a list.
Posted by: JB at Aug 7, 2008 2:44:25 PM
Fools! I bought a $13 million iPhone encrusted with genuine rubies and floating in a tank of formaldehyde, entitled Melancholia Which Transcends All Wit, from some guy named Damien.
Posted by: at Aug 7, 2008 3:31:23 PM
Yes, and what would someone be willing to pay now that Apple has 1) brought it to the attention of so many and 2) restricted supply?
Is there a secondary market for Apps?
For that amount could you not just sell the phone itself (App included) and purchase a new one?
Posted by: Bob at Aug 7, 2008 4:49:42 PM
The flip-side to this signaling topic of course is that the only people who really care what someone else uses/owns/drives/etc, are signaling their own acute awareness of such material matters.
Some people see a blackberry or a bluetooth earpiece and automatically assume poseur, but such an attitude holds certain negative implications in and of itself.
Posted by: Ray G at Aug 8, 2008 1:20:00 AM
The real difficulty, of course, is letting people know a) what it is, and b) why you have it, without c) giving a long and tortured explanation of why you wanted it in the first place. If you thought the app was expensive, try the price for having a man follow you around and casually notice it when you're around someone you want to impress.
Posted by: Zach at Aug 8, 2008 9:50:57 AM
He should either up the price or change the name to I Am Moderately Well Off But Can Not Afford a True Status Symbol Like a Ferrari.
Posted by: Greg at Aug 8, 2008 10:03:10 AM
I see a profitable counterfeiting opportunity -- like a fake Rolex made out of C++
Posted by: David Zetland at Aug 8, 2008 10:33:51 AM
I'm pretty sure this is not about signaling. For it to be a signal doesn't some segment of society have to accept that it is one. Couldn't some relatively poor person put this on the credit card without actually being rich in any sense? I think this is more about the "developer" scoring a lot of money if some fool actually goes through with it. Here's a possibly fake story on Gizmodo:
http://gizmodo.com/5034122/guy-buys-999-im-rich-app-discovers-hes-just-dumb
Posted by: Nate at Aug 8, 2008 11:58:22 AM
