Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/26/ifart/
If you can fart, you can earn $10,000
As Apple relaxes, stinkers escape
Posted in Mobile, 26th December 2008 22:01 GMT
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iPhone developers have discovered that there's big money to be made in - as Mark Twain once described it (http://mark-twain.classic-literature.co.uk/1601/ebook-page-10.asp) - clearing one's nether throat. According to stats published (http://www.joelcomm.com/updated_app_store_data_122008.html) on his website, developer Joel Comm's unsubtley named iFart Mobile (http://ifartmobile.com/) is the current point-poot in a silent-but-deadly rise in the popularity of cyber-flatulence.
Either the apocalypse is drawing nigh, or shareholders of GlaxoSmithKline - makers of Beano (http://www.beanogas.com/) - should sell, sell, sell.
Websites such as CNN.Money, (http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/12/24/a-plague-of-iphone-flatulence/) TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/12/ifart-and-pull-my-finger-battle-to-stink-up-the-app-store-please-let-it-stop-here/), and VentureBeat (http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/23/iphone-fart-app-pulls-in-nearly-10000-a-day/) have reported that iFart - the most popular of the new and gaseous gang of iPhone and iPod Touch "entertainment" apps - is pulling in around $10,000 per day.
The immediate reason for this surge in colonic purge is Apple's recent relaxation (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/12/12/apple-broadens-app-store-acceptance-approves-pull-my-finger/) of its previously more-stringent App Store standards - a move that immediately inspired a concomitant relaxation of cybersphincters among developers of mobile "crapware (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/13/trouble_in_the_itunes_store/)."
Consider, if you will, the following representative digifarts now available for your edification and enjoyment (these links are to the iTunes App Store):
- iFart Mobile (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=293760823&mt=8) ($0.99): "Fart Machine for all Ages"
- Whoopie Cushion (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284888949&mt=8) (free): "A knee jerk classic prank"
- Flatulence (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=287565060&mt=8) ($0.99): "Great for those quiet times in meetings"
- Mr. Poot! (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=287921822&mt=8) (free): "Shake Sensitive Fart Generator"
- uFart (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=299477763&mt=8) ($0.99): "You'll be the life of the party"
- Pull My Finger (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=289327939&mt=8) ($0.99): "Why must I always carry a phone, iPod, AND electric fart machine?"
We could go on. But that would be wrong.
It remains to be seen - or detected by some other, more olfactory sense - what other directions Apple's relaxation of its guidelines may lead, seeing as how even the mildest form (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/23/iboobs/) of sexual titilation remains verboten. Maybe the App Store will next feature iPuke? Or iRidiculeEthnicMinorities? Only time will tell.
One thing's for certain, though: The success of iFart and its fellows is no mere poot in the pan. Expect further refinements of audio excellence and flatulential functionality - as Comm says, "Watch for v1.1 ... we’ve got some great new features that you are going to love."
We can hardly hold in our excitement...