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Comment by princess3000 | Hacker News Reader

This is really overthinking it, IMO. This app isn't a shot at Yelp or an attempt to disrupt the pizza space... It's a joke. You pay a dollar, you get a pizza compass. I think it's hilarious.

The quotes on their page about "life-affirming" and "some people might say this is the most important app... ever" tell me that whoever made this app just wanted to have a bit of a laugh.

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Wow. It just goes to show how immune I've gotten to startup pitch ideas and their templates. The text that I copied and pasted is obviously a joke ("EXCITING NEW LIFE-AFFIRMING IPHONE APP") and yet my brain mentally skipped over it as just being thats-what-all-apps-said and tried to evaluate the technical part of an app.

I'm going to blame it on the all-caps throwing blinders on my brain this morning

You're assuming the app is a joke. I see no indication the app isn't real.

No, he is assuming the app is a joke app.

Not that the app is a joke (not real), but that the app is a joke app (a fun app, made cheaply, not intended to "change the world", be the next Facebook, or promote a heavy business model).

That doesn't make it a joke app. By those standards almost all hobby apps are.

Dense in purpose?

It is also given that the app in question is also a PIZZA COMPASS app, on top of all the other qualities.

When I say "joke" I just mean that the whole concept appears to be firmly tongue-in-cheek (or pizza-in-cheek, maybe). Though I haven't used the app I suspect that the tech behind it is pretty sound. I feel you on the hyperbolic marketing though, when every new app is a "revolutionary take on _____" those words begin to lose meaning. I have no connection to the app's creators or any actual knowledge about their intentions but I would assume that this is meant to be a jab at that kind of marketing.

Agreed. They're having some fun. That said, I did stare at the pizza compass the whole way home on the bus tonight.

Haha, it's so funny! Oh, and look at all this money in iTunes Connect...

Yes, totally just a joke!

Who said you can't make money from a joke?

Nobody.

I'm pretty sure the entire industry of stand-up comedians are laughing with you.

Satire can make money, e.g. the Onion

The app is real, but they're poking fun at how simple it is. I can imagine their users are either often either extremely hungry and/or drunk, so extreme simplicity is a big plus.

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