Talking with The Man Behind iFart
5:48 am, February 5th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
It’s the app that’s launched, whatever, a lot of downloads. iFart Mobile lead developer Joel Comm elaborated about the beginnings of the talked-about app in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.
If you have not downloaded the app and have been wondering exactly why anyone would pay $.99 for a souped-up electronic Whoopee cushion, here’s what it does:
Q: What is the iFart Mobile iPhone application that you created?
Answer: It’s an electronic entertainment or sound machine. It produces flatulence noises. There are a number you can select from. Each has their own name and you push the button to fart now and it makes the sound. We built in a few other interesting features like the sneak attack which you can set to go off after a certain number of seconds or minutes. And the security fart, which when you put the phone down after five seconds, it goes into alarm mode and if anybody picks the phone up, and it detects motion, then it lets off the designated sound. We also included fart a friend, which lets you e-mail a selected sound to another e-mail address. And then there is the ‘record a fart,’ which lets you add a custom sound to the selection wheel.
Q: Why did you make it?
A: As soon as Apple announced they would release a software development kit, we knew we had to develop iPhone applications. I knew this device would be the definitive handheld computer. I pulled my executive team to the conference room and we went to the whiteboard and started writing down all kinds of ideas. None of us can remember who came up with the idea of a fart machine, but we just cracked up when we thought about it and said ‘we have to develop this.’ That was it. A bunch of grown men allowing their inner 12-year-old to express themselves. We knew it would sell.
Q: You have sold more than 350,000 copies of the 99 cent-app and for a few weeks it was the most downloaded program in the iTunes App Store. Why has it sold so well?
A: It’s a subject matter that never goes out of style. If you go back to Shakespeare you can find lines about flatulence in his writing. It’s something that everyone can identify with.
Photo used with Creative Commons license, thanks to affiliatesummit on Flickr.
Via Orlando Sentinel
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in News | Comment on this article
Apps like that give Americans the stereotype of being obsessed with things like that. So improper. Shame on Apple for approving it.
Ed, on February 5th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Mind boggling. His answers are priceless.
No wonder the rest of the world thinks Americans are idiots.
Paul, on February 5th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Shame on Apple for approving? Shame on ME for not thinking of it! I could have paid my house off and had lots more left over to put my kid through college.
Hey, shame on Congress for not thinking of it — hey that’s the answer, Congress, hire a bunch of out-of-work programmers to write very popular iPhone apps!
Stevie, on February 5th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Shame on Apple for approving it?
I didn’t think anyone was a fan on censorship. Jeeze.
Are you really that embarrassed by it? Someone must have made fun of your iPhone citing iFart…
Morgan, on February 6th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
[...] Wondering why someone would make such a lame and immature app as iFart Mobile? Joel Comm, the app’s creator, recently revealed the creative process that went into making the most infamous fart machine app in the App Store. In the interview, Joel talks about what drove them to make the app, and his thoughts about why it was so successful. You can read the full interview at Orlando Sentinel. [via Cult of Mac] [...]
iFart Developer Talks About iFart’s Creation, Success | iPhone 3G Tricks, on February 7th, 2009 at 2:15 am
[...] For more insight, hit up the Sentinel: [Orlando Sentinel via Cult of Mac] [...]
iModZone » Blog Archive » Inside the Mind of the Man Who Gave Us iFart Mobile, on February 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm