Jeff Baum

marco:

I don’t think this one was very well-thought-out.

…what is Apple doing while Armin Henrich puts this application on the App store for $999.99? Shouldn’t that set bells off throughout Cupertino telling Steve Jobs and the rest of his cronies that price gouging is a very real possibility on the App store and at times, Apple will need to step in and do something about it?

This application should be offered on the App store for free. No one with common sense would even consider paying $1 for this app, let alone $1,000. But we also can’t forget that there’s nothing stopping other developers from charging too much for apps just because Apple gives them free rein.

Quick sidenote: Steve Jobs personally doesn’t care that there’s a $1000 app available. CEOs of large public companies have many other things to do with their time. Apple is run by more than one person.

Now, you’re arguing that Apple should police app pricing. This is such a tremendously bad idea on every possible level that I really have to wonder whether this article is a joke.

Why is it Apple’s job to judge whether there’s a market for an app? What if they tried to enforce this? What would you say when they made a judgment that you disagreed with?

Nobody’s forcing you to buy. High pricing on apps is not price gouging — choosing not to buy is easy and carries no consequences. App purchases are completely voluntary and unnecessary.

If I write a program and choose to make it available in the App Store, why shouldn’t I be able to set the price to whatever I want? Isn’t that a fundamental tenet of capitalism? Sure, the market might respond by not buying it in high volume, but that doesn’t mean that I should be forced to charge less by an external entity.

Neither developers nor Apple have any responsibility to keep pricing in a range that Don Reisinger thinks is reasonable and only allow apps that Don Reisinger thinks are worthwhile.

 Amen. What seems to be going over everyone’s outraged heads with this “app” is that ITS A FUCKING JOKE. Nobody is going to buy it. Considering there is no actual shelf space that it’s taking up, thereby denying someone else the space to sell its wares, there is literally no harm whatsoever with somebody creating something like this and having it available on the app store. No harm. If Apple feels offended because it is in some ways making a mockery of the service they provide, I’m sure they maintain the right to take it down. Why anybody else should care, I have no clue.