Purchase Bitcoins from your iPhone.

[armenmerikyan]

Oh wait I have a brilliant IDEA, lets take something physical like paper currency, make it digital like Bitcoins and the next logical step for this is to make bitcoins physical again like Physical Bitcoins by Casascius. That my friend is moving forward why didn't i think of that Physical to digital back to physical again. that makes so much sense.

What do you mean by that? Physical bitcoins are a good way to air-gap your bitcoins to prevent them being stolen or lost due to data losses. It's a quite common business now (see the marketplace) so a new entry would be really competitive, if you're thinking to take part in that.

edit: Sacarsm detection fail 

You know how easy hologram stickers are to reproduce.  For all you know the Casascius Bitcoin could be empty or a fake.

You should really spend less time making fun of a very well respected community members and calling your users "idiots".  I was half interested and even downloaded the app, but fuck that, you're a dick.

I don't like respected members of the community using hacked iPhones to purchase my Brownie Coins and then redeem them for Bitcoins. Next time you do this at least don't use an obvious username that is the same username as you bitcointalk username.

I'm going to assume by "you" you mean the "idiots" because I did not buy any Brownie Coins.  Anyway, I didn't understand you before since the earlier message says nothing about hacked iPhones, just jailbroken ones, which many people do for customization reasons.  It was not clear to me at all you were talking about your first bouts with scammers.  If they are in fact "respected members of the community", here is they place to discuss it: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=83.0

I was not talking about you, your assumption is correct.

[atifkhan]

I just downloaded and did a test purchase, when i bought a 0.010 it didnt ask me for my bitcoin address? I think you did right by only allowing small purchases for credits, but i assume you may have a problem with chargebacks as the card i used is registered to a different billing address and itunes didn't complain. I wish you luck but i introduced a pay by card service which i had to scale back due to chargeback and carding.

[armenmerikyan]

I just downloaded and did a test purchase, when i bought a 0.010 it didnt ask me for my bitcoin address? I think you did right by only allowing small purchases for credits, but i assume you may have a problem with chargebacks as the card i used is registered to a different billing address and itunes didn't complain. I wish you luck but i introduced a pay by card service which i had to scale back due to chargeback and carding.

I just saw your purchase today, Yes i do agree that chargebacks are going to be a major problem, but Apple is a champ when it comes to protecting the developer in sale of digital goods. This is just based on my experience. 

Also please note that we after you claim a prize of bitcoins we contact you for your bitcoin address.

[Atruk]

I just downloaded and did a test purchase, when i bought a 0.010 it didnt ask me for my bitcoin address? I think you did right by only allowing small purchases for credits, but i assume you may have a problem with chargebacks as the card i used is registered to a different billing address and itunes didn't complain. I wish you luck but i introduced a pay by card service which i had to scale back due to chargeback and carding.

I just saw your purchase today, Yes i do agree that chargebacks are going to be a major problem, but Apple is a champ when it comes to protecting the developer in sale of digital goods. This is just based on my experience. 

Also please note that we after you claim a prize of bitcoins we contact you for your bitcoin address.

After watching this for a while and going to your website it seems that what you have going on here is much more complex and convoluted than I initially though, but this might actually be a great idea.

What might help to pad your margins is making sure you have a full portfolio of digital good for recipients to redeem their brownie coins for. Stuff like e-cards and other virtual goods of which bitcoin just happens to be one would probably help your margins if your app takes off for its advertised target audience rather than just bitcoiners.

You do have an adequate reserve of bitcoins in case brownie coins start to look like a bargain?

[armenmerikyan]

I just downloaded and did a test purchase, when i bought a 0.010 it didnt ask me for my bitcoin address? I think you did right by only allowing small purchases for credits, but i assume you may have a problem with chargebacks as the card i used is registered to a different billing address and itunes didn't complain. I wish you luck but i introduced a pay by card service which i had to scale back due to chargeback and carding.

I just saw your purchase today, Yes i do agree that chargebacks are going to be a major problem, but Apple is a champ when it comes to protecting the developer in sale of digital goods. This is just based on my experience. 

