How a Virtual Beer Became the App Store's First Viral Hit

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-25

In July 2008, Steve Jobs and Apple were gearing up for the launch of the App Store. Jobs told The New York Times, "The quality and the sophistication of the applications you can write for the iPhone is in a different class." In a funny way, he was right. The App Store launched with over 500 apps, all carefully picked to show off what the original iPhone could do. There were games, productivity tools, social networks, and plenty of apps that just existed to flaunt the device's new tricks. But one app stole the show: a virtual pint of beer that made your phone look like a glass of ale. In this article, we'll explore the story behind iBeer, the magician who created it, and how a silly virtual drink became one of the defining apps of the early App Store. ### The Magic Behind iBeer The mastermind behind iBeer was Steve Sheraton, a magician and creator of tech-based illusions. Before the iPhone, Sheraton had already turned a mobile device into a convincing virtual drink with E-spresso, a video trick that made it look like your phone held a cup of coffee. The iPhone, though, gave him something the Palm Pilot lacked: an accelerometer. Instead of just playing a video, Sheraton made the illusion react to how you held the phone. Tilt the device and the liquid moves with it. Turn it far enough and the beer appears to pour toward the edge of the screen. Simple idea, but the effect was incredibly convincing for 2008. Before the App Store even existed, Sheraton had already found an audience. He uploaded a video of the iPhone "beer-drinking" illusion to YouTube, where it racked up millions of views. People wanted to know how to get the trick, so Sheraton started selling the video file for just over $2.50 (about €2 at the time), reportedly making a few thousand dollars a day at its peak. When Apple prepared to launch the App Store, iBeer was a perfect demo of the iPhone's capabilities. It used the accelerometer, touchscreen, and high-quality display, and needed almost no explanation. You didn't need to know what an accelerometer was. Someone could just hand you an iPhone, tilt it toward their mouth, and pretend to drink. When the App Store opened on July 10, 2008, iBeer was among its first apps. Sheraton kept the same price, and according to his later accounts, the app quickly shot to the top of the charts. ### The Copycats Arrive iBeer's success also showed something else about the new App Store: if an idea worked, it could be copied overnight. Later in 2008, Molson Coors, the Canadian-American brewing giant, released iPint, a free app with a strikingly similar virtual beer. Unlike iBeer, though, iPint was basically an ad for Carling beer. Sheraton and his company, Hottrix, cried foul and eventually sued. The dispute highlighted a strange reality of the early App Store: a developer could create something trivial, distribute it to millions, and suddenly find themselves up against major corporations. It was a sign of how fast the economics of software were changing. ### Why iBeer Mattered Looking back, it's easy to dismiss iBeer as a novelty. In many ways, it was. It didn't make you more productive, help you navigate, or connect you with friends. It made your phone look like a pint of beer. But that was its charm. In 2008, the smartphone was still new and a bit magical. The idea that a phone could respond to how you tilted it, display a realistic liquid, and make people laugh was enough. iBeer didn't just show off technology—it showed that the App Store could be fun. And sometimes, that's exactly what people want.