Someone Else's Dime

A few of my close friends have some sort of Apple i-phone. On it they can i-chat, i-text, i-surf, i-plan, and i-map, to name a few. On my phone I can call people. One of the features on the iPhone is the application widget. You can go online to and download an ever growing number of applications to your phone, some for free, others for a nominal price. What these applications do is extensive to say the least. They can tell you where do go eat, how to get home, or when your dry-cleaning is done. One that is popular with my sister (and many others) is the whoopie cushion and Pull My Finger application. These do pretty much the same thing, and you can assume what exactly that is. With just a tap of the screen, an iPhone can produce one of many fart noises. Its a gas. The price of this application? $0.99. It probably took the designer of this application minutes to create this, and he or she is making an incredible and increasing profit as the days go on. Apple is reaping the benefits as well. By just creating the capability for users to design their own application, Apple has made their customers do the work for them. And with the sky being the limit for application possibilities, all Apple as to do is sit back and let their iUsers creativity take flight. It reminds me of a fundraising gimmick that a local minor league baseball team uses. During the game, a staff member will walk through the audience selling raffle tickest for a buck. Toward the end of then game, a number will be drawn, and the fan holding that number will be entitled to half of the pot. Half. The other half? Goes to the team. For doing absolutely nothing. Genius.