Recession hits 'I am rich' application

The 'I Am Richer' application is available through Google Android

A mobile phone application designed to show off the owner's wealth has been hit by the recession.

The 'I am rich' application displays a jewel on the screen of the mobile phone and nothing else. It first appeared in the Apple App Store for the iPhone priced at $999 (£688), before Apple banned it.

The application has now turned up in Google's Android Marketplace under the title I am richer. However, it is now priced at a more reasonable $200 (£137).

So far, the application seems to have elicited little interest. Fewer than 50 sales have been recorded, and it is currently the most expensive application in the Android Marketplace.

"This stupid glowing blue thing is a bad joke," said one review of the application on Cyrket, a blog detailing Android applications. "Dev is sadly mistaken if he thinks 1 person will buy and keep."

Despite a report last week suggesting that paid applications got more use than free applications, the new application is unlikely to find many buyers.

Jay Freeman, who runs Cyrket, listed the top 1,500 applications by price. The vast majority were free, since paid applications only started to be sold this month, but costs for others are low, and only nine cost more than $10.