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Mussolini iPhone App a Hit

iMussolini seizes control of Italian sales charts

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 29, 2010 3:45 AM CST | Updated Jan 29, 2010 5:46 AM CST

(Newser) – An iPhone app that offers the full text of over 100 speeches from Benito Mussolini has been selling briskly in Italy. The iMussolini application has been downloaded over 1,000 times a day since its launch last week, and is in second place in popularity on the Italian version of iTunes, dismaying commentators who wonder why so many young people are downloading Il Duce.

The 25-year-old creator of iMussolini says he didn't intend to glorify the Fascist dictator and he has asked Apple to remove pro-Mussolini comments from his product's iTunes store page, Der Speigel reports. He's considering creating similar applications as a historical tool but there are no plans for an iHitler app. "To avoid any scandals, perhaps they will be about people like Gandhi," he noted.

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

Italian dictactor Benito Mussolini salutes during a public address. (Getty Images)

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These aren't nostalgic old people and historians of the fascist era but kids and young adults that spend time and money on the Internet and get their information from it.
- A commentator at La Reppublica

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 11 comments

YetAnotherCollegeKid

Jan 30, 2010 5:15 AM CST

America doesn't really have an evil dictator sort in our history (check your Regan/Clinton/Bush/Obama jokes at the door, please), so I don't think we can really know how a country that did have one would feel on the subject. Maybe if we had a Mussolini of our own, he would be a best selling app here, too.

DontLikeYou___

Jan 30, 2010 1:27 AM CST

[[Socialism is the exact opposite of fascism]] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And you are a damn'd fool if you think that.

DontLikeYou___

Jan 30, 2010 1:27 AM CST

Right. Socialism is not big in Italy. Do you read much about the world you live in?

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Mussolini iPhone App a Hit