The most important software development of our time — Armin Heinrich's $999.99 "I Am Rich" iPhone app that did nothing but display a red gem — "was written pretty much as a joke" reports the New York Times, which is not amused. In a story headlined "Many Fail to See the Humor in ‘I Am Rich’ for the iPhone," the paper ruins all our fun, reporting that of the eight people who paid full price for the App, two — including a man who after accidentally buying the app wrote an angry review of it that is now widely available on the Internet — have successfully appealed to Apple for a full refund. The Wall Street Journal, describing Heinrich as an example of "some developers" who have "run afoul of Apple," reports an Apple spokesperson said the company removed I Am Rich from its store after a "judgement call." “I did not expect many people to buy it and did not expect all the fuss about it," a too modest Heinrich told the Times. “I regard it as art." Us, too, Armin. Us too.

After discovering Armin Heinrich's $999.99 do-nothing "I Am Rich" iPhone widget, Apple iTunes App Store reviewer Lee5279xx claims that he "clicked buy, thinking it was a joke, to see what happened. I forgot my wife had 'iclick' activated on my laptop and it really bought this app for $999." Lee5279xx probably meant Apple's 1-Click feature which overrides Apple's standard "Do you really want to buy this?" dialog box. But that was meant for 99-cent songs, not thousand-dollar timewasters.