If he’s selling. Which he totally should, I think. And before you ask–I’m not asking to buy his old iPhone, which he ditched for a BlackBerry (or was it Palm?) recently. I have an iPhone 3G and I don’t need a new device.
But I certainly want to buy Michael Arrington’s App Store account.
Let me first explain how this will work:
The way Apple has set up it’s App Store, you need to tie up all your App Store purchases with a single App Store account. This is no big deal, of course.
But the important point is that there is nothing to tie YOU to this App Store account.
You can change the credit card on the account any time you want, and the account isn’t going to be blocked. The account is not linked to a carrier or a phone number or a device ID. I can change all of these, and still use the same App Store account. Which basically means that I can get in touch with Michael Arrington, get his account ID and password (after he’s removed the credit card info from it, of course) and log into iTunes using that account. I can then easily sync my iPhone with that account.
What’s in it for me? If I start using an iPhone today, I have to purchase everything–from the ancient Super Monkey Ball game, to the latest version of Pocket God or Real Tennis. If I use an account that has already been existence, I’ll get many of them for free, since Apple will tell me that ‘I have already purchased this item, and that I could simply click OK to ‘download it again for free’.
Neat, huh? I have this whole theory about how Apple makes it difficult for you to leave its platform by making sure all your data is tied to your device. And it’s true. Whatever terms T-Mobile may offer people, if they have a few hundred dollars’ worth of games and apps tied to their iPhone, they won’t switch easily.
Enter my brilliant idea: All you need to do is go to ebay, post an ‘App Store account for sale’ kinda ad, mention which store (US / UK, etc.), what is the approximate worth of the apps purchased, and how much you want for it. If you spent $100, sell the account for $75. Apple will never know anything has changed, and will simply offer you everything for free!
So why Michael Arrington, specifically? Coz he is a prolific writer, is working in the Tech world, and probably gets lots of app review requests and promo codes. And I’m sure he’s plenty rich, and has made a ton of purchases on a weekly basis just to stay up to date. Part of his job, you know?
Now that’s all sorted out, but how much would I spend? Let’s talk numbers. If he spent say $500, I’m willing to buy the account for $300–that’s 300 he would never see otherwise, and it still saves me 200! If he sends in a complete list of his purchases, that will help. But I won’t be stuck without it, since I can just look up the ‘purchase history’ for his account from iTunes. (I bet some of you too would like to know about the stuff he’s been buying on his iPhone.)
But seriously, let’s have an App Store account marketplace somewhere. If Apple insists on mishandling the App Store, lots of people like Michael Arrington are going to leave. This sale option is a way to ensure that they can leave, and not be stuck with Apple and iPhone.
So Michael, are you selling?
