Where’s the pain in iFart?
On Christmas Day, when my son was purchasing apps for his new apple iTouch and announced that iFart was the top selling app, I rolled my eyes.
But when my blog reader keeps puking up post after post about the revenue generated from an application that makes fart noises (on Christmas Day alone it netted about $30K ), I can’t help but feel I’m doing something terribly wrong.
For over a decade now, I’ve built software (mostly web) applications to relieve pain. I’ve trained myself to take a step back and ask, “What is the problem we are trying to solve?” or “What is the pain and how great is it?”
Watch this video and tell me if you can identify the pain that iFart relieves.
The notion of building an application like iFart - an application that serves no purpose outside a 2 second childish prank - is difficult for me to adopt. However, I can’t help but feel there are lessons to be learned. Here are 5 lessons I’m going to take away from the success of iFart Mobile:
- Appeal to the lowest common denominator
Sometimes you need to forget market segmentation and just appeal to the massess. - Dumb it down
Assume the masses aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. Don’t give them features they aren’t capable of using. Keep it simple. - Don’t give away the farm
Even useless applications can generate revenue. - Price it right
Even in a tough economy, anyone can justify a $.99 guilty pleasure. - Make sure it’s easy to buy
This is more a learning from the app store vs ifart. One touch is all it takes to purchase and download the iFart app.
While I don’t think I’m going to download the iPhone SDK to develop iBurp (it’s inevitable, if not already available), I will reconsider my approach to software. Sometimes, no pain is needed. Sometimes, it’s about a “lack of sophistication”. Sometimes, you just have to let it out.
iFart does relieve pain - by making people laugh. It is lowest-common-denominator bathroom-humor entertainment, but it is entertainment nonetheless. And for less than a buck, it’s a good value (and easy to buy). I don’t think it’s necessary to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but it is a bigger market than the highest common denominator!
I really think you need to look at this like any other junk item out there. Heck, farting is its own industry: what is the need satiated by the whoopie cushion? There will always be a need for cheap, thoughtless goods, even in the digital realm. I would hate to have anyone sacrifice the attention to solving problems in lieu of throw-away short-term apps.
Ultimately, you are dead on with your observations.
1. LCD is a segmentation group
2. Always “dumb it down.” Imagine if you had to somehow query Google for the information they provide from a simple text search. Not all features can be consolidated to a single interface, but that doesn’t mean we should stop looking for ways to simplify every process.
5. Yes, yes, yes. iFart is more a product of the power of the App Store than anything else.
Great post!
@Mark Rabenstein
I spoke to my guy friends about it. They said it’s a dude thing that I just don’t get. If entertainment like this can yield $100K per month, I’m certainly not above it!
Thanks for being the first to comment on my blog!! As for entertainment value - to each his own.
@Nathan Ziarek
Thanks Nathan.
My “film snob” brother nicknamed me “LCD” because I admitted to loving “The Rock” (Cage/Connery).
I’m not going to completely abandon the quest to elegantly solve problems. However, I *am* going to try to strike a balance between generating ideas to solve major problems as well as ideas that are just plain fun.
@lanakm
Oh my. The Rock is the single greatest action movie in the history of action movies. I’ve probably seen it 100 times. There may be no sustainable plot, but I dare anyone to say that cinematography (colors, lighting) was top-notch.
Back to iFart, I think you are right to be open to both. There are always problems — big and small — to be solved. You’ll never run out of work there…that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun, too though!
I have spent many times .99 for whoopie cushons. There is an entire prank industry… Where have you been? Your number one lesson should be pay attention, and build what people want!
I guess I’ve been building applications that actually solve problems.
As a ux professional, you should know that if you build exactly what people say they want - you fall prey to what I call the “red blinking link” issue. This issue occurs when you have users telling you what they want (e.g. a red blinking link at the top of the page because, in their opinion, that improvement would make it easier for them to accomplish the goal). If 10 people asked you to make changes including the red blinking link, a blue rotating button and a hover that says “Moo” (this was a serious request once made by a client) and you make them because “that’s what they want”, you don’t improve the user experience. In fact, you hinder it.
You’re right, it’s our job to pay attention. But it’s not giving people what they want, it’s helping them accomplish the goals of the business and the user. In order to do that you need to understand “why” they want a red blinking link. Why do they think the red blinking link will help them? Then, once you understand it, iterate on improvements to answer the why.
Regarding #2, Dumb it down, about which you say, “Assume the masses aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. Don’t give them features they aren’t capable of using. Keep it simple.” Even if I am a sharper tool, I don’t want all the features I’m capable of using! There are better reasons for keeping it simple than assuming a low skill level.
Frightening, though, to consider what a non-dumbed-down version of this app would look like. I don’t want to think about it!
Your takeaways are spot on. In addition, I wanted to mention that one should strive to delight the user whenever possible. In many “normal” apps, it comes acoss as a “wow!” or other simple please coming from something they didnt expect. In iFart’s case, delight is the only problem solved, and quite well I think. This is every kid’s (well, at least every boy’s) common denominator–its ALWAYS funny to pull this prank. I could see myself buying the app just to mess with people and for the bonding experience (and laughs) that come with it.
I watched the video and have to tell you I am quite impressed. I was thinking it was just something that would make noise when you hit a button. But it appears to be much more than that–timer settings, motion-activation, different versions of hte sound. Wow! Who knew that there could be so much user experience to a farting machine?
@ohmation
Good point wrt delight. And yes their features were certainly well-thought out and well-executed. I just checked out the site and they already have version 1.1 available with new sounds, record a fart and fart a friend on their feature list. Crazy…
Halfway through the article I had my base plan for iBurp ready as well. Alas, we are way too late: http://www.alteregoce.com/iBurp.html
Too late indeed:
http://www.appsafari.com/fun/3435/pet-rock/
@Jim
Oh dear! Thanks for the heads up.
Maybe in 1.2 they could they make is so you could sit on it to activate it, like a whoopee cushion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cushion