iPhone apps raise a giant stink (puerile content ahoy)

In Christmas Eve's IT Blogwatch, Richi Jennings watches bloggers watch iPhone app developers make serious money from childish fart gags. Not to mention executive mustaches...

MG Siegler holds his nose:

Apple’s App Store is currently experiencing a plague of fart applications ... it looks like there are about 50 apps all dedicated to making fart noises on your iPhone or iPod touch. Classy, I know, but why are there so many? Because apparently there’s big money in fart apps.
...
Developer InfoMedia (Joel Comm), which makes iFart Mobile, has been releasing download statistics for the app each day since it launched. The $0.99 app has been in the top 100 paid apps every day since its launch, and has seen great growth. In fact, yesterday it hit the number one overall position with over 13,000 downloads.

Arnold Kim runs the numbers:

After Apple's 30% cut, that means iFart Mobile generated $9198 in one day.

These sales numbers are especially interesting to developers looking at the potential market for their iPhone apps. From what we've heard from developers, however, these targets do constantly change and have been growing. So app sales for the #1 spot will likely increase over time as the installed market of iPhones and iPod touches continue to increase.

Predictably, vga4life puns it up:

Who would of thought an app like iFart mobile would be number one ... I figured it would be lingering in the #2 spot.

And Warner Crocker races to the bottom: [You're fired -Ed.]

The developer is spilling the beans on just how well it is doing ... After Apple relaxed some standards to allow these kind of novelty apps to be sold, it unleashed a cloud of apps.

Ahem. babyj makes a more serious point:

The games market has changed, primarily as a result on the Nintendo DS and Wii but the iPhone is just continuing the trend ... A good example is the DS game Brain Age, this was created by a team of 9 developers in 90 days (under 3 man years in total) and has currently sold 15 million copies.
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More and more companies are ... relying on the massive target market which can mean massive profit margins. Nintendo must have easily made $50 million profit from Brain Age, other companies know that and its a massive incentive for them to invest in similar games / apps.

It is a bit of a concern that with apps priced so cheaply it will put companies off from investing the money and resources in major apps.

Svetlana Gladkova is feeling moody:

What is the value in a fart application? Unfortunately I don’t see any myself but I do hope it is the frivolous mood of the holiday season that explains popularity of a tool like this one as otherwise it is beyond my understanding.

rockosmodurnlif channels H. L. Mencken:

No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

But Bill Ray notes that there are still limits:

iBoobs ... an application that allows iPhone users to wobble a pair of breasts has been rejected by Apple's application store, denying iPhone geeks the nearest thing to sex they'll get this holiday season.

The application was rejected on the grounds of "objectionable content".

Cleve Nettles extrapolates:

Interesting. These facts bring in a wealth of reactions. Good for independent app developers. Green with envy for a dumb app.

Also, the number two app Sim City costs ten times as much. That means it has approached $100,000/day in profits. Oh, and Apple is taking in a few bucks as well. The App store is certainly the technology breakthrough of the year.

[Hat tip: Techmeme]

And finally...

• Executive moustaches! [sic: wee spel funy inn Engerland]
  

Buffer overflow:

• Alana Semuels: Books go digital (well maybe not the racy ones)
• David Heinemeier Hansson: Merb gets merged into Rails 3!
• Gary Warner: More than 1 Million Ways to Infect Your Computer
• Nick Shelness: Microsoft Exchange Online Won’t Particularly Facilitate Notes-to-Exchange Migration
• James Kendrick: Netbook enthusiast web sites getting C & D using term “netbook”

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Preston Gralla: Google's woes extend to Microsoft's backyard
• Mike Elgan: How laptop screens will steal the show at CES
• Shark Tank: Logic, shmogic, we've got a procedure
• Shark Bait: Virus R Us

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 23 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Bono's VCs pilot Palm
• Yet another Windows XP reprieve
• Cut cables? Conspiracy conjectures! (again)