What the I Am Rich app was
On 5 August 2008, German developer Armin Heinrich released I Am Rich on the iPhone App Store at $999.99, the highest price Apple allowed. It showed a glowing red gem. Pressing it revealed a short mantra that began "I am rich".
That was the whole app. It was described as a work of art with no hidden function at all; its only purpose was to show that you could afford it. Heinrich told The New York Times he regarded it as art.
Less than a day
Apple removed the app from the store less than 24 hours after launch, without explanation. In that window eight copies sold, six in the US and two in Europe, and at least one buyer said it was an accident. Apple later refunded two of them.
The reviews were brutal. Wired called it a way to prove you're a jerk. A year later Heinrich shipped I Am Rich LE at $9.99, with a calculator added to satisfy Apple's rules, and some buyers were disappointed it now did something.
Why it still gets talked about
Vox writer Zachary Crockett called it the ultimate Veblen good in app form: something wanted because of its price, not in spite of it. Copies followed on Android and Windows Phone, each priced at its own store's limit.
The story lasts because the object was honest. It never pretended to be useful. It sold the price and nothing else, once, and then it was gone.
How FYCC is different
Forget Your Credit Card also asks people to pay for something with no function. The difference is time. Nothing is bought once: you pick a monthly amount from $1 to $1,000, Stripe bills it, and Lifetime Forgotten is the sum of payments that actually went through.
There is no gem and no secret mantra. There is a public board, for people who opt in, sorted by what they have confirmed so far. A place on it cannot be bought at checkout, and you can stop whenever you like. The point is the page.