Read comments from bloggers on the I Am Rich application

A $1,000 iPhone application has been pulled from Apple’s online store a day after it went on sale.

Cheaper than a Porsche, and arguably as tasteless, the appropriately titled “I Am Rich” icon displayed a glowing ruby on the iPhone’s screen, allowing owners to ostentatiously display their wealth in cash-strapped times.

Created by iPhone developer Armin Heinrich, the original blurb for the credit crunch defying download read: “The red icon on your iPhone or iPod Touch always reminds you (and others when you show it to them) that you were able to afford this…It’s a work of art with no hidden function at all.”

However, after just one day and a flurry of blog posts and complaints to Apple, the application, which was on sale for $999.99 (£599.99 in the UK), was pulled from the online Apple Store.

Available on Tuesday, by Wednesday it was gone.

On Silicon Alley Insider, blogger Dan Frommer wrote: “While many of the apps in Apple's iPhone App Store are useful, some are utter crap. And the latest is an insult to all the well-meaning developers that are still waiting to get into the iPhone developer program.”

Under the heading “Apple, wake up or grow up”, MG Sieger on VentureBeat, wrote: “I don’t see the point in having an approval system for the app store if junk like this can get by so easily. Either open the store completely or take the process seriously, Apple."

The Apple App Store was activated last month to coincide with the launch of the new 3G iPhone. Applications for iPhones and iPod Touch devices, ranging from the useful to the frivolous, are priced between 59p and around £5.99 with the average price around £3.

An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the "I Am Rich" icon had been briefly available on the site but refused to give any further details, merely saying: “We do not comment on applications or the relationship between Apple and developers.”

It is not known if any "I Am Rich" applications were sold.

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