Also please note that we after you claim a prize of bitcoins we contact you for your bitcoin address.

After watching this for a while and going to your website it seems that what you have going on here is much more complex and convoluted than I initially though, but this might actually be a great idea.

What might help to pad your margins is making sure you have a full portfolio of digital good for recipients to redeem their brownie coins for. Stuff like e-cards and other virtual goods of which bitcoin just happens to be one would probably help your margins if your app takes off for its advertised target audience rather than just bitcoiners.

You do have an adequate reserve of bitcoins in case brownie coins start to look like a bargain?

Thank you Jesus, Your feedback is much appreciated and your words of encouragement is very helpful 

[kush1218]

can you use paypal to buy the brownie coins?

[armenmerikyan]

can you use paypal to buy the brownie coins?

Nope, payment is accepted through iTunes only, Not my rules. Apple's policy.

[casascius]

can you use paypal to buy the brownie coins?

Nope, payment is accepted through iTunes only, Not my rules. Apple's policy.

Do you mean Apple's policy as it's actually written, or do you mean your interpretation of what Apple actually does regardless of their written policies?

Here's why I ask.  If you're going to take creative license on interpreting policies to mean "don't worry about what our silly lawyers write, they just write this stuff for amusement and you can actually do whatever you please", then why hold yourself back citing pesky policies?  You may as well start taking PayPal and selling on eBay as well.

[armenmerikyan]

can you use paypal to buy the brownie coins?

Nope, payment is accepted through iTunes only, Not my rules. Apple's policy.

Do you mean Apple's policy as it's actually written, or do you mean your interpretation of what Apple actually does regardless of their written policies?

Here's why I ask.  If you're going to take creative license on interpreting policies to mean "don't worry about what our silly lawyers write, they just write this stuff for amusement and you can actually do whatever you please", then why hold yourself back citing pesky policies?  You may as well start taking PayPal and selling on eBay as well.

just curious are you the genius behind Casascius Coins,

[armenmerikyan]

Submitting new version to app please make sure you update the application. Fixed the register button issue and added some other security features. 

This will give me another chance to get apple's confirmation that what I am doing is not violating any apple policies.

[casascius]

Submitting new version to app please make sure you update the application. Fixed the register button issue and added some other security features. 

This will give me another chance to get apple's confirmation that what I am doing is not violating any apple policies.

If you aren't kidding and Apple is somehow really giving you some sort of endorsement, please share some of your magic with us.

Seriously, the only reason I'm yanking your chain is I believe your activities make it less likely we'll get to see legitimate bitcoin wallet apps in the app store any time soon.  If the truth is the opposite and you somehow know how to reliably get things slide past them in spite of written policies that say otherwise, then you have my respect, and we really need your help.

The sad part is this seems too good to be true.  My intuition still says your app is going to go down in flames, but this is a case where I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

[armenmerikyan]

Submitting new version to app please make sure you update the application. Fixed the register button issue and added some other security features. 

This will give me another chance to get apple's confirmation that what I am doing is not violating any apple policies.

If you aren't kidding and Apple is somehow really giving you some sort of endorsement, please share some of your magic with us.

Seriously, the only reason I'm yanking your chain is I believe your activities make it less likely we'll get to see legitimate bitcoin wallet apps in the app store any time soon.  If the truth is the opposite and you somehow know how to reliably get things slide past them in spite of written policies that say otherwise, then you have my respect, and we really need your help.

The sad part is this seems too good to be true.  My intuition still says your app is going to go down in flames, but this is a case where I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Bitcoin wallet will never be a practical solution for the mobile world, It has to be running all the time which will eat up lots of battery power and data bandwidth. plus iOS does not let you run anything in background mode except for few special services GPS being one of them.

Apple is not some evil company, when they see something that works they will approve it.   

[casascius]

Bitcoin wallet will never be a practical solution for the mobile world, It has to be running all the time which will eat up lots of battery power and data bandwidth. plus iOS does not let you run anything in background mode except for few special services GPS being one of them.

That's simply not true.

What you probably mean is, running a full bitcoind node on a mobile phone will not be practical.  This is in fact true.

But being a wallet is far simpler, as it only needs to hold cryptographic keys and sign transactions.  It can depend on external servers for all those other tasks, especially when developers come up with a way to not require so much trust in them (good methods have already been discussed).  For example, a wallet app could use Blockchain.info as a back end and a knowledge store.  As long as the user trusts Blockchain.info, they should have no problem with an app that depends on them.

Apple is not some evil company, when they see something that works they will approve it.  

I agree with this premise, or at least I'd like to, the problem being that having an escalating stolen account and/or credit card chargeback problem wouldn't be something that "works" in most people's minds, especially those at Apple watching the money.

[armenmerikyan]

Bitcoin wallet will never be a practical solution for the mobile world, It has to be running all the time which will eat up lots of battery power and data bandwidth. plus iOS does not let you run anything in background mode except for few special services GPS being one of them.

That's simply not true.

What you probably mean is, running a full bitcoind node on a mobile phone will not be practical.  This is in fact true.

But being a wallet is far simpler, as it only needs to hold cryptographic keys and sign transactions.  It can depend on external servers for all those other tasks, especially when developers come up with a way to not require so much trust in them (good methods have already been discussed).  For example, a wallet app could use Blockchain.info as a back end and a knowledge store.  As long as the user trusts Blockchain.info, they should have no problem with an app that depends on them.

Apple is not some evil company, when they see something that works they will approve it.  

I agree with this premise, or at least I'd like to, the problem being that having an escalating stolen account and/or credit card chargeback problem wouldn't be something that "works" in most people's minds, especially those at Apple watching the money.

Stick to your physical coins please, let us programmers deal with Apple.

Apples policies are not some religious bible, the only interpretation that matters is apple's own. Please stop speaking on Apple's behalf you don't have the qualifications. 

[Driice]

Apple is not some evil company 

On that we will have to agree to disagree

[HowGudAmI]

Surely a better way to do this (which would also circumvent apples rules) is to make a smartphone compatible website selling BTC?

The price wouldn't have to include the 30% apple cut which would allow a lower cost to the consumer.

What we need on the iPhone as an actual native app is a simple wallet...

[armenmerikyan]

I bought some coins to test this out, I have yet to see any email or question about my BTC address.

Sorry about this, We are getting lots of interest in the program and we were backed up. you should have an email by now if not let me on the board or PM me.

[armenmerikyan]

Surely a better way to do this (which would also circumvent apples rules) is to make a smartphone compatible website selling BTC?

The price wouldn't have to include the 30% apple cut which would allow a lower cost to the consumer.

What we need on the iPhone as an actual native app is a simple wallet...

I thought about that and it seems like many people have tried to do that and they get lots of chargebacks from credit card companies.

[HowGudAmI]

Surely a better way to do this (which would also circumvent apples rules) is to make a smartphone compatible website selling BTC?

The price wouldn't have to include the 30% apple cut which would allow a lower cost to the consumer.

What we need on the iPhone as an actual native app is a simple wallet...

I thought about that and it seems like many people have tried to do that and they get lots of chargebacks from credit card companies.

Allow only Bank Transfers - or another non-reversible transaction? Although I see the issue there is that it introduces more difficulty in making the purchase (And simplicity is vital for mobile).

Barclays PingIt would add some simplicity?

[armenmerikyan]

Surely a better way to do this (which would also circumvent apples rules) is to make a smartphone compatible website selling BTC?

The price wouldn't have to include the 30% apple cut which would allow a lower cost to the consumer.

What we need on the iPhone as an actual native app is a simple wallet...

I thought about that and it seems like many people have tried to do that and they get lots of chargebacks from credit card companies.

Allow only Bank Transfers - or another non-reversible transaction? Although I see the issue there is that it introduces more difficulty in making the purchase (And simplicity is vital for mobile).

Barclays PingIt would add some simplicity?

To do international bank transfers is not a simple solution what i have is a simple solution with global reach.