This is the question posed by The Age, and it’s on everyone’s (well, about 3 people’s) lips: did Carling nick the idea for an iPhone ‘pint of beer’ app from magician Steve Sheraton?
The tale began when Sheraton created the iBeer app for the iPhone, that simulates the pouring of a pint of beer. Thanks to the accelerometer on the phone, you can then ‘drink’ the pint with it reacting realistically as you tip the phone up.
Seems a bit pointless to me, but never mind…
The fun then began when Carling (owned by beer giants Coors) released the iPint application, through the App Store, which again lets you pour a simulated pint onto your mobile phone, and it empties as you tip the phone up and ‘drink’ it. Here’s the kicker, though. Carling offered it free, whereas Sheraton’s iBeer app would set you back US$2.99.
Sheraton, and the company that owns the rights to iBeer, Hottrix, have now filed a lawsuit against Coors, for lost profits and the brewer’s “ill-gotten gains”.
However, it’s a bit bigger than the slight fisticuffs and/or vicious glassing that you’d normally expect to see when somebody steals somebody else’s pint (if indeed the brewer has done that, but that’s down to the courts to decide):
Twelve-and-a-half MILLION dollars.
That’s a hell of an expensive pint!
I have to admit, I find it ever-so-slightly funny that someone is suing over what amounts to a virtual pint of lager. At best, both apps are a bit of silly fun that you’d probably delete off your phone within a day. I can think of better things to do with mobile phones, frankly (although Dan’s bubble wrap app on his iPhone is genius), and charging $3 (about £1.73) a pop is a bit much for an app that does, basically, nothing useful, and when you can get something similar, that has an extra mini-game, for free.
I mean, it’s not as if it’s even real beer. Besides, I’m instantly predisposed to be on Carling’s side, because Steve Sheraton is a magician, and I can’t side with a group of people that includes David Blaine.
Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that charging money for something that’s basically pointless and not that useful did work well in Apple’s business model for the iPhone…
Want a real phone? Check out the upcoming Blackberry Storm, a phone as sexy but more functional than the iPhone, and then, perhaps, why not actually buy a REAL pint